What a nifty website to stumble across!
God is real, he/she/it is just as real as the galaxy we are bound to by gravity.

If you don’t follow the rules you will be condemned to the fires of hell, a place of fear and anguish, where your soul will be forever be plagued by despair and be sodomized by demons … But he loves you and is benevolent.

Of course a God that loves us and crafted us in his own very image wants to punish our sins and CONTROL US with the thought that after death you will end up in a place either infinitely better or infinitely worse than our current suck @ss state of affairs. <—Credit to the GrimReaper show >:D
Those are the characteristics of a loving God that looks out for humanity’s well being and wishes to COMMAND OUR SOULS AND MINDS.

We are all alone on this spec of dust floating in space you may call Earth.
We are blatantly destroying ourselves for the hope that the ones left over will say ‘Never Again’ and that someday in the future we will realize our true purpose.
Relying a book written and translated over many languages, many times by mere MORTALS as the word of God, the most powerful being ever conceived by MORTALS, and the sole guiding light in one’s life is in itself absurd and strange.

Just look around the world today and never fear asking questions.
We all know how much God loves an inquisitive mind.

First of all, I would like to point out that the second paragraph of your post is entirely correct, even though it was intended to be satirical. God gave us laws to abide by and, as the Almighty Creator of the universe, had every right and reason to do so. Without law and order, nothing would exist but chaos. God set the laws of the universe, and they are not laws one can break. The law of gravity, for instance. Sure, we can get in our planes and helicopters and such, but we’re not defying the law of gravity, we’re just finding “loopholes” so to speak, but eventually, the plane will need to land, and submit to the consequences of gravity whether we like it or not. Likewise, the laws that God gave us to obey, such as the Ten Commandments, although they can be ignored, disobeyed, broken, etc., they DO have consequences, whether one chooses to believe it or not.

Of course a God that loves us and crafted us in his own very image wants to punish our sins…

I agree with that satirical statement as well, God does love us, we’re his children, he made us. Did your dad never punish you when you disobeyed him? A Father punishes his children because he loves them.

As for the latter portion of the statement, God doesn’t want to control us. He could if he wanted to, because he’s cool like that, but he gave us a little thing called FREE WILL. That means we are free to make our own choices, whether they are to completely disregard his existence or to acknowledge that he is your Creator and that without him you are truly lost and hopeless. God doesn’t want to command our souls and minds, all he wants is for his children to love him and obey him, just like any other father would. He didn’t make up all these rules so that he could send us to Hell when we broke them, he made them to guide us and help us live good lives.
Why do parents tell their kids what they should and shouldn’t do? So that they don’t get hurt and so that they are able to function in the real world. What would happen if parents never told their children to look both ways before crossing the street? Or not to eat anything from under the kitchen sink? Or not to poke a fork into an electrical outlet?
Well, we’d have less children in the world, and the ones that survived their childhood would be seriously messed up.

Now, on the subject of Hell: It was not created to be an eternal punishment for us. It’s original purpose was to be a place of exile for Satan and his demons after they tried to overthrow God. It became a place of eternal punishment for us when Eve practiced her free will and chose to eat the forbidden fruit, the first sin of man. That is why God sent his Son Jesus as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. He doesn’t want ANYONE to go to Hell, but he cannot let those who have not been cleansed by the Blood of Christ into Heaven, for their soul is corrupt and corruption can’t coexist with perfection.

The Bible is the inerrant word of God, written by mortal followers of God through divine inspiration. I challenge you to prove anything in it to be wrong. Go ahead. I’ll wait….........................................

+1 ^^

Welcome to the site, both of you. Being an atheist, I tend to agree with you, mistertrogdor. WaFFleS, not so much. You will find lots of satire here, I guess you won’t mind. When you agree with a satirical statement, you should agree with the intent of the statement. So, I don’t think you really agree… and maybe you are just trying to be nice and agreeable in one of your first messages to us, but I do have a nagging doubt…you seem rather intractable, but first impressions and all that. I AM intractable, that’s a given with me. I urge both of you to peruse the site and listen to the input from some of the other people here before throwing down the gauntlet, as it were. Again, welcome. (of course, I do have this tendency to completely ignore some of the input here myself -lol)

Sorry, Guys… PERSONAL TO AL:Could you follow me to the “website is small right now” topic. Give me some time to compose my post there. Thanks

I’m there.

I’m not here to prove anyone or anything right or wrong.
Only to share slices of truth, from the pizza of the mind’s ability to forge it’s own reality.
Everyone has a right to believe whatever they want to, and it’s not my position to tell people what they should believe in.
Your mind decides what is real and what is not based on it’s own experiences in the process of life.
Like in my life for instance…
My parents never had to tell me those 2 ton shapes of steel rolling very fast on the street are dangerous, or that electricity is a potentially destructive force than can and does leap from the earth to the sky every second some where on the Earth. I wasn’t a kid that had to really be told anything because I pursued
knowledge ever since I knew what it meant to ask a question. I didn’t have to fear death from crossing the street because I knew what death was and that is a car going 50mph into your face. I didn’t fear lightning or thunder because I knew as long as I didn’t go outside with a 20 foot metal rod I would most likely be okay inside my own house. Somethings however you have to learn from experience.

Here’s a story from my childhood
Dad shows me a cup of candy.
‘OH! CANDY, I LOVE CANDY!!!’
As I take a bite of the strange substance I perceive to be candy
‘Son thats not…<crunch>...candy’
At that moment a profound lesson has been learned.
Not everything is what you think it is.
I happened to bite off and chewed a MOUTHFUL of colorful sidewalk chalk and the horrible bitter taste of dust in my mouth that taught me not eat things unless I knew what it really was.

Now I’m much older. My life was NEVER full of religion or any sort of structured belief system. I happened to not turn out to be a deranged, fanatic that wants to shove a knife down your throat because you don’t share the same beliefs as me. I didn’t turn out to be what society would perceive a ‘bad guy’.

I find it almost funny that as soon as I implied or suggested that religion is a fabrication by mortals to control how the world is perceived by the masses that follow; That people feel threatened that the things they relied on their whole lives to explain the questions that no mortal can ever hope to understand in one lifetime. Like what really happens after death or whether the Easter Bunny has anything to do with the story of Jesus Christ or if dinosaur fossils were put there by a prankster God to test your faith.

I’m not saying religion is a bad thing, But I personally find it strange that bad things can be a result of religion based on peace and love of your fellow man.
Religion in general contradicts itself many times over the course of history, But I know that without religion, society would never have existed.

I’m surprised why nobody asks. Why is the topic named ‘by fate or by guidance?’?
Was it your predermined, premanufactured fate that brought YOU to this website?
Were you guided here by an unseen hand, or your own free will?
What religious person comes to a site with the logo, a Nuclear Biohazard and text the says God Still Loves Us?
What does such a strange and ominous pairing of image and text tell you about what this website could be really about?

Please don’t literally answer those questions but just think for a second.
I really don’t want to attempt to explain any answers to those hypothetical questions. Plus there are other threads for those questions any how.

I just sort of wandered in by way of another site which I can’t seem to recall any longer…serendipity

“Of course a God that loves us and crafted us in his own very image wants to punish our sins and CONTROL US with the thought that after death you will end up in a place either infinitely better or infinitely worse than our current suck @ss state of affairs. <—Credit to the GrimReaper show >:D
Those are the characteristics of a loving God that looks out for humanity’s well being and wishes to COMMAND OUR SOULS AND MINDS.”

Freewill.... Again this one phrase will be my only response.. He is not controlling you it is your choice if you want to burn or learn… Wow.. Simply another case of lack of research.. 0-11… Record is looking gruesome for us all..

mistertrogdor (first of all can I abbreviate it, most people call me kookoo or some derivative. Ok, well, then, kook!, but anyway, it’s a tough typing job), This is your thread, you should tell us more about the subject when you post it, but i don’t really see that in your first post. Again, I urge you to peruse the site because the subjects that you brought up in your second last paragraph are being discussed endlessly in some of the other threads. All you have to do is look at the titles to find some of them, so it shouldn’t take much of your time. (I don’t mean to come off as a smartass, but I am one!) If you want me to comment on those subjects, I have already, and as you just said, there are other threads and I can’t keep repeating my remarks on every single thread in these forums. I don’t have time for that (obviously), and, I’m sure, neither do you. I do want you to know that I will reply to other people’s remarks often on your threads (and i am just itching to comment on waFFles one right below your first one), but also frequently to you because you originated it. I have found that before i consider a somewhat thoughtful (yet always insightful! lol) reply, it is best to figure out whether that person is really serious and will bother to stick around for the debate. Many people seem to come here, make several thoughtless remarks and then disappear into the ether. Plus, on this site, many want to preach their sermon, and don’t want to hear anyone’s comments but their own. And again, they disappear! So, I am always wondering. “Why are they here?” Well, should I post another topic then? I think I will!

There is always that “proof” thing, especially here. We are always debating on this site, that’s what it mostly is all about. So, one person always wants the other to prove something or other, or disprove or whatever. You will probably change your mind about that once you deal with some of us jokers. I rant and rave all the time, too, check it out sometime. I use humor to try to curb my acid tongue (and it doesn’t always work), and i am not afraid to plunge the blade, as it were. When you see some of the beliefs that some people have, trust me, you won’t be able to refrain from commenting. But you will be commenting on those beliefs, not trying to change them (and you won’t be able to change them anyway because we are discussing religious matters – some folks are pretty fervent). One of the reasons that I rant so much is probably due to the fact that I know I won’t change minds or beliefs very much by what I have to say, so maybe I’m frustrated (but never sexually frustrated lol find those remarks on your own).

Now, then, waFFles, I want to comment, I want to disprove the bible so badly, and you have made it easy for me because i only have to disprove one (1) thing, but i want to make sure that you are still around when I do it. So, now, I am waiting… teehee! I am well aware that christians have made that impossible because they take it on faith, I have no faith! But i’m willing to debate, as always. Let’s start with, Oh, I don’t know, Ok, at the beginning! with the serpent that talks. I haven’t had many conversations with a king cobra lately. You?

P.S. trog, I missed that you didn’t want us to comment on those questions in the other threads, etc. Sorry to go on and on about stuff that you probably don’t want to hear. Won’t happen again (gotta fix that mouse, oh, I’m just making excuses!)

JT, I must comment – You? a one phrase response? You? The JT that we all know and love? I don’t know, it’s a radical new step! Warmest regards, KooKoo

I linked here from deviantart.com… I recommend that site to anyone who likes art. I do think everything happens for a reason and I found this place at just the right time.

I also linked here from deviantart. I saw the banner with the biohazard symbol and “God still loves us” and I was like, “Hmm, I think I’ll check it out…” So here I am…
And I now realize that my first post made me look like an overzealous jerk who tries to shove my beliefs down others’ throats… That was not really my intention, although it does seem like it… I believe that you have the right to believe what you want to believe… I am by no means a religious fanatic who thinks that you’re wrong for not believing what I do… Which is probably hard to believe based on my first post, but it’s true… I’m just voicing my opinion like everyone else, and I got way more pugnacious than I intended to so now I look like a total jerk… Especially that “Go ahead. I’ll wait…” comment… That was really unlike me… I’m not apologizing for what I said, though, because that’s completely ridiculous… I said what I said, I meant what I said, and I’m standing by what I said…

And no, I haven’t had any conversations with a king cobra lately, either, kook, lol… You do have a point, you can’t prove something wrong or right if it’s based on faith, which is why there is no solid evidence for evolution or the big bang, either…

PS- AL, what’s your DA screen name? I’d like to see your work, if you don’t mind…

Burninating all the people….

Burninating…???

burninating the countryside.

Ah, waFFles, don’t worry about it. I am a total jerk! And, for some reason, I knew you’d be back. You are absolutely right, it’s on faith, but, just for fun, a christian might say that well, a talking serpent is a miracle and I’d have to say well, I don’t believe in miracles, and also, the circumstances show that it was not a very good miracle and aren’t miracles supposed to be fantastically good things, and so on… that happens a lot around here and it’s good clean fun, I say! Thank you for understanding me and what I have to say, you’re a good egg!

now a talking egg…we’d be talking miracles…then

Waffles!!! absoluteliquid on DA also. What about yours?? I really liked your intruductory post especially the “Go ahead…I’ll wait…” That’s really what it’s all about here I think. Being able to stop and write a rational response instead of just reacting to what someone says…

Thanks, kook, you’re a good egg too…
On the subject of the talking serpent being a miracle: i wouldn’t really call it a miracle, because, as you said, miracles are supposed to be fantastically good things… I believe that Satan either took the form of a serpent or possessed a serpent…

also, ratboy, “burninating” is a reference to homestarrunner.com
Basically, there’s a character named Strong Bad who answers emails and the like, and in one email, someone asks how to draw a dragon. He draws a dragon and names it “Trogdor the Burninator”, then makes up a song about him. The chorus goes:
“Burninating the countryside,
Burninating the peasants,
Burninating all the peoples
In their thatched-roof cottages!!
THATCHED-ROOF COTTAGES!!!”
And that is the history of the word “burninate”

Go to http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html to see the whole thing…

thanks, AL!
My DA is xWaFFleSx

I’m BUMPing this topic, there’s a lot of good shit here, especially as we were just getting together on this site back then. New people could benefit from seeing it and know how we got this far (and why). It’s also short, an easy read, and some of the subject matter is well discussed in other threads (especially that “proof” thing!). so BUMP!

BUMP to the BIZZLE Keep the topic hot.. I think everything happens for a reason so we’ll see why we are all here sooner or later… Good talking to you all…

I like this MistertRogdor guy. He should come back and start posting again.

Well, he certainly seems cheerful.