BurnTheShips

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Posts by BurnTheShips

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  39

  Why Do Atheists Get So Angry?

  by serotonin_wraith in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/atheists-and-an.html.

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  BurnTheShips

  She seems really angry about Galileo. She should check her facts, he didn't have it so bad! No need to get angry!
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  203

  Opinion peice on Athiests

  by SickofLies in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there seems to be a lot of hostility on the board toward atheists still and a lot of comments floating around like atheists are to preachy.

  well i want to take a quick minute and deal with some of these issues.

  to begin with, to make any statement regarding atheists in general would be false for several reasons.

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  BurnTheShips

  Steve, too bad that Dawkins does not have the intestinal fortitude to face a real Christian Apologist in a debate:

  I’d like the opportunity to debate Dawkins. I think I can vindicate a rational and scientific argument for religion against his irrational and unscientific prejudice. When I wrote Dawkins to propose such a debate, however, Dawkins said that “upon reflection” he decided against it. He didn’t give a reason, and there is no reason.

  In his writings on religion, Dawkins presents atheism as the side of reason and evidence, and religion as the side of “blind faith.” So what’s he afraid of? How can reason possibly lose in a contest with ignorance and superstition? I have written Dawkins back offering him the most favorable terms: a debate on a secular campus like Berkeley rather than a church, with atheist Michael Shermer as the moderator, and a donor ready and willing to pay both our fees.

  So I hope Dawkins takes me up on my challenge to an intellectual joust. If you want to encourage him, write Dawkins and send the email to [email protected]. I’ll forward your thoughts to our wavering atheist knight. He may want to pattern atheism on the gay rights movement, but surely he doesn’t want the world to think that he’s a sissy.

  http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DineshDSouza/2007/11/12/are_atheists_the_new_gays&Comments=true

  D'Souza pretty much smashed Hitchens in a debate recently.

  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-471219088532317812&q=dinesh+d%27souza+hitchens&pr=goog-sl

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  44

  Why God permits wickedness..the argument and counter logic

  by wherehasmyhairgone in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i was a pioneer i used to get the comment a lot, as i am sure most here have.. my stock answer was the analogy.... wt 2002 10/1 page 7 as an example.

  imagine a father allowing his child to go thru a painful operation in-order to get better...hence why god permits suffering.

  anyway i used to trot this out without any counter arguments.. even when i left, it still seemed a reasonable explanations, then something clicked.

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  BurnTheShips

  Dinesh D'Souza pretty much put Hitchens to shame in a debate a few weeks ago.

  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-471219088532317812&q=dinesh+d%27souza+hitchens&pr=goog-sl

  D'Souza just published a great new book, What's so great about Christianity?
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  4

  Looks like a great book, "What is so great about Christianity?"

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am going to orderit:.

  http://www.amazon.com/whats-so-great-about-christianity/dp/1596985178/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=utf8&s=books&qid=1195479248&sr=1-1.

  it's by dinesh d'souza.

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  BurnTheShips

  This is a great debate, I watched it on Saturday, D'Souza basically trounces Christopher Hitchens.
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  2

  Course in Christianity

  by Wordly Andre in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yesterday, we had a visiting priest come to our parish, fr.

  tobin, he is offering a course in christianity monday, tuesday, and wednesday, among some of the topics that will be presented is am i responsible for my children leaving the church?

  "why are catholic's ashamed of our religion?

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  BurnTheShips

  Thats great Andre,

  I am seriously considering starting RCIA classes to become Catholic myself. It is such a beautiful, historic faith.

  Burn.
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  4

  Looks like a great book, "What is so great about Christianity?"

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am going to orderit:.

  http://www.amazon.com/whats-so-great-about-christianity/dp/1596985178/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=utf8&s=books&qid=1195479248&sr=1-1.

  it's by dinesh d'souza.

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  BurnTheShips

  Richard Dawkins gets called out to debate by Dinesh D'Souza and refuses!!

  I’d like the opportunity to debate Dawkins. I think I can vindicate a rational and scientific argument for religion against his irrational and unscientific prejudice. When I wrote Dawkins to propose such a debate, however, Dawkins said that “upon reflection” he decided against it. He didn’t give a reason, and there is no reason.

  In his writings on religion, Dawkins presents atheism as the side of reason and evidence, and religion as the side of “blind faith.” So what’s he afraid of? How can reason possibly lose in a contest with ignorance and superstition? I have written Dawkins back offering him the most favorable terms: a debate on a secular campus like Berkeley rather than a church, with atheist Michael Shermer as the moderator, and a donor ready and willing to pay both our fees.

  So I hope Dawkins takes me up on my challenge to an intellectual joust. If you want to encourage him, write Dawkins and send the email to [email protected]. I’ll forward your thoughts to our wavering atheist knight. He may want to pattern atheism on the gay rights movement, but surely he doesn’t want the world to think that he’s a sissy.

  http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DineshDSouza/2007/11/12/are_atheists_the_new_gays&Comments=true

  I know a lot of people on this board have read Dawkins. He is pretty much on the forefront of the antitheist movement, I am surprised he is unwilling to take up the torch, especially since it should be easy for him to smash D'Souza (supposedly), especially since atheism is the "only" logical posture.

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  87

  I dedicate this video to Brother Apostate, and Vinny

  by 5go in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this guy says it better than anything i could type here.. .

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  BurnTheShips

  Why do you space out your posts so much? It dominates the page.
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  24

  Those That Hate God For Suffering

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  glory in tribulations.

  060905 tuesday, september 05, 2006 daily devotional.

  by brent riggs .

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  BurnTheShips

  I am very sorry to hear about the horrible things you had to endure Big Tex, I have people I love close to me who had similar experiences. The scars take decades and affect much more than just the individual. I hope you have healed!
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  24

  Those That Hate God For Suffering

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  glory in tribulations.

  060905 tuesday, september 05, 2006 daily devotional.

  by brent riggs .

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  BurnTheShips

  I like this response:

  Providence and the scandal of evil.

  309 If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all his creatures, why does evil exist? To this question, as pressing as it is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will suffice. Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil.

  310 But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it? With infinite power God could always create something better. 174 But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world "in a state of journeying" towards its ultimate perfection. In God's plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection. 175

  311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. 176 He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:

  For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself. 177

  312 In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: "It was not you", said Joseph to his brothers, "who sent me here, but God. . . You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive." 178 From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the sins of all men - God, by his grace that "abounded all the more", 179 brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption. But for all that, evil never becomes a good.

  313 "We know that in everything God works for good for those who love him." 180 The constant witness of the saints confirms this truth:

  St. Catherine of Siena said to "those who are scandalized and rebel against what happens to them": "Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind." 181

  St. Thomas More, shortly before his martyrdom, consoled his daughter: "Nothing can come but that that God wills. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best." 182

  Dame Julian of Norwich: "Here I was taught by the grace of God that I should steadfastly keep me in the faith... and that at the same time I should take my stand on and earnestly believe in what our Lord shewed in this time - that 'all manner [of] thing shall be well.'" 183

  314 We firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history. But the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God "face to face", 184 will we fully know the ways by which - even through the dramas of evil and sin - God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest 185 for which he created heaven and earth.

  http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p4.htm
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  18

  What do you think heaven holds?

  by the widow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  because of my background with the witless ones, when my husband died it was hard to believe he was in heaven.

  i could hope there is a heaven for those who die.

  that he is in a better place.

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  BurnTheShips

  I don't know what is over there exactly (besides being in the presence of God), Widow, but I believe it is wonderful and glorious beyond description.
  
  However, as it is written:
  "No eye has seen,
  no ear has heard,
  no mind has conceived
  what God has prepared for those who love him
  
  
  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20corinthians%202:9&version=31
  
  Burn