Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
I have heard it said that one of the quickest routes to atheism is reading the whole Bible.
I like the way Isaac Asimov puts it:
"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."
-Isaac Asimov
D-res
quote:
Originally posted by woscar
I like the way Isaac Asimov puts it:
"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."
-Isaac Asimov
I like this as well - from the creator of Winnie the Pooh - although not as eloquently put:
“The Old Testament is responsible for more atheism, agnosticism, disbelief-call it what you will-than any book ever written; it has emptied more churches than all the counterattractions of cinema, motor bicycle and golf course.”
-A.A. Milne
Spam
quote:
Originally posted by woscar
That's pretty awesome. :)
Just curious, what sort of questions did that guy ask you?
She is actually a bi-sexual Wiccan, and found it awesome to have a Christian friend that didn't want to see her burned at the stake. We worked together doing lawncare for 12 hours a day and so our conversations ranged from general morality, to sex, to relationships to hypothetical situations and etc. It's hard to pick out any one question that really started me thinking, but the "final straw", so to speak was when she started asking me about dating someone who was not a Christian, and getting really upset at some of my answers because she believed that if two people are right for each other, despite their religion, they should be together, and I was claiming that if the Bible were true, that they wouldn't be right for each other to begin with (in retrospect, it's possible that she wanted to go out with me at the time... oops).
In essence it wasn't so much the questions that she asked, as it was her true curiosity about the answers, and I wanted to do my research and come back to her with the accurate response, rather than my personal feelings, so I started to read the Bible to find those answers. I think she was actually a little disappointed when I went back to her a few weeks after starting my reading and had to tell her that it's all a crock of and that I had to figure my out.
Dreyth
I'd say there's some pretty cool things written in the Quran. I'm not trying to convert anyone here, but I want to shed some light on the Quran, and the fact that it contains information that may surprise some of you. I'm interested in knowing many things that people of past times somehow knew (ie, how in the world did they build the pyramids, who made the antikythera mechanism, stuff like that). Well the Quran has information of which we don't know how the Arabs obtained.
The Quran 51:47 "And it is We who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it."
States that the universe is expanding, which is somewhat a relatively recent theory that is being proven.
The Quran 23:14 "Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation."
Up until recently many scientists thought that the bones and flesh formed at the same time. They were wrong. Not the Qur'an, 1,400 years ago.
The Quran 79:30 “And the earth, moreover hath He made egg shaped.”
The Arabic word for egg used in this verse here is "dahaahaa" which
means an ostrich-egg. Ostrich egg? Yeah, not flat, but spherical, and flattened at the poles. Like an ostrich egg (click here).
The Quran 16:66 "And in the livestock there is a lesson for you: we provide you with a drink from their bellies. From the midst of digested food and blood, you get pure milk, delicious for the drinkers."
Yep, that's where milk comes from. Digested food (farth) and blood. Look it up; don't just take my word from it. Pretty cool how they knew this 1,400 years ago. And who woulda guess white milk comes from red blood?
The Quran 78:6-7 "Have We not made The earth as a wide Expanse, And the mountains as pegs?"
States that the mountains are like pegs, aka extend deeply into the earth. The mountain that you see is analagous to the "tip of the ice-berg" in that it actually extends far deep into the Earth's crust (or that the ice-berg extends deep into the water). This wasn't known by scientists until maybe... the last 300 years? Ha, much less than that.
The Quran 6:125 "Those whom Allah wants to guide, He opens their chests to Islam; And those whom He wants to leave astray, He makes their chests tight and constricted, as if they are ascending to the sky:"
So some random guy in the desert (no mountains...) knows about what happens when you climb high into the sky.
The Quran 27:88 "You see the mountains and think they are firmly fixed: but they are moving away just like the clouds are moving away: (such is) the artistry of Allah, Who disposes of all things in perfect order: For He knows all what you do."
Yes, the mountains move, unbeknowest to the people 1,400 years ago. And if you don't believe that they do, just look up continental drift for an example.
The Quran 36:40 "It is not allowable for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming."
Certainly ahead of the heliocentric stuff in its time. Also states that the sun is in an orbit, not just the Earth.
The Quran 24:40 "Or like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with waves topped by waves, topped by clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hand, he will not see it! If Allah does not give light to a person he will not have light!"
Firstly, it states that in the depths of the ocean there is no light to the point where you wouldn't be able to see you hand in front of you. Okay, fine, that would be easy to guess: just look deep into a lake and you can conclude that yourself. But how bout the information that there are "waves topped by waves?" There are actually waves in the ocean itself, not just on the surface. They are called internal waves. Look them up, and see how they have been discovered only in the last century (not the last 1,400 years).
The Quran 96:15-16 "No indeed! If he does not stop, We will grab him by the forelock, a lying, sinful forelock."
The front of the brain is the part of the brain that is responsible for us planning out our movements and also lying (or rather, making judgements). See what wikipedia has to say about this area of the brain (click here). I'm sure people over only a hundred did not know that the front of the brain is the part that is responsible for judgement, and thus, sinning and lying (in cases of bad judgement).
The Quran 30:2-3 "The Romans have been defeated in the lowest land on earth; but they, (even) after (this) defeat of theirs, will soon be victorious."
This verse refers to a battle between who I think was the Romans and the Byzantines. They battled on the shoreline for the dead sea. Look it up for yourself, don't take my word for it. And guess what? That place is ACTUALL the lowest land on Earth! Stated 1,400 years ago? Where did some people in a desert (not to mention with NO CLUE of the "new world" aka America) find out this information? Sure, they could have just guessed "oh, the lowest land we know is there," but it's actually the lowest land of the entire Earth (as the verse states), not just of the lands that they know. And by the way, you can also look up the story of how the Romans were victorious after that (a true fulfilled prophecy) when it seemed like it definitely was impossible.
Well, that's all for now. I hope a couple of you guys found this interesting.
pkcRAISTLIN
Someone makes up stupid esoteric , idiot noob forumites swallow it.
Moongoose
quote:
Originally posted by Dreyth
I'd say there's some pretty cool things written in the Quran. I'm not trying to convert anyone here, but I want to shed some light on the Quran, and the fact that it contains information that may surprise some of you. I'm interested in knowing many things that people of past times somehow knew (ie, how in the world did they build the pyramids, who made the antikythera mechanism, stuff like that). Well the Quran has information of which we don't know how the Arabs obtained.
a bunch of nonsense from a stupid old book
Well, that's all for now. I hope a couple of you guys found this interesting.
Amist a million lies an accidential truth might once in a while be found.
quote:
Originally posted by Spam She is actually a bi-sexual Wiccan, ... blah blah blah ..., it's possible that she wanted to go out with me at the time... oops).
Is she hot?
woscar
quote:
Originally posted by Moongoose
Amist a million lies an accidential truth might once in a while be found.
Not only that...you need to distort language so much so that they become "truths".
:stongue:
Comrade Stalin
Man, that's some Nobel-prize winning .
Lira
Actually, even if you distort the language it says very little:
quote:
The Quran 51:47
"And it is We who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it."
States that the universe is expanding, which is somewhat a relatively recent theory that is being proven.
And I say it states that religion was a social construction built with authority and oppression, and people keep expanding religion with more and more fairy-tales.
quote:
The Quran 23:14
"Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation."
Up until recently many scientists thought that the bones and flesh formed at the same time. They were wrong. Not the Qur'an, 1,400 years ago.
Source backing this statement that scientists thought bones and flesh formed at the same time?
quote:
The Quran 79:30
“And the earth, moreover hath He made egg shaped.”
The Arabic word for egg used in this verse here is "dahaahaa" which
means an ostrich-egg. Ostrich egg? Yeah, not flat, but spherical, and flattened at the poles. Like an ostrich egg (click here).
We've been aware of the spherical shape of the Earth for millennia, even the idea that Christians thought the Earth was flat was just a myth.
quote:
The Quran 16:66
"And in the livestock there is a lesson for you: we provide you with a drink from their bellies. From the midst of digested food and blood, you get pure milk, delicious for the drinkers."
Yep, that's where milk comes from. Digested food (farth) and blood. Look it up; don't just take my word from it. Pretty cool how they knew this 1,400 years ago. And who woulda guess white milk comes from red blood?
Not really, it doesn't come from red blood. It contains some saturated fat, protein and calcium as well as vitamin C, and if you're willing to claim this all comes from the blood, you might as well go on and say that pretty much everything else in our body does. So, if you want to defend the scientific awesomeness or the Quran, it could've said something about the mammary glands being derived from an earlier sweat gland, or that most humans are lactose intolerant, so the "pure milk delicious for the drinkers" is only delicious for about a third of the human population (if that), whereas for most people it's the most pure laxative ever.
quote:
The Quran 78:6-7
"Have We not made The earth as a wide Expanse, And the mountains as pegs?"
States that the mountains are like pegs, aka extend deeply into the earth. The mountain that you see is analagous to the "tip of the ice-berg" in that it actually extends far deep into the Earth's crust (or that the ice-berg extends deep into the water). This wasn't known by scientists until maybe... the last 300 years? Ha, much less than that.
And I say it states the Quran hopes its beliefs will be pushed further and further geographically, since it claims the earth is made as a wide expanse and whatnot. Should it back up the claim that tectonic plates exist, it could've said so more clearly (or maybe even said that the planet is filled with hot hotness on the inside).
quote:
The Quran 6:125
"Those whom Allah wants to guide, He opens their chests to Islam; And those whom He wants to leave astray, He makes their chests tight and constricted, as if they are ascending to the sky:"
So some random guy in the desert (no mountains...) knows about what happens when you climb high into the sky.
I beg your pardon?
quote:
The Quran 27:88
"You see the mountains and think they are firmly fixed: but they are moving away just like the clouds are moving away: (such is) the artistry of Allah, Who disposes of all things in perfect order: For He knows all what you do."
Yes, the mountains move, unbeknowest to the people 1,400 years ago. And if you don't believe that they do, just look up continental drift for an example.
Having just come from a series of earthquakes, I'd like to say that the "perfect order" here is a bit less than perfect. If someone wants to brag about moving mountains, we'd definitely appreciate if he could do it more smoothly.
quote:
The Quran 36:40
"It is not allowable for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming."
Certainly ahead of the heliocentric stuff in its time. Also states that the sun is in an orbit, not just the Earth.
Does it say the Earth is moving in circles as well? And that the sun is in the middle? It sounds exactly like the heliocentric stuff of its time.
quote:
The Quran 24:40
"Or like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with waves topped by waves, topped by clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hand, he will not see it! If Allah does not give light to a person he will not have light!"
Firstly, it states that in the depths of the ocean there is no light to the point where you wouldn't be able to see you hand in front of you. Okay, fine, that would be easy to guess: just look deep into a lake and you can conclude that yourself. But how bout the information that there are "waves topped by waves?" There are actually waves in the ocean itself, not just on the surface. They are called internal waves. Look them up, and see how they have been discovered only in the last century (not the last 1,400 years).
You forgot the clouds. It just says everything is blocking the light, and that's far from a scientific insight.
quote:
The Quran 96:15-16
"No indeed! If he does not stop, We will grab him by the forelock, a lying, sinful forelock."
The front of the brain is the part of the brain that is responsible for us planning out our movements and also lying (or rather, making judgements). See what wikipedia has to say about this area of the brain (click here). I'm sure people over only a hundred did not know that the front of the brain is the part that is responsible for judgement, and thus, sinning and lying (in cases of bad judgement).
Does it really saying people ought to be grabbed by their frontal cortex?! Now THAT's hardcore!
quote:
The Quran 30:2-3
"The Romans have been defeated in the lowest land on earth; but they, (even) after (this) defeat of theirs, will soon be victorious."
This verse refers to a battle between who I think was the Romans and the Byzantines. They battled on the shoreline for the dead sea. Look it up for yourself, don't take my word for it. And guess what? That place is ACTUALL the lowest land on Earth! Stated 1,400 years ago? Where did some people in a desert (not to mention with NO CLUE of the "new world" aka America) find out this information? Sure, they could have just guessed "oh, the lowest land we know is there," but it's actually the lowest land of the entire Earth (as the verse states), not just of the lands that they know. And by the way, you can also look up the story of how the Romans were victorious after that (a true fulfilled prophecy) when it seemed like it definitely was impossible.
We're still waiting by this Roman victory, whatever this war was.
woscar
:haha:
:wtf:
:(
Moongoose
quote:
Originally posted by woscar
:haha:
:wtf:
:(
Dont know whether you should laugh or cry while listening to some of those.
Speaking of the too dumb to live crowd. Heard this news story yet? Couple of weeks old now, but still a testament to human stupidity.
quote:
Here's a situation for all you aspiring managers: If you were the boss at a U.S. government agency and one of your employees complained that she was afraid of a co-worker's religious practices, what would you do?
Would it change your decision if the religion were Wicca, and the employee feared her co-worker because she thought she might cast a spell on her?
Here's how the Transportation Security Administration handled it:
It fired the witch.
Each person's story is unique, but what happened to Carole A. Smith gives us a glimpse of the work life of the 400,000-plus Wiccans in the United States. And it sheds light on work life at the TSA, where the 40,000-plus public employees who keep bad people and bad things off of airplanes have started voting this month on whether to join a union.
At New York's Albany International Airport on March 12, 2009, transportation security officer Smith was called into the office of the No. 2 TSA boss there, the assistant federal safety director for law enforcement.
Smith, then 49, was a probationary employee, on the job for just seven months. Records show that she'd had several minor disciplinary actions — she'd forgotten her name tag one time, had been a few minutes late, had stayed too long on break — but the agency classified her performance as “satisfactory.”
She was in the top 10 percent in Albany at catching weapons on the X-ray machine. She passed her skills test on the first try. She caught a woman on her way to Vietnam with $30,000 in cash. And she didn't mind working with the passengers — her training as a massage therapist kept her from being squeamish, as some officers were, about patting down elderly and special-needs passengers.
The assistant director told her he was investigating a threat of workplace violence. He said that her former mentor in on-the-job training, officer Mary Bagnoli, reported that she was afraid of Smith because she was a witch who practiced witchcraft. She accused Smith of following her on the highway one snowy evening after work and casting a spell on the heater of her car, causing it not to work. Well, actually, Bagnoli said she hadn't seen Smith's car, but she had seen Smith. “I thought to myself,” Smith recalls, “what, did she see me flying on my broom?”
well, if you believe the bible is true, you must believe that witches and wizards are real because God ordered them killed on numerous occasions. I guess firing is the best we can do these days.
