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![]() This time around, there are no RVs or signs carrying the "awesome news" of the end of the world.
October 21st, 2011
06:00 AM ET
The End, again? If it is, we thank you for your timeBy Jessica Ravitz, CNN (CNN) - In case you are reading this, might we suggest you read really fast? The world may end any minute now, if the latest doomsday prediction is on target. We realize October 21 didn’t get the shout-out that May 21 did, so our apologies if this comes as a surprise. But if you had heard the complete message the first time, you would have known. “The warning is out,” Dennis Morrell, 44, of Jacksonville, Florida, reminded us a couple of days ago. “There’s nothing else you can do.” Earlier this year, and with the backing of the Christian broadcasting network Family Radio, billboards touting May 21 as Judgment Day dotted the landscape. RVs plastered with the fateful date crisscrossed the country as believers wearing T-shirt announcements and waving fliers sounded the alarm. That was to be the day when a select 2% to 3% of the world’s population, predetermined by God, would be raptured up to heaven. Everyone else, the story went, would endure months-long judgment amid chaos, destruction and unspeakable suffering. A massive earthquake would ravage the land, bodies would be tossed about and terror would reign for the duration. Five months or exactly 153 days later, it was said, the world would disappear – which brings us to today. This was the schedule laid out by God’s word in the Bible, the faithful said. It was the plan deciphered and shared by Harold Camping, now 90, the founder of Family Radio, based in Oakland, California. Camping, who has an engineering degree, had spent more than 50 years combing through his Bible and crunching numbers embedded in scripture. Sure, he’d made a similar end-of-the-world prediction for September 6, 1994, but who hasn’t been tripped up by biblical verses? With additional studying, calculations and new signs that would be revealed later, he said earlier this year that he had no doubts this time around. “I know it’s absolutely true, because the Bible is always absolutely true,” he told CNN before May 21. “If I were not faithful that would mean that I’m a hypocrite.” Problem is, May 21 came and went, and the world remained the same. Soon the billboards disappeared. The T-shirts and hats worn by believers got tossed. The RVs were quietly parked, tucked away in storage yards, possibly sold. Camping came forth, two days later, with an explanation - and his last news conference. October 21 would still be the end, he said, but a “loving and merciful” God had opted to spare humanity the five months of turmoil. A couple of weeks later, Camping had a stroke. He is said to be recuperating at home after a hospital and rehab stay and has only made a handful of radio addresses in the months since. Family Radio declined our requests to interview him. Fred Store, a 66-year-old retired electrician and longtime Family Radio listener, dedicated seven months of his life to sharing the “awesome news” that was the May 21 message. He led a caravan of believers, five RVs strong, on a tour of the United States for Family Radio. He was in Boston in May when he expected to be raptured up to heaven. When nothing happened, “We were caught by surprise. ... But we realize now that it’s very possible that we misunderstood some of the things we thought were true,” Store said this week from his home in Sacramento, California, where he has put up a number of caravan friends. “I believe that October 21 is the end, and I trust in God. Whatever way he chooses to end things will be perfect.” On the Family Radio website, the May 21 events, or nonevents, have been clarified. “What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what he wanted to happen. That was to warn the whole world that on May 21 God’s salvation program would be finished. ... For the next five months, except for the elect (the true believers), the whole world is under God’s final judgment,” the statement reads. As for that massive, body-flinging earthquake anticipated by believers, well, it turned out to be less literal. “We always look at the word ‘earthquake’ to mean the earth, or ground, is quaking or shaking violently. However, in the Bible the word ‘earth’ can include people as well as ground. ... Therefore we have learned from our experience of last May 21 what actually happened. All of mankind was shaken with fear. Indeed the Earth (or mankind) did quake in a way it had never before been shaken.” No one was raptured on May 21, but that’s just because “universal judgment” will come on the last day. “The elect” or “true believers” are still guaranteed their day of rapture, and everyone else will be “annihilated together with the whole physical world.” For Paul Anatiychuk, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, the way this played out has been a relief, a blessing. A husband and father of two children, ages 8 and 9, he wasn’t sure if his own family members would be saved. The thought of leaving them behind on May 21, to suffer what would come over the next five months, troubled him. “God tortures them while we’re hanging in the clouds?” he said this week. “It didn’t completely fit.” Now, Anatiychuk said, he can take solace knowing that when he’s saved, sinners will simply die. “Of course (the world) has to be destroyed and burned up by fire,” he said. “But it’s going to be very quiet.” Finding a way to save faith, and face, is part of the process when a prophecy fails, said Lorenzo DiTommaso, an associate professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal, who has been studying apocalyptic worldviews for a dozen years. He said those who become disillusioned aren’t quick to talk, and the rest find a new way to spin what has transpired. When nothing happened on May 21, Camping was left with a choice, said DiTommaso, whose book, “The Architecture of Apocalypticism,” is scheduled for publication next spring. Camping could have admitted he was wrong. He could have said the calculations were off and needed further analysis. Or he could have spiritualized the apocalypse, which is exactly what he did, DiTommaso said. That tack, that way of looking at the apocalypse, has a long history, he said, and dates back to early Christian theologians. Tyconius, in the late fourth century, took this approach, as - more notably - did Augustine in the early fifth century. Augustine “preferred to understand the millennium predicted in the Revelation of John in spiritual and metaphoric rather than literal terms,” DiTommaso said. He “sought to diminish the emphasis on hard calculations.” The obvious advantage of this sort of interpretation for a man like Camping, who has prided himself on his numbers, is that he can “divorce himself a little bit from the fact that he was so darn wrong.” What Camping will say - if anything - come Saturday, assuming there is a Saturday, is anyone’s guess. But DiTommaso said a new explanation, perhaps a new doomsday date, may be on the horizon. It would be just another in a long line of end-time predictions across the ages. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another attempt” by Camping, he said. “If he were an artist, this is his masterpiece, his life work.” |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team. |
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For the bible-thumpers – i presume God-Fearing Bush prayed plenty – and many of you prayed for him.... how did those 8 years work out??? Without prayer, i guess it could've been worse??
What would Peter Griffin do?
What would Brian Boitano do?
im a true believer in god and its not the world ending its when he comes back to take his children up with him.nobody knows when the world is ending but whoever doesnt believe then you will be left
Brainwashed- U and your stupid dreaming (believed).
Du ma thang ngu!!
Delusional fool
What Jesus said about the tribulation:
"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. Rationalize it any way you want! Come up with all the excuses you want! Talk about the Piscean age lasting 2000 years, or whatever. It wasn't a parable. It wasn't a misinterpretation. You people pick and choose and twist your Bible verses to fit into your belief system, especially concerning the end times, there is absolutely no question about it! Case in point, the Left Behind series... many people are still taking crap from this work of fiction about the 'rapture' and presenting it as truth!
Wake up!
of course it didnt happen, because it is yet to come. But only on HIS terms. say what you will. ).) -> (.(
JA, you don't understand. Jesus is quoted as saying that he would return before his generation of people passed. "HIS" time is up, and has been for many centuries. There won't be a return. He's friggin dead.
No shazzles, you dont understand. typical atheist you are. you pick one verse, but dont even bother to read the whole story. Jesus was talking about when his people (jews) will return to their homeland. Which started in 1947 and is still happening. We are the generation Jesus was talking about.
I do not interpret that verse that way. I still think that he was referring to the transfiguration in that verse, which happened a couple of chapters later. I do not really see any reason to think that is not what he meant. Then there is another verse that says you will see me at the right hand of God, which means in heaven.
Jesus is just a person (human) cult like follower. back in the day with ice age technologies and his cult like follower patting his stat making him with super power hero .....
Just like this nut prediction, Jeff Warren, David Koresh, Hitler, that crazy worthless church group (cult) in Kansas.... and if you run in any of them follower, and they will defend each one of their ffing belived just like you are to your Jesus....
"Jesus was talking about when his people (jews) will return to their homeland. "
-How you can possibly get that interpretation out of that verse is entirely beyond me. Wow. You're REALLY stretching to try to make current events fit into your scripture. That is definitely not what that passage says. That square peg doesn't fit into that round hole.
Issac Newton predicted the end of the worlds will be on 2060...? While others said 11/11/2011 or 14/03/2012 any way what ever they predicts, it is only GOD who knows when and no one else...!
What god?
The Only GOD the GOD of Abraham...
How do you know for sure you have the right god? If you're wrong, then what?
With only one GOD existing then can't go wrong... The dispute here is how is he to be worshiped and thought of that is making all the difference among all otherwise we are all one nation of a one GOD..!
You understand what I meant to say "GOD is one but Religions§ors became so many..!!
Read this Q/Verse;
"For each of you, we have decreed laws and different rites. Had GOD willed, He could have made you one congregation. But He thus puts you to the test through the revelations He has given each of you. You shall compete in righteousness. To GOD is your final destiny – all of you – then He will inform you of everything you had disputed." (05:48)
Mr. Camping is a fascinating case study on how blind faith can turn people into a delusional mess! 🙂
http://500questions.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/doesnt-faith-make-us-more-susceptible-to-delusion/
thank god im atheist.
R'amen!
I'm with you on that and occasionally I find myself praying there's no Hell.
Epistle to the Hateful X-tian Fundies (and they know who they are):
The fundamental error in your "thinking" (if it may be called such) is the false assumption that all those who do not believe as you essentially believe in "nothing." SCIENCE and REASON provide the individual with a far richer perspective and deeper knowledge of the universe than the MYTHS of RELIGION ever can or will. Your refusal to acknowledge or accept this is a direct failure of your flawed belief system.
Here endeth the lesson.
I would be glad to fail your lesson.
@JA: By dint of response you already have. :-]
Thanks ill be here all day.
JA, then you are slave and fond of your shackles. Now go join the rest of your flock. BAAAA!! BAAAAAA!!!!
As born again child of God, I first just want to say, thank you dear God for allowing me to live in the good ole USA, where i do not have to believe, or agree with other beliefs and follow other people who believe they know everything, when clearly they have not read your holy precious word.
Rev. 22:7 (kJV) Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepth the sayings of the prophecy of his book. SO, yes one day our father in heaven will send his son back to gather his childern home. We do not know when, or what time he will be back, because well, he didnt say in his word when he would return.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life, SO, we see here that God loves everyone and everyone has a chance to be his child. So this pre-determind stuff is trash. God doesnt push him self on any one, but is standing there with out reached hands waiting for you to come to him.
Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgivness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. So, for those of you who thinks it is ok to say that God isn't real, or that Christians such as myself are stupid, and need to get a life, I just want to reassure you that we have a life, and will conitune to live forever even after this old world is in flames. We will be living in glory with our father who gaves us life through his son Jesus Christ.
I would rather live every day of my life in hopes of being with God one day then to be lost in my sin's and be threw in the burning flames of Hell. I have lived for the World, and had nothing but hardships, lost, and guilt. But one day i chose to give my life to Jesus adn I have never been the same. Yes, I still face battles, but now at the end fo those battles I have a GREAT victory in some way. I also have a great and mighty Father who helps in the fights. Never fight alone again!
News flash, This just in... There is no GOD!!! 😀
As born again child of God,
----–
You are a child of God. As is every living creature that inhabits this world, even if they don't believe the same things that you do.
"I would rather live every day of my life in hopes of being with God one day then to be lost in my sin's and be threw in the burning flames of Hell. "
Well, then let's hope you're believing in the right god. And using the correct interpretation of his heavily translated words. If you're wearing cotton blends right now, for instance, you had better hope that he wasn't very serious about the whole not-wearing-mixed-textiles thing.
If these particular scripture selections offer you comfort and hope, then I am totally convinced you have genuinely lead a life of torment and anguish prior to your born again experience. These passages give me the creeps, but then again I was born pretty good the first time. I offer only one bit of advice that might guarantee your continued bliss. Seek the services of a conservatorship.
A conservatorship is a court- ordered protective relationship whereby an individual is appointed to manage another person’s financial affairs after that person has become unable to do so.
You sound very vulnerable.
@MommaC07
I appreciate your comment. I hope, you are no member of any re-baptizing American Free Church, but of the true Church, which keeps the one Holy Baptism.
lol
Funny joke.
Rainer which is the true church? Do you mean Catholicism?
@Rainer, yes I believe that you must be born again , and then bapt in order to go to Heaven. I do not, believe that bapt is what gets you into Heaven. I also believe that the whole body shold be bapt, not just your foerhead. LOL!
And thank you, Theoretical Divinity, for allowing me to read MommaC07's supremely smug post and still come up smiling...
Momma, check your bible again. There are different ways to get to heaven in the bible. They contradict each other. You aren't going to heaven. I promise.
@MommaC07
The Early Church teached that someone must get born out of Water and Spirit (sacramental baptism), but the Early Church did not teach that someone must get born again.
According to Mark 16: 16, we get saved by faith and baptism. At baptism we get connected with Christ's death and resurrection. This becomes effective in our life by faith. The faith is caused by the Holy Spirit, which dwells in the true Church.
Mark 16: 16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mark 16: 16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
---------
What about people born into a region of the world that would never have a chance to even learn who Jesus was, or learn the version of God that you believe? Those people(created by God as were you) will be "damned"?
Delusional! Stop giving some unknown, sky daddy credit where credit is not due. If you gave your life to god, you have only given your life to your own mind...that is the only place your god of exists.
I've seen numerous cases of conmen attempting to take advantage of frightened and sometimes demented older people. Silencing these false prophets would most likely contradict their first amendment rights but I can see ordinances prohibiting them from accepting money as holding up in criminal courts and ultimately civil courts where these vile people could be sued into abject poverty.
I would delight in seeing this 90-year-old Camping SOB living in some flea-bitten refrigerator box.
I presume these idiots vote GOP also--
Camping is insane as was JC. JC's family and friends had it right 2000 years ago ( Mark 3: 21 "And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.")
@Reality
At least you admit that Jesus really existed.
I wonder how an alleged insane man could influence history so strongly. By his influence the civilized world (Roman Empire) became Christian. Isn't that notable?
And Nero fiddled while Rome burned. He was insane too, and I'd say he had an impact. Doesn't make him anybody's savior.
Oh, and the Edict of Milan is the reason that the Romans stopped using Christians as human torches, courtesy of the 99% pagan Constantine. It was also the single worst thing that ever happened to Christianity. Jesus would be so proud.
Actually, Jesus was a bit "touched". After all he thought he spoke to Satan, thought he changed water into wine, thought he raised Lazarus from the dead etc. In today's world, said Jesus would be declared legally insane.
Or did P, M, M, L and J simply make him into a first century magic-man via their epistles and gospels of semi-fiction? Most contemporary NT experts after thorough analyses of all the scriptures go with the latter magic-man conclusion with John's gospel being mostly fiction.
Obviously, today's followers of Paul et al's "magic-man" are also a bit on the odd side believing in all the Christian mumbo jumbo about bodies resurrecting, and exorcisms, and miracles, and "magic-man atonement, and infallible, old, European/Utah , white men, and 24/7 body/blood sacrifices followed by consumption of said sacrifices. Yummy!!!!
So why do we really care what a first century CE, illiterate, long-dead, preacher man would do or say?
Leave you headshot at the gate, we'll get back to your agent....
People still believe in this stuff? I honestly feel bad for Camping. The guy has a engineering degree but spent half a century reading nonsense and trying to extract reality from it. The bible was written by man. Guess what else is written by man? Tabloid magazines. If we can't even get the latest celebrity gossip reported accurately, what makes you think a handful of men 2000 years ago got their stuff right? Imagine the look of disappointment on Camping face when May 21st passed just like every other day.
The complete "HARMONY" of this world's Bio-genetics in that it takes all manner of Life to sustain all LIFE is not sheer coincidence but to me is of intellectual conditioning of a supreme desire. Anti-theists close their eyes in not seeing the bio-genetic rhythms of superlative designation that life needs all LIFE regardless of the smaller or greater in life needs and Life needfulness. To thumb one's noses in an uppity fashion is vulgar prudence plain and simple. For all the factors of which Life began and became cannot be based on sheer luck or happenstance. A steadied rhythmic sequence of thought-measured consideration in the building up of LIFE out of life needs goes without saying. Let the Anti-theists think life is but a random chance thing. We who know it took an intelligent designer to bring all mannerisms of LIFE stand apart from 'anti-theists'.
Yeah, they are called a more advanced civilization from another world 🙂
best be on your best behavior... so no more sinning mr. G-D!!! that means no more lieing, being proud of anything.... now now, i can see the sad face, its ok... afterall, your god is a fake one! yay
This same intelligent designer who also gave us such wonders as cancer, ebola, and an organ that provides almost no value, is unnecessary, and can kill. Your designer is either not intelligent or sadistic. Or doesn't exist.
@G-D
Attempting to obfuscate the redundancy of the creationist hypothesis with polysyllabic terminology?
Let's dumb it down.
'Goddidit' answers all questions.
@ Religion is bad mmmmkay et al,,,,,,
It is a possibility but I lean towards aliens from our inside being cosmologies wherein they built us from the inside outwardly.
Luk 17:21 "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is inside/within you."
We who know it took an intelligent designer
---–
Easy there, big fella. I too believe in a greater being/creator/God. But, I think we need to have enough humility to state freely that we don't "know" anything for fact, outside of what we're able to prove through science. You display a large degree of arrogance when you say "I know....". Instead, try something along the lines of "I believe...", but also admit you have no proof to back up what you believe.
Wow G-D you really are nuttier than squirrel turds..
Using big words only makes you sound smart if you use them correctly, G-D. Religion was created out of fear of the unknown and the lack of ability to discover the truth for ourselves. Explanations created by early man to make us feel better amidst the vast unknown. You'd think that, as a whole, we should already be beyond needing it as it's already outlived its usefulness and now has become simply a hindrance to the advancement of mankind.
The G-D is about as bright as the authors of the bible which is full of obvious mistakes. No wonder religion continues being passed from generation to generation. Just like cancer.
To summarize decades of biology, astronomy, physics, and chemistry:
Given gravity, the universe was bound to happen. Given carbon, life was bound to happen.
When you have only 1 variable to work with, any given result is only a matter of time.
...I don't see a god anywhere in there, unless his name is Gravity.
The only Jesus I worship is Jesus (Hay-Sus) the mexican cook at the French Laundry in Napa. Man that guy can really make a good duck confit.
Hahaaha Nice!!!
When are they going to arrest Camping and close down the Christian Scamcasting Network for the con artists they are ? They bilk millions out of people every year with this crap and are obviously nothing more than students of "a sucker born every minute" philosophy. They are criminals who hide behind religion.
"There was no Holocaust!" (Do you get angry now or not? I am even a German.)
The truth of the Holy Bible
Yes, the Bible was written by human beings, but that doesn't contradict it's divine truth.
Science has proved that the Bible was widespread in the Roman Empire yet in the second century after Christ (ancient papyri). Very many very old copies of the New Testament and parts of the New Testament have survived. It is clear that when the copies of a book are very old the book itself must be very old. Thus, you can prove that the genuine New Testament was written not long after Jesus' Ascension.
Yet when the people of the Roman Empire were aware of the historical Jesus, the Bible spread. Assumed the people had thought of Jesus or the apostles to be impostors, any refutation of the Bible had been drafted. As far as I know, no contemporary of Jesus or the apostles or someone, who lived some years after them, has drafted a refutation. Obviously, the New Testament was true and the people of the Roman Empire could not reject it, because there was no objective reason.
Still today, many decades after the Holocaust, nobody can deny it. Somebody could even get punished for that. Of course, in 500 years someone could dare to deny the Holocaust and all the more someone, who lives 1000 years later. But even in 3000 years copies of docu-ments, confirming the Holocaust, will probably be found. Many years after an event the awareness of it reduces and needs to be confirmed by historical docu-ments.
Thank God, that the old papyri were found in the dry desert of Egypt, where thy did not rot.
What do you have to say about the Ancient Sumerian clay tablets that were written far longer than the dead sea scrolls along with numerous stone tablets, cave writings & hyroglifics that date back thousands of years before Christianity and the people who wrote the old testament? You're Holocaust & Bible theory has more holes than the Iraqi Navy my friend!!
> "There was no Holocaust!" (Do you get angry now or not? I am even a German.)
That's right and the moon landing didn't happen and 9/11 was an inside job.
> Yes, the Bible was written by human beings, but that doesn't contradict it's divine truth.
The bible contains many mistakes, that's easily provable. For example, the moon is not a source of light. Since the bible contains mistakes, you need to re-verify all information in the bible and cannot logically take it on faith.
> Science has proved that the Bible was widespread in the Roman Empire yet in the second century after Christ (ancient papyri).
You have no idea what science is if you think science can prove that.
> Very many very old copies of the New Testament and parts of the New Testament have survived.
Yes, including some things that are excluded from the bible.
> It is clear that when the copies of a book are very old the book itself must be very old. Thus, you can prove that the genuine New Testament was written not long after Jesus' Ascension.
40 years after. Not to mention, the books of Matt, Mark, Luke and John often contradict each other. Different numbers of people, different actions taken, etc. And no, this isn't a difference of viewpoint. We're talking about radically different descriptions.
> Yet when the people of the Roman Empire were aware of the historical Jesus, the Bible spread.
Many romans didn't believe in Jesus. In fact, the term atheist was coined because of christians who didn't believe in all the roman gods. It wasn't until later that rome adopted christianity. But because they did does not prove the bible is true any more then Islam sweeping the middle east proves that the Quran is true.
> Assumed the people had thought of Jesus or the apostles to be impostors, any refutation of the Bible had been drafted.
No idea what you're saying here.
> As far as I know, no contemporary of Jesus or the apostles or someone, who lived some years after them, has drafted a refutation.
So what? Just because someone didn't write a refutation means it's true? That's just stupid. No one wrote a refutation to Nostradamus when he was alive. Does that mean he was correct?
> Obviously, the New Testament was true and the people of the Roman Empire could not reject it, because there was no objective reason.
Given your previous answers, you have no clue what rational or objective objections are.
> Still today, many decades after the Holocaust, nobody can deny it. Somebody could even get punished for that.
What are you talking about now?
> Of course, in 500 years someone could dare to deny the Holocaust and all the more someone, who lives 1000 years later. But even in 3000 years copies of docu-ments, confirming the Holocaust, will probably be found. Many years after an event the awareness of it reduces and needs to be confirmed by historical docu-ments.
Sorry, but this is where you go full on stupid. The holocaust does not have the same standard of evidence becacuse it does not violate the natural laws of the universe. But even if they were the same standard of evidence, we have far more evidence for the holocaust then Jesus. We have videotapes and visual records of the events. We have artifacts from the event. We have people still alive who survived being killed.
What do we have for the bible? The author's say so.
That is insufficient. Just like it's insufficient for claims that people have been abducted by aliens.
> Thank God, that the old papyri were found in the dry desert of Egypt, where thy did not rot.
That's right, God has an important message but chooses to give that message in primitive middle east to a bunch of stupified peasants that speak a language that no longer exists and leaves no actual evidence of such an event.
That God is a fool if it wants to achieve it's goal of having us know what he wants us to know. And for being an all powerful God, he sure seems to rely on the actions of humans to keep the concept going.
Do you not see how ridiculous this is?
I couldn't have said it better myself Bobinator
Bob, you can throw TRUE facts about the Bible at these people all day long and it rolls off their back like water. As you stated, and it is absolute fact, the gospels (not just the Bible) contains MANY contradictions and refutes itself left and right. How anyone can read them and not have a light bulb come on is beyond me, but it seems to me that the vast majority of those of the 'faith' don't have much brains to use in the first place. Faith is apparently a shield against facts, rationalism, logic, and anything else that doesn't fit into their idea of what God is or says. They have a kooky answer for anything, although it usually never even answers the question that was originally asked. Or they just flat out ignore you when they can't answer your refutations and it once again comes back to 'faith'. Brainwashed sheep, nothing more, nothing less. This guy won't address any of your points, he'll just keep going on about 'faith' and the 'divine' nature of the Bible.
Every religious nutcase will defend their chosen religion – that is a fact. They will overlook any detail to continue with their belief system. Why is it that they do this? Because they have nothing else to fall back onto. It's like (a job) or a skill set, they only have one skill. They abandon knowledge and education to search for the faith of leverage – the security blanket for not accepting reality. For not accepting death.
Instead of not wasting time on thinking about death – they actively do it. To paint death as painless.. to paint it as sorrowless and that they will find a place in the afterlife. Small minds will cling to any of those things and they will refuse to give it up – no matter what. Education is what they really need. A good dose of psychology will set their fears apart from becoming overwhelming. This is the solution.
No such Heaven
No such Hell
......Gods or Devils
All are made to believed, so there are people will choose to belong and follow.
Same old nonsense that has been gonig on since the dawn of time, scare others to beLIEve in what you are saying. What better way then to say the world is going to end and you will go to hell for eternity if you don't repent and beLIEve. Too bad zealots breed like rabbits and keep the human race from evolving into more intelligent creatures.
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
If it was true then, it was true now! Politicians and evangelics got it all wrong when they say the founding fathers based this country on religion. NOPE!!!