A wise man once put my views of religion very succinctly. That man was Paul Dirac, the founder of quantum physics.
"I cannot understand why we idle discussing religion. If we are honest—and scientists have to be—we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a product of the human imagination. It is quite understandable why primitive people, who were so much more exposed to the overpowering forces of nature than we are today, should have personified these forces in fear and trembling. But nowadays, when we understand so many natural processes, we have no need for such solutions. I can't for the life of me see how the postulate of an Almighty God helps us in any way. What I do see is that this assumption leads to such unproductive questions as why God allows so much misery and injustice, the exploitation of the poor by the rich and all the other horrors He might have prevented. If religion is still being taught, it is by no means because its ideas still convince us, but simply because some of us want to keep the lower classes quiet. Quiet people are much easier to govern than clamorous and dissatisfied ones. They are also much easier to exploit. Religion is a kind of opium that allows a nation to lull itself into wishful dreams and so forget the injustices that are being perpetrated against the people. Hence the close alliance between those two great political forces, the State and the Church. Both need the illusion that a kindly God rewards—in heaven if not on earth—all those who have not risen up against injustice, who have done their duty quietly and uncomplainingly. That is precisely why the honest assertion that God is a mere product of the human imagination is branded as the worst of all mortal sins."
If, you insist on arguing with your girlfriend bible thumper mother, the easiest thing to do is know more about her bible than she does; but don't come off as arrogant. This is the
only way to make a believer upset in their believes.
She mentions that God instructed Noah to load 2 of every animal onto the ark? Pipe in with, "Well actually, He also instructed Noah to carry on 14 of clean Jewish animals, such as cows, in 7 pairs." Mentions how the water rose for 40 days and nights? "Well, actually, water also flowed from the deep, and rose for at least 150 days."
Behemoth and Leviathan? Mention Ziz.
Mentions that there's only one God? "Well, actually, Canaanism, one of the first forerunners to Judaism, and later, Christianity and Islam, identifies at least 25 gods, though they only worshiped the God of modern Semitic religions, Yahweh. In fact, the Book of Jeremiah, mentions the wife of Yahweh, Asherah, as the "Queen of Heaven", in chapters 7 and 44."
If you learn _everything_ about Christianty's history, and consistently enough are able to provide her with Biblical references contrary to her claims, she'll eventually doubt what she "knows". This will either have the effect of her eventually saying, "How do you know so much about Christianity?", at which point, you introduce the topic of atheism, and state why, from your learned perspective, you do not believe in a god. Or, destroying her mentally.
Either way, and no matter the outcome of the first, she'll respect you. No matter the outcome of the second, she'll stop bugging you about it.
Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 5 2009, 2:01 am by Syphon.
None.