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Señor Vanilla
Australia
Melbourne
Victoria
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Oh dear, I reckon Harold is going to come up with something worse.
Either that or become an atheist.
Cough, cough.
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Señor Vanilla
Australia
Melbourne
Victoria
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Damnation, now I have to come up with another prediction too.
Obama will get re-elected.
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Chad Ellis
United States
Brookline
Massachusetts
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Harold Camping wrote: "I have never, ever told anyone I'm infallible."
No, but he called his proofs infallible.
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M@tthijs
Netherlands
NOT
Holland
Earn tons of geekgold:...
...go to VGG and add videogames to the database
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I heard there were actually people quiting their jobs and selling all their stuff because they believed him.
Why is it better to be unemployed and have (relatively) a lot of cash when the world ends?
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Gudjon Torfi Sigurdsson
Iceland
Isafjordur
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_Kael_ wrote: I heard there were actually people quiting their jobs and selling all their stuff because they believed him.
Why is it better to be unemployed and have (relatively) a lot of cash when the world ends?
Religion is a tax on simple minded people. You don't have to have a reason for throwing away your money, just belief...
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John Drake
United States
Midlothian
Virginia
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Xelforp wrote: Religion is a tax on simple minded people. You don't have to have a reason for throwing away your money, just belief...
Speaking as an Atheist, I don't believe religious people are necessary simple minded.
For most, I think religion is simply a reflection of their heritage. To these people, it is about meeting once a week to be with family and friends; a way to share stories and keep up with the gossip around town. Most religious people understand the logical fallacies in the bible (both philosophical and scientific) but choose to ignore them because that is not important to them. And of course, it helps them get over their anxiety about death.
I have no problem with religious people as described above.
What sickens me is when parents push their own anxieties onto their children and distort their perceptions of reality. To give a child a book that glorifies murder, endorses rape, and justifies cruel/unusual punishment is simply morally wrong. Now most parents don't introduce their children to the truly reprehensible parts of the bible... but they are taught that the bible is factual and they will likely be introduced to adults that use biblical scripture to defend their prejudices. The end result are children who ignore logic/reason in favor of faith and have a bunch of prejudices themselves.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
It's a Zendrum. www.zendrum.com
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_Kael_ wrote: I heard there were actually people quiting their jobs and selling all their stuff because they believed him.
Why is it better to be unemployed and have (relatively) a lot of cash when the world ends?
They don't keep the cash. They spend it. First, the coincidentally tithe 10% of their net worth to Mr. Camping. Then they go on vacations.
The idea is to end penniless and well spent.
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M@tthijs
Netherlands
NOT
Holland
Earn tons of geekgold:...
...go to VGG and add videogames to the database
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Geosphere wrote: _Kael_ wrote: I heard there were actually people quiting their jobs and selling all their stuff because they believed him.
Why is it better to be unemployed and have (relatively) a lot of cash when the world ends? They don't keep the cash. They spend it. First, the coincidentally tithe 10% of their net worth to Mr. Camping. Then they go on vacations. The idea is to end penniless and well spent.
Worse than I thought!...
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
It's a Zendrum. www.zendrum.com
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BaBang wrote: but they are taught that the bible is factual
I believe (hope) that this is only a very few fundamentalists.
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Chad Ellis
United States
Brookline
Massachusetts
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My understanding is that many of the people who sold their stuff did so in order to help pay for all the billboards proclaiming that that the end was coming.
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M@tthijs
Netherlands
NOT
Holland
Earn tons of geekgold:...
...go to VGG and add videogames to the database
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Chad_Ellis wrote: My understanding is that many of the people who sold their stuff did so in order to help pay for all the billboards proclaiming that that their end was coming. There. Fixed. Could add: 'financially'.
And I heard he said: "they will be okay" in reaction to a journalist confronting him with the fact people quit their jobs&all. Man!
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Ed Bradley
United Kingdom
Haverhill
Suffolk
The best things in life aren't things.
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I find the whole thing very sad.
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Gudjon Torfi Sigurdsson
Iceland
Isafjordur
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BaBang wrote: Xelforp wrote: Religion is a tax on simple minded people. You don't have to have a reason for throwing away your money, just belief...
Speaking as an Atheist, I don't believe religious people are necessary simple minded. For most, I think religion is simply a reflection of their heritage. To these people, it is about meeting once a week to be with family and friends; a way to share stories and keep up with the gossip around town. Most religious people understand the logical fallacies in the bible (both philosophical and scientific) but choose to ignore them because that is not important to them. And of course, it helps them get over their anxiety about death. I have no problem with religious people as described above. What sickens me is when parents push their own anxieties onto their children and distort their perceptions of reality. To give a child a book that glorifies murder, endorses rape, and justifies cruel/unusual punishment is simply morally wrong. Now most parents don't introduce their children to the truly reprehensible parts of the bible... but they are taught that the bible is factual and they will likely be introduced to adults that use biblical scripture to defend their prejudices. The end result are children who ignore logic/reason in favor of faith and have a bunch of prejudices themselves.
Yes, I was being a bit pretentious.
But you're spot on regarding religion. And actually I think that missionaries and spread of religion is the best evidence that god doesn't exist. Why would god need to start his religion in one place in the world and then depend on humans to spread it around? Absurd. Or mysterious ways...
After all, how many people really, really do believe that if they had been born elsewhere in the world where another religion was prevalent, that they would still be of the same religion as they are now?
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M@tthijs
Netherlands
NOT
Holland
Earn tons of geekgold:...
...go to VGG and add videogames to the database
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BaBang wrote: Xelforp wrote: Religion is a tax on simple minded people. You don't have to have a reason for throwing away your money, just belief...
Speaking as an Atheist, I don't believe religious people are necessary simple minded.
Religion is a tax on simple minded people.
Religion isn't a tax on not-simple minded people.
Meaning: there are a lot smart religious people who will take the bible, the end of the world and the outcries of 1 person with a grain of salt. Who incorporate their believes firmly in the reality they inhabit.
But for the simple minded, taxing it is.
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Leo Zappa
United States
Aliquippa
Pennsylvania
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Geosphere wrote: BaBang wrote: but they are taught that the bible is factual I believe (hope) that this is only a very few fundamentalists.
Paul, you are correct. I'm Roman Catholic, which remains the single largest denomination of Christianity (1.1 billion Catholics worldwide, which is just over half of all Christians). The Catholic Church certainly does NOT teach that the Bible is factual in its entirety, especially as regards the Old Testament. For example, the Church agrees with the scientific theory of Evolution, rather than a strict interpretation of the "six day" creation story in Genesis.
It might help some atheists on this board to be taken more seriously in debates about religion if they actually spent a bit of time to study the various religions and understand the differences between them. To otherwise make broad sweeping (and often mistaken) generalizations on the subject does nothing to lend credibility to their arguments.
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Christopher Bird
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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desertfox2004 wrote: The Catholic Church certainly does NOT teach that the Bible is factual in its entirety, especially as regards the Old Testament. For example, the Church agrees with the scientific theory of Evolution, rather than a strict interpretation of the "six day" creation story in Genesis.
It's also worth noting that the Catholic Church doesn't recognize the book of Revelations as being anything other than allegorical - along with the Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians, and the Orthodox Church doesn't even recognize Revelations as canon. Rapture theory exists almost exclusively in the American evangelical tradition.
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Leo Zappa
United States
Aliquippa
Pennsylvania
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mightygodking wrote: desertfox2004 wrote: The Catholic Church certainly does NOT teach that the Bible is factual in its entirety, especially as regards the Old Testament. For example, the Church agrees with the scientific theory of Evolution, rather than a strict interpretation of the "six day" creation story in Genesis. It's also worth noting that the Catholic Church doesn't recognize the book of Revelations as being anything other than allegorical - along with the Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians, and the Orthodox Church doesn't even recognize Revelations as canon. Rapture theory exists almost exclusively in the American evangelical tradition.
Exactly. In specific to the OP's subject, the Catholic Church does not support the notion of 'rapture', which is why Catholics around the world joined the majority of humanity in snickering at Mr.Camping's "prediction".
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Chad_Ellis wrote: My understanding is that many of the people who sold their stuff did so in order to help pay for all the billboards proclaiming that that the end was coming.
Interesting side story. One of my wife and I's friends whose an artist was recently preparing for an Erotic Art show in Seattle, had a T-Shirt shop turn down her order on religious grounds. (I didn't see the image for the shirt, but I'm guessing it was 'erotic')
Anyway, seeing all of these billboards last week, I told my wife, that I think if I were the billboard owner I would have probably had to do the same thing, or reverse I guess, and turn down the job on the grounds of it being potential harmful to dumb, religious people. (comma there to show I don't mean all religious people are dumb, I mean religious people that are also dumb)
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Aaron Potter
United States
Riverside
California
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desertfox2004 wrote:
Paul, you are correct. I'm Roman Catholic, which remains the single largest denomination of Christianity (1.1 billion Catholics worldwide, which is just over half of all Christians). The Catholic Church certainly does NOT teach that the Bible is factual in its entirety, especially as regards the Old Testament. For example, the Church agrees with the scientific theory of Evolution, rather than a strict interpretation of the "six day" creation story in Genesis.
The problem with that, of course, is that once you acknowledge that some parts of the book are metaphors, you have no more basis to claim any of it is any more than metaphor.
Jesus "rose from the dead?" That's just a metaphor, it really means his image and reputation were 'resurrected' by his followers after his crucifixion.
Bible says men shall not sleep with men? Oh, that's a metaphor, it means you shouldn't try to take over other people's lives, not literally that being gay is bad.
Bible says there's only one God? Metaphor. It just means ours is most important.
See? There ends up being no particular religion left at all. Just mush that says whatever you want it to say.
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steven slater
England
County of Essex
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The mans a tit.
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Leo Zappa
United States
Aliquippa
Pennsylvania
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potterama wrote: desertfox2004 wrote:
Paul, you are correct. I'm Roman Catholic, which remains the single largest denomination of Christianity (1.1 billion Catholics worldwide, which is just over half of all Christians). The Catholic Church certainly does NOT teach that the Bible is factual in its entirety, especially as regards the Old Testament. For example, the Church agrees with the scientific theory of Evolution, rather than a strict interpretation of the "six day" creation story in Genesis.
The problem with that, of course, is that once you acknowledge that some parts of the book are metaphors, you have no more basis to claim any of it is any more than metaphor. Jesus "rose from the dead?" That's just a metaphor, it really means his image and reputation were 'resurrected' by his followers after his crucifixion. Bible says men shall not sleep with men? Oh, that's a metaphor, it means you shouldn't try to take over other people's lives, not literally that being gay is bad. Bible says there's only one God? Metaphor. It just means ours is most important. See? There ends up being no particular religion left at all. Just mush that says whatever you want it to say.
Aaron, everyone is entitled to their opinion!
We in the Church depend upon the Magisterium of the Church to interpret the Word of God. The Magisterium is the congregation of bishops, led by the Bishop of Rome (aka the Pope). This is the teaching authority of the Church. We depend upon them to discern what is metaphor and what is fact. You can question this mechanism if you wish, but I do not have a problem with the concept that a book, any book, can, at the same time, contain elements that are non-fiction and elements that are fiction. A lot of historical novels are like that. Michael Shara's "Killer Angels" for example. There is a lot of fictional dialog in the book that probably never happened. However, no one doubts that the battle of Gettysburg took place. In the case of the Catholic Church and the Bible, we depend upon the Magisterium to sort the fictional dialog from the facts. I'm OK with that.
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steven slater
England
County of Essex
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_Kael_ wrote: I heard there were actually people quiting their jobs and selling all their stuff because they believed him.
Why is it better to be unemployed and have (relatively) a lot of cash when the world ends?
Its easier for a rich man to enter a camel ect.
But jokes asside they used the cash to advertise this twats predictions. This is why I say hold him legaly repnsible.
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steven slater
England
County of Essex
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Geosphere wrote: _Kael_ wrote: I heard there were actually people quiting their jobs and selling all their stuff because they believed him.
Why is it better to be unemployed and have (relatively) a lot of cash when the world ends? They don't keep the cash. They spend it. First, the coincidentally tithe 10% of their net worth to Mr. Camping. Then they go on vacations. The idea is to end penniless and well spent.
And his trying it again, can he not be jailed for fraud?
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