11 comments:

• Robert Jacobs posted at 4:13 pm on Wed, Apr 10, 2013.

  Posts: 298

  Of course you do, because you don't know the truth, because it has not been revealed to you by God....

  • Link

   

• Robert Jacobs posted at 4:12 pm on Wed, Apr 10, 2013.

  Posts: 298

  The things of God are foolishness to those who do NOT believe....

  • Link

   

• Robert Jacobs posted at 4:11 pm on Wed, Apr 10, 2013.

  Posts: 298

  The fact is you cannot do good! God says the best we can do is like filthy rags to him!

  This doing good as you say, is not judged by other human beings but by God....

  And again, he says you cannot do good....

  • Link

   

• Sarah Elizabeth Tygert posted at 12:17 am on Sat, Feb 2, 2013.

  Posts: 41

  Mr. Jacobs, I understand everything you've said. As an ex-Christian and former youth leader, I've said the same things myself. It makes it difficult to comment or reply. What you've said is highly circular and exclusive. Since I do not believe, I can not see correctly, right? So my new understanding as an Atheist must has stemmed from some fall out with God... for only God gives 'true" understanding of the Bible... you really give me no way to respond to that!

  Which is fine. I respect it, and I know where it comes from. I hold no exclusivity to knowledge, I see it as something available to all. No belief, prayers, or petitions needed. Just search for it.

  If God has given us Atheists who do good the knowledge of such good, than so be it. No qualms there! Just don't see a need to believe, just keep continuing to do good. :) Which I hope we can all do, no matter what our beliefs.

  • Link

   

• Rick Houdack posted at 7:47 am on Fri, Feb 1, 2013.

  Posts: 123

  There is argument and there is discussion; the two are not mutually inclusive. There is understanding and there is comprehension; comprehension is not synonymous with belief. Many persons of faith do not comprehend what they profess to believe, explaining those gray areas away with, "God (Allah, Vishnu, etc.) works in mysterious ways..."

  True understanding of supernatural claims will naturally produce skepticism and, ultimately, disbelief.

  • Link

   

• Robert Jacobs posted at 10:43 pm on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.

  Posts: 298

  Sarah I've read your comments several times and I think you are just arguing for arguing sake. But I will answer one paragraph of your comment.

  That supposed light (and I know I've said it before) is spiritually "discerned" (through the word of God) and or "revealed" to a person by God. It is NOT figured out by brain power, because the bible says the things of God are foolishness to those who do NOT believe!

  Pray to God that he would give you understanding... Because this is the only way to truly understand the things of God....

  The fact that you Sarah know right from wrong (moral compass) is because God gave all men to know what is right and what is wrong. Without that we would be just like animals. In fact some people are pretty close, but not because they don't know right from wrong but because they choose to do certain things. (Sin)

  God bless you Sarah....

  • Link

   

• Sarah Elizabeth Tygert posted at 8:37 pm on Sat, Jan 26, 2013.

  Posts: 41

  What a presumptuous response.... "Self'-gratifying"? "Solipsism?" I didn't read a drop of that in his letter.

  You also seem to assume that a person who does not believe in God, has not read the Bible. On the contrary, many of us Atheists and Freethinkers have read it more times over than Christians, and do not see this supposed "light" you speak of.

  I second all of David's questions and will reiterate with my own voice: How does the Bible guide? How does it guide any different than one's own personal conscience? What does John 3:16 have anything to do with morality?

  • Link

   

• Andy Crowder posted at 10:39 am on Sat, Jan 26, 2013.

  Posts: 244

  David, the evidence you cite of your morality threatens the faith of Mr. Schweigerdt and other fundamentalists. To accept that goodness does not come from a magic sky man or an ancient book that glorifies murder, torture, rape, slavery, and every sort of cruelty man can cook up would destroy their belief system. Hence, no matter how giving and kind you are to this man, he has to find fault and discredit you. The fact that he does it in such a public way speaks volumes about his fears and his own morality.

  • Link

   

• Richard Beatty posted at 5:58 am on Sat, Jan 26, 2013.

  Posts: 1

  Biblical morality is a misnomer. I define morality as the quality of social relationships and the relative harm or good that results from those relationships.

  Human morality is a result of million of years of evolution...
  thousands of years of philosophical argument...
  and hundreds of years of scientific inquiry.

  Morality doesn't come from the bible any more than it comes from the Koran or Harry Potter.

  Complex social systems (morality) is evidenced in non-human organisms. One example, a resent study identified a "social" gene in fire ants. Another example, Jane Goodall documented a mother chimpanzee that lost her baby while her group was on the move, who refused to abandon the dead fetus. The group originally left her, but then little by little they returned and brought her food, that she refused to eat. They made silly faces and did silly things trying to make her smile. They put their arms around her, trying to comfort her. Slowly, they were able to coax her to move on. This delay put the individuals and the group in danger, but sympathy, empathy, and a sense of morality prompted them to take care of a grieving loved one.

  Saying the bible is the only road to morality is immoral. It is arrogant and self-centered. With all they magic and mythical belief out there, with all the hundreds of holy books and thousands of god beliefs out there, only you and yours are moral.

  I think you need to read another book, I'll get you started.

  Here's one by Steven Pinker:
  http://brainmoleculermarketing.com/2011/12/27/what-really-drives-behavior-the-seeking-system/

  Here's another by Jaak Panksepp:
  http://mybrainnotes.com/fear-rage-panic.html

  • Link

   

• David Diskin posted at 3:26 am on Sat, Jan 26, 2013.

  Posts: 121

  I realize my questions (below) may sound flippant, but *you* are the one who suggested that I need moral guidance.

  You've said that my source of morality is poor, and that my life is not up to your standards.

  Bruce, for all the free assistance I've provided Tree Lodi, the donations, the free website help, volunteering to plant trees, and promoting your organization to others, I'm shocked you would say this.

  Did you learn how to insult people from your source of morality?

  • Link

   

• David Diskin posted at 12:36 am on Sat, Jan 26, 2013.

  Posts: 121

  Mr. Schweigerdt,

  You are right that I would rather use a lantern on the bow of a ship than no light at all. Especially when the safety of my crew is in jeopardy on a hypothetical foggy night.

  But I would also argue that a lantern, a trustworthy tool used for thousands of years (50,000 perhaps), would be a better choice than The Bible.

  I could go into all of the reasons why I don't think The Bible makes a good source of morality, but I'm sure you've heard them all.

  Or I could say that everyone interprets The Bible differently, making it reflect their own feelings about morality, but my recent article basically conveyed that message.

  Instead I'll simply ask this: What makes your compass *better* than mine? How are the decisions you make better for humanity than the decisions I make? And why? What is *your* metric for morality?

  • Link