church's view of atheist thanksgiving

[Marc]

The West Georgia Church of Christ was sooo kind enough to write up what an Atheist has to be thankful for. Basically boils down to being thankful for christians.:nope:

Atheists Thanksgiving (http://www.westgacofc.org/id18.html)

[Yahweh]

That little "Grace as told by your average everyday typical Atheist" was absolute awful.

Fortunately, I did get a kick out of reading this equally awful (by hilarious 10 fold!) analogy at the bottom:
A woman was asked by a coworker, “What is it like to be a Christian?” The coworker replied, “It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed and carves you a new smiling face. Then He puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.”
From another thread discussing this analogy: "God loves us so much he'll give you a lobatomy and carves you a new smile". I cant image any Christian saying "that analogy is SPOT ON!"...

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Marc
The West Georgia Church of Christ was sooo kind enough to write up what an Atheist has to be thankful for. Basically boils down to being thankful for christians. No mention of the author's name, I notice.

[CWL]

A woman was asked by a coworker, “What is it like to be a Christian?” The coworker replied, “It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed and carves you a new smiling face. Then He puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.”

Does anybody besides myself find this analogy truly frightening?

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by CWL

Does anybody besides myself find this analogy truly frightening? This analogy has been brought up on this board before, hasn't it?

[CWL]

Originally posted by Upchurch
This analogy has been brought up on this board before, hasn't it?

Yes, here (http://host.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&postid=1870101373&highlight=pumpkin+christian#post1870101373)

Still gives me the heebie-jeebies though.

[Kullervo]

Would any Christians be at all offended to see an anonymous atheist speaking on their behalf?

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Kullervo
Would any Christians be at all offended to see an anonymous atheist speaking on their behalf?
"While I believe in God, I'm glad there are those out there who don't and look at the world in a rational and objective way, free from cultural and traditionally imposed world views."

[Keziah Mason]

Oh yeah, that first person doing the speaking is sooooo convincingly an atheist :rolleyes:


Does anybody besides myself find this analogy truly frightening?

The even more frightening thing is that after you sit around a while without the seeds, the carver comes back, removes your flesh, and bakes a pie!

[Kullervo]

That's a good start Upchurch. Let me try one:

"Although I believe in the resurrection and the life everlasting and the utter worthlessness of the flesh, I'm sincerely grateful that those who choose to cast their immortal souls into the fiery pit by curing disease, improving the productivity of the farmland, purifying my drinking water, repairing cleft palates, and inventing painless dentistry."

(Because deep down, I really dislike starvation, dysentary, facial deformity, and halitosis caused by abscessed teeth)

[jimlintott]

Christians are like jack o' lanterns. Funny that she would make herself analogous to the main symbol of a heathen festival.

I used to be a pumpkin but now I am only a shell of my former self. This face isn't really mine but don't I look happy.

[CWL]

Good contributions, brothers UpFunk and Funkervo. Now let me give it a shot:

"Although I believe in that the written word of the Holy Bible is an inviolable axiom on which all laws must be based, I'm thankful to be surrounded by those who don't. Otherwise, I shudder to think about what kind of society this would be, because a society that would be unable to adapt its laws to the requirements of a modern state based on democratic principles and the rule of law would also be capable of unspeakable atrocities, including but not limited to Draconian punishments for actions of no consequence, forced dress codes, warmongering, terrorism, genocide, etc."

[jimmygun]

My own contribution if I may...

'Although I believe in Jesus and am a Christian, I am thankful to live in a country where secular laws prevent religious fanatics from torturing, lynching and burning at the stake in the name of their god.'

[Marc]

"Although I know Jesus is my god, I am thankful for the atheists who, in questioning God's creation, advanced science so I can live to be 100, through vacinations, transplants, and other medical technology. I am thankful for the creation of weather satelites to warn us of impending storms, though the Bible speaks of the flat earth"

[jimmygun]

I wonder if the West Georgia Church of Christ would publish some of our suggestions for their thanksgiving in their paper? Probably not. Don't want to spread a lot of thought around.:(

[Yahweh]

So the Christian says to the Atheist, "What's it like being an Atheist?". The Atheist replies "Its like being free. Freedom from the restraining stranglehold of self-deceit. Its freedom from fear, freedom from ignorance, freedom from 'god'. You have the freedom to view the world in a brand new eye, you see things no longer in blind faith. You are tolerant and accepting to people of all races, creeds, and genders, you are free to say 'no bigoted beliefs can be justified through religion'. And with the freedom comes the priveledge of progress, no longer is one trapped in the Dark Ages of belief in witches, dragons, demons, or fantasy worlds. Its a freedom that does not obscure truth with mythological fantasy. The freedom all atheists give themselves is a gift no magical bedtime-story fairytale can ever hope to provide."

Edit: Grammatical mistake... it was like, so important that I fix it, it was a glaring HUGE error that just putrified this post... [/subtlehumor]

[UserGoogol]

And the Christian says: "I pity you."

[c4ts]

I am thankful for the fact that Christian churches can no longer tell me what to think.

[volant]

Originally posted by c4ts
I am thankful for the fact that Christian churches can no longer tell me what to think.
They still tell me what to think, I just don't listen.

[RussDill]

Originally posted by Yahweh
So the Christian says to the Atheist, "What's it like being an Atheist?". The Atheist replies "Its like being free. Freedom from the restraining stranglehold of self-deceit. Its freedom from fear, freedom from ignorance, freedom from 'god'. You have the freedom to view the world in a brand new eye, you see things no longer in blind faith. You are tolerant and accepting to people of all races, creeds, genders, and genders, you are free to say 'no bigoted beliefs can be justified through religion'. And with the freedom comes the priveledge of progress, no longer is one trapped in the Dark Ages of belief in witches, dragons, demons, or fantasy worlds. Its a freedom that does not obscure truth with mythological fantasy. The freedom all atheists give themselves is a gift no magical bedtime-story fairytale can ever hope to provide."

good call putting gender in their ttwwiiccee

[Yahweh]

Originally posted by RussDill
good call putting gender in their ttwwiiccee

Egads! I'll fix it post-haste!

(Playing the Grammar Police, very naughty...)

[RussDill]

Originally posted by Yahweh


Egads! I'll fix it post-haste!

(Playing the Grammar Police, very naughty...)

fix it? no, it *belongs* there, christianity (and most other religions) have been so gender biased for so long, the post needs it there twice.