Comments on: 10 Questions with an Atheist: The Postman

By: James

James — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:33:20 +0000

Rabid persecution and rabid evangelism (see Acts!).
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And damn, I left myself open there with the religion comment. I’d momentarily forgotten that Christians don’t see Christianity as a religion!

By: Demian Farnworth

Demian Farnworth — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:02:45 +0000

James, I hear what you’re saying, but Constantine’s endorsement is debatable. And don’t forget that Christianity spread in the face of 300 years of rabid persecution before that. If anything, Constantine’s endorsement made everyone a Christian [diluting it], which would be like Obama declaring all US citizens Christians.
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I’m with you: “a large part of me does want more of the world free from religion.”

By: James

James — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:46:06 +0000

Demian,

sharing the Gospel is part of my identity

There’s one reason (treating religion as a meme) that I believe Christianity has flourished over the centuries, if that’s the way Christians feel about spreading it. That and of course the political help e.g. Constantine.
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And I would add to my unsave/save comment that I think a large part of me does want more of the world to be free from religion, so of course that comes into it.
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Depends on the religion too, for example I see fundamentalist Islam (e.g. the Taliban) as absolute poison, based on violence and oppression and would welcome its end.

By: Postman

Postman — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:07:09 +0000

Robert, Demian, James,
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Unsave/unshmave. I’d be happy if I could just get people to quit digging their heels in against science and to stop knocking on my door asking if I’ve heard the Good News(TM).
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Demian,
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I’m on the same salary plan as the Angel’s Union. He’s got certain tapes that He doesn’t WANT to release…
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(((Billy))),
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I don’t know what you think goes on between Gawd and me, but when I ran your word through Babelfish it gave me this translation: Maintain-companion-not-God-believed.
Correct me if I’m wrong, here, but that looks a lot like “Kept-Atheist” to me.

By: (((Billy))) The Atheist

(((Billy))) The Atheist — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:42:37 +0000

Is there a word that means: “Amusing fellow who doesn’t believe in gods”? Yes, there is: UnterhaltendergefährtenichtGötterglaubt.

By: Demian Farnworth

Demian Farnworth — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:45:34 +0000

That’s interesting James…cause as an “evangelical,” sharing the Gospel is part of my identity…but I guess for an atheist, it’s a personal choice. There’s no command to evangelize, deconvert, that sort of thing. Nice benny, I suppose.

By: James

James — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:40:01 +0000

I’m not really sure whether I want to unsave people, I guess I decide on a case-by-case basis. E.g. if someone has a clear emotional need for religion and it’s obvious that without it they’d be emotionally worse off, then I’d leave it alone, even if they try to convert me.

As for God making payments, I guess the best payment would be accurate future predictions like stock prices or results you can gamble on.
It’s easier for god as he doesn’t have to convert to the current currency and it has value no matter where you are geographically.

By: Demian Farnworth

Demian Farnworth — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:24:54 +0000

Robert, I can appreciate that. You always got a voice here.
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Eh Postman…I’m surprised no one’s asked. It’s been eating away at me. How much does God pay you? HOW does he pay you?

By: Robert Madewell

Robert Madewell — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:12:01 +0000

I steer clear of applying the word evangelical to myself. It’s not my goal to un-save anybody. I guess I just want to have a voice. I want to practice my freedoms, which were mildly denied to me growing up as an evangelical christian.

By: Postman

Postman — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:58:38 +0000

I’d say that’s probably an unfortunate choice of nomenclature, James. At least when I hear it, I imagine wild-eyed, software PR-flacks coming inexorably at me saying, “Do you have a personal relationship with Company X?!” “Have you been washed in the code of The Lamb(TM)?!” Or, “Do you have a minute? Could I talk to you about the Good News of Linux?!”