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I am curious about the 144000 thing, because I heard the number was 12000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Which is fine, whatever. But then I get JW's of clearly non-abrahamic descent knocking at my door. Do they just rationalize that away, or what? Also, is it cruel to play with them if they are persistent? I figure if they don't leave after I say "Oh, I'm an atheist, so thanks but no thanks" in a nice voice, they become fair game for...interesting questions. But if it's because they're forbidden from leaving me by church rules, even if they're personally not into it, then I feel bad.
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Mar 19, 2015 05:20
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 22:30 |
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One thing I saw Penn Jillette (who can be kind of an rear end in a top hat, but you can't invalidate an idea because of its source) bring up that always stuck with me is that in the bible, god asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. Not for the better of humanity, not even because Issac was evil, but because god said so. So Abraham does, more or less. And this is held up as a good thing. I know it's a metaphor for not questioning God, but that's what I find really scary about Monotheistic religions. You're really supposed to follow exactly what this one deity wants you to, without question, for eternity? This goes double for JW's, because they think Satan is real and is in a war with God. How was Abraham supposed to know that was God's voice, and not Satan pretending to be God? How can you know if you're making a mistake, and misinterpret what God's saying? If you can't question God, what is the mechanism for deciding what's true?
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Apr 4, 2015 20:02
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Arnold of Soissons posted:Also its anachronistic to say that that story is about monotheists Well, polytheistic gods tend to not have the same issues with being omnipotent/omniscient/infallible. There are lots of stories where one deity tricks or overpowers another. So at least there's wiggle room to question there. If your deity is supposed to be perfect, and then is shown to be wrong, it requires a lot more denial of reality. Whereas if one of your multiple deities is wrong, meh, some other god messed with things, or blinded or mislead them, or whatever.
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Apr 7, 2015 07:07
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