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An email from a guy on a dating site:

"Gwen forgive me for bothering you, you're the first real live Atheist I've had a chance to talk with, i only have this one thing i want to say.. It is written that God's knowledge is silly to the non-believer.. Did something bad happen to you to turn you away from God, because we are made with the knowledge of God built into us.. goodbye and have a nice life.. Thank you.."

My reply:

"Nothing "bad" happened to me to turn me away from "god." I left a church that I had attended for many years and it was a negative leaving, but it was The Bible that caused me to leave Christianity. My study of mythology strengthened this. There is no "built in" knowledge of god; if there were, there were be no atheists or agnostics. If there were, it would be a knowledge of the Judeo/Christian god, but would include Islam, Hinduism, and other pagan religions (which make more sense than does Christianity). Studying The Bible shows that it is a mish-mash of earlier myths and religions. It contradicts itself. The ideas of heaven and hell are based on Greek and earlier myths; in addition, the Christian concept of these places is not in The Hebrew Scriptures (aka The Old Testament) where it is questioned whether they is an afterlife, where is states that the dead know nothing, and where Sheol is located inside the earth. The Jewish idea of the afterlife underwent a change after the Babylonian captivity wherein the Jews were exposed to Zoroastrian beliefs.

Jesus is modeled after the Indian/Persian god Mithras--who later became a Roman god.

I am having a nice life and if "god" exists, that entity is nothing as you and Christian believe it to be."

The assumption and claim that we are born with a knowledge of god is annoying; we are taught about god and religion.

I wonder if he will answer this time.

Gwendolyn2018 9 Sep 1
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50 comments

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11

I had a preacher try to ask me what turned me away from god once... but she was a proselytizing lil teen so I turned it around and asked her what informed her faith... turns out she had experienced back to back deaths in her life and turned to "God"... in actuality it is when people are vulnerable or weak or going through struggles like death or recovering addicts or getting out of prison that people turn to religion... ya shoulda flipped the question on him found out what's going wrong in his life to see why he's still a brainwashed religitard

Oooo good reply!

@powder malleable?? 😕

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

@powder just needed to make sure since mailable is an actual word apparently heh

10

What a dick. By him saying goodbye & have a nice life, he did not really intend for you to answer the question. Which makes his question a rhetorical jab at you. Fuck him.

8

What a pompous ass.
I love this quatrain from Omar Khayyam and think it's very apposite:

“And do you think that unto such as you
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew
God gave a secret, and denied it me?
Well, well—what matters it? Believe that, too!”

― Omar Khayyâm, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Omar with help from Edward Fitzgerald?

@AgnoBill Actually, not a Fitzgerald one, but I forget who.

New to me, but jotted it in my virtual quote list

8

I can't remember where I read this- maybe Dawkins? but we are born with a tendency to both look for explanations for natural phenomena, and to read intentions into things that cannot strictly speaking have them- e.g. "those clouds want to rain," "that rock looks ready to fall on something," "this damn car doesn't want to start." We look for something controlling the world. And so, before we discovered the physics involved in things like weather and gravity, we looked to gods as the things that moved these phenomena. This was the origin of belief.

Or so I recall reading, and it made sense.

7

I suspect your eloquent reply went well over his head. You are a "real live Atheist" after all--practically a myth yourself, from his perspective.

@Gwendolyn2018 broken record baptist like a wax paper cup filled with acid CocaCola useless ready for the bottom of his brain to fall out like the glued worthless paper fold ....a throw away personality hopelessly deluded filled with excuses for his non-existent never vaginal virgin birthed alleged baby gawd ...his mouth smells like the dirty donkey stables of Bethlehem spewing at you resenting truth in the face of living bible lies

7

What a dick.

7

That's a solid response, although I doubt it will do anything to change his mind or even incur any amount of thought from him. Chances are, he won't actually read any of it and if he does cognitive dissonance will take over and he will rationalize the rationality away.

I might have scripture'd back at him: Numbers 22:28 "Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

Bible = Shrek

7

it was cheeky of him to write that way to begin with. he wasn't asking anything. he was preaching.

g

Ya and he left out, No wonder god reminds us "the pathway to heaven is narrow"!🤣🤣🤣

7

Doubtful he would reply. I don’t think he can put together anything remotely intelligent, logical, and research-based to counter your smart, educated retort.

@Gwendolyn2018 Very likely. Almost not worth wasting your time. Just roll your eyes and laugh and go on with your life.

@Gwendolyn2018
like don't worry, I'll be praying for you, god loves you, he knows every strand on your hair and every line on the palm of your hand, he knows you!!! and he loves you!! arrggghhhhhh 🤣🤣🤣

7

As a historian, I am impressed with your knowledge!! Kudos.
As a human, I am impressed with your decorum.

@Gwendolyn2018 Excellent, knowledge and tact go a long way. I teach world history, Russian history, among other topics and often deal with various religions as historical artifacts.

7

Wow !!! You kicked his religious ass with that magnificent answer 🙂
Right-on my Sister-friend !!!

@Gwendolyn2018. That was a great answer you wrote him before... .. Hats off to you Sweet Girl ! 🙂
Peace & Love always, Dear.😊

7

I think you’ve done a good job sharing your beliefs with him.
He’ probably running away as fast as he can, with his hands over his ears, shouting “I’m not listening!”

6

He has some nerve claiming victory in his letter. That's how deluded they are. They cannot think outside the box where reality really is. I think the term "coming out the closet" should be used when xtians leave xtianity and see the lies for what it is!

5

He didnt want to know, he just wanted to regurgitate what he believed.

Therefore initiating rejection to further reinforce his tribal identity with fellow believers.

@Canyonrunner yeah, we set ourselves up.to.rendezvous with information that confirms our beliefs.

Don't I know it! I was caught up in the evangelical xtianity in my 20's. I was desperate for an identity and a community. As I look back, I can see exactly why it worked on me. -John

5

Great reply!

5

Let us know if he replies, but I doubt he will.

@Gwendolyn2018 Look forward to hearing it.

5

You're the first real live atheist he's had a chance to talk with? Nah, he obviously wants to talk AT you.

Well, I guess he DID ask a question, but it was loaded with presuppositions. My response would be, why would you assume that I don't have good, sound reasons for lacking belief in deities? But alas, he's beneath contempt or response. I would only reply if I needed a nice chew toy.

5

Dear guy on dating site,

Yes, something bad happened to me to turn me away from god. Random people reached out to me to tell me how silly I am for not believing in something they know nothing about. Their behavior clearly indicated that they couldn't be trusted. It led me to throw away all the natural-born faith I had in the all-powerful guy who killed his own son and a whole bunch of other people for not obeying him. But now that you've been so considerate as to wish me a good life, I'm ready to reconsider. Thank you for saving my soul.

Sincerely,
Real, live atheist

P.S. I would never have guessed by your manner that you have never talked with a real live atheist.

5

I belong to a Secular Humanist group, and we have a book club that meets weekly. We have had a new couple find us and join us. They came from deeply religious backgrounds. They were missionaries in Eastern Europe and House Parent at Boy's Town. In the past year they have left their church and changed their lives because they came to the realization that the bible and organized religion is bunk. So, your new correspondent could be on a similar journey. It's damn scary when it has been your whole life and your income/position is tied up in it, to have enlightenment dawn.

4

This is hilarious ) reminded me of a friend of mine grieving over me having “lost” my faith. I didn’t go into the “actually, I’ve never had so much to begin with” ) people do get upset when find this out and then I start feeling for them.

Sonya Level 4 Sep 2, 2019
4

Gwendolyn, your reply was well stated and if you don't mind I'm going to print it out for future use.

@Gwendolyn2018 sure, thanks, Al

4

In my own research, I have come to the conclusion that religious sensibility is a kind of default setting for the human brain. Whenever people are confronted with a conundrum or unsolvable problem, i.e. ("Why did my baby die?" ), a mystical explanation ("It was the will of the gods." ) seems to be the answer that is most comforting. I compare it to dualistic, black-and-white thinking that is typical of children, psychotic folk, and others whose thinking is primitive or underdeveloped. It takes time and effort to outgrow these tendencies.

4

Great response!

4

He has informed you of your error. he is probably self satisfied now and may leave you be. You know of course no explanation is likely to dislodge what he already believes about, the godless. lol

@Gwendolyn2018 A real White Knight then...? lol

4

Great response. 🙂

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