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“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:17-20
Alot of christians seem to like to ignore verses like this. According to the NT, you are commanded to obey the laws of the OT. Saying you don't have to follow them either says you are ignorant of what the scripture actually says or you're lying. It's not an atheist tactic to say you're cherry picking, it's just the truth. Case in point, you cherry pick when you say homosexuality is a sin, but then have no problem with someone eating at Red Lobster. Even if we assume the OT doesn't apply, you still cherry pick other laws in the NT. Example, you probably think slavery is wrong, yet it is explicitly condoned in the NT.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:17-20
Alot of christians seem to like to ignore verses like this. According to the NT, you are commanded to obey the laws of the OT. Saying you don't have to follow them either says you are ignorant of what the scripture actually says or you're lying. It's not an atheist tactic to say you're cherry picking, it's just the truth. Case in point, you cherry pick when you say homosexuality is a sin, but then have no problem with someone eating at Red Lobster. Even if we assume the OT doesn't apply, you still cherry pick other laws in the NT. Example, you probably think slavery is wrong, yet it is explicitly condoned in the NT.
So to sum it up: The Cherry Picking strategy is not going to have much effect.
I am an atheist and I do not feel comfortable attacking anyone for his or her religious views without some specific valid motive. If someone chooses to believe a passage in the Bible and then two pages later that same person dismisses another passage for some reason, it is of no consequence to me.
To me, religious freedom gives a person the right to believe the Bible (or Koran) in a literal sense, or to believe in Bible (or Koran) selectively, or to dismiss the concept of God completely.
I will say that if a person such as a politician brings his or her religious views into a discussion as reasons for public policy, then those religious views have become fair ground for scrutiny.
I agree. I will not ignore the parts that say the OT rules do not apply to Christians.
Tsk.. Tsk... The use of double negatives here is very confusing!
Taking the first "not" out of your statement, it reads "I agree. I will ignore the parts that say the OT rules do not apply to Christians." But, in your original sentence, you negated all that with an extra "not" thus it's kind of like this: (¬ "I will ignore the parts that say the OT rules do not apply to Christians.") -
Note: The ¬ symbol means negation.
This basically implies that "You will pay attention to the parts of the Bible which say that the OT rules do not apply to Christians."
So, if the negation of "I will ignore the parts that say the OT rules do not apply to Christians" implies (⇒) "I will pay attention to the parts of the Bible which say that the OT rules do not apply to Christians" then aren't you basically cherry-picking what you're paying attention to and ignoring?
The point is to help me understand how Theists think.
If I ask general questions, I get general answers and I get all confused.
When I ask specific questions about a sentence in the bible, I sometimes get specific answers, and that increases my understanding.
For example, one time I asked if people thought the first sentence in Numbers 31 was true. The answer I received from a couple Jewish people really increased my understanding of their faith.
By the way, here is the sentence. Do you think it was true?
The Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites".
It's a simple concept and found frequently in as theists attempt to justify their hate, while denying the parts they don't like.
Your book of fairy tales gives details on over 2 million people your god murdered, yet you call him a just and loving god. Some serious cherry pickin' going on there.
I am an atheist and I do not feel comfortable attacking anyone for his or her religious views without some specific valid motive. If someone chooses to believe a passage in the Bible and then two pages later that same person dismisses another passage for some reason, it is of no consequence to me.
To me, religious freedom gives a person the right to believe the Bible (or Koran) in a literal sense, or to believe in Bible (or Koran) selectively, or to dismiss the concept of God completely.
I will say that if a person such as a politician brings his or her religious views into a discussion as reasons for public policy, then those religious views have become fair ground for scrutiny.
Frankly if they keep their religion to themselves, I couldn't care less. They can cherry pick all they want and it is none of my business.
It is when they start to tell me how to live my life, I start to have problems, particularly when they quote the bible to support their claim.
So I wonder what the point is. If it is an attempt to shake up a Christian's faith, then it won't work. We know about how it was in OT times. You're not telling Christians anything we don't already know.
Or maybe it is an attempt to make us think God is evil? Well, that's an old message spoken a million times and it hasn't worked either.
Or it could be a novel approach. Convince the Christian that he or she either has to follow everything in the Bible or they are being a hypocrite and they are displeasing to their god. *Sigh* Well good luck on that one.
*** apologist mung snipped ***
So to sum it up: The Cherry Picking strategy is not going to have much effect.
Yes, we know you and most of your ilk are hopelessly deluded and likely never accept the ugly, hypocritical truths and realities of your god and holy book. You as a whole have quite obviously spent much effort coming up with excuses and defenses to protect your delusion and cherry-picking. There are however always a few of you with some residual iota of rationality surviving in the back nooks and crannies of their brainwashed minds. THOSE are the people we are reaching out to, not YOU. We KNOW you are hopelessly lost.
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