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A dog down the street escaped from the back yard because a latch on the fence broke. The dog was playing in my front yard, so I grabbed a leash and walked him home, only to discover the broken fence. Back to my house, grabbed a latch I happened to have in the garage, a driver and some screws. Back to the neighbor's house, fixed the fence, topped off the water bowl, secured the dog, and came home.
Don't get me wrong. I considered all my options first. I thought about the overall futility of life without the fear of damnation/promise of paradise, and almost dropped into a nihilistic funk. I considered the hedonistic option of porn, sex and alcohol, but I would have had to make a beer run. Meh, too much effort. The possibility of breaking into my neighbor's house, stealing all his good stuff, and pooping on his kitchen table crossed my mind. It was tempting, as I have no morals of course, but I decided against it as I don't think his kitchen table would have supported my weight.
So I walked his dog and fixed his fence instead. Haven't even mentioned it, because I haven't seen the guy in a week. Does this mean that I need to become a Christian pastor? I am obviously Moderator cut: bleep up this atheist thing.
Of course, if Jeff had been my neighbor, I would have been mean and oppressed him first. A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
Last edited by mensaguy; 05-03-2016 at 07:02 AM..
Reason: language
An oft-overlooked point in this regard: repression tends to cause believers to have a highly overrated notion of "sin". Eating babies and pooping on people's kitchen tables while they're at work just lose their appeal when you do them all the time. There is something however about social reciprocity that remains attractive. Maybe it's the notion that "what goes around comes around" -- or at least weakly tends to. Even if you never tell this neighbor what you did, people eventually figure out that you are the adult in the room and are more kindly disposed to reciprocate.
A dog down the street escaped from the back yard because a latch on the fence broke. The dog was playing in my front yard, so I grabbed a leash and walked him home, only to discover the broken fence. Back to my house, grabbed a latch I happened to have in the garage, a driver and some screws. Back to the neighbor's house, fixed the fence, topped off the water bowl, secured the dog, and came home.
Don't get me wrong. I considered all my options first. I thought about the overall futility of life without the fear of damnation/promise of paradise, and almost dropped into a nihilistic funk. I considered the hedonistic option of porn, sex and alcohol, but I would have had to make a beer run. Meh, too much effort. The possibility of breaking into my neighbor's house, stealing all his good stuff, and pooping on his kitchen table crossed my mind. It was tempting, as I have no morals of course, but I decided against it as I don't think his kitchen table would have supported my weight.
So I walked his dog and fixed his fence instead. Haven't even mentioned it, because I haven't seen the guy in a week. Does this mean that I need to become a Christian pastor? I am obviously Moderator cut: bleep up this atheist thing.
Of course, if Jeff had been my neighbor, I would have been mean and oppressed him first. A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
The real question is would you have still done all those things if your neighbor was mean and a total prick to you? I believe atheists are certainly capable of doing nice things, but deep down, there is a self serving motive involved.
The real question is would you have still done all those things if your neighbor was mean and a total prick to you? I believe atheists are certainly capable of doing nice things, but deep down, there is a self serving motive involved.
Of course you would think that. You know NOTHING about atheists. They are people just like you.
The better question is, would you do it without threat of eternal damnation? There is a self serving motive involved in all things the religious do, which can not be said of the non religious.
A dog down the street escaped from the back yard because a latch on the fence broke. The dog was playing in my front yard, so I grabbed a leash and walked him home, only to discover the broken fence. Back to my house, grabbed a latch I happened to have in the garage, a driver and some screws. Back to the neighbor's house, fixed the fence, topped off the water bowl, secured the dog, and came home.
Don't get me wrong. I considered all my options first. I thought about the overall futility of life without the fear of damnation/promise of paradise, and almost dropped into a nihilistic funk. I considered the hedonistic option of porn, sex and alcohol, but I would have had to make a beer run. Meh, too much effort. The possibility of breaking into my neighbor's house, stealing all his good stuff, and pooping on his kitchen table crossed my mind. It was tempting, as I have no morals of course, but I decided against it as I don't think his kitchen table would have supported my weight.
So I walked his dog and fixed his fence instead. Haven't even mentioned it, because I haven't seen the guy in a week. Does this mean that I need to become a Christian pastor? I am obviously Moderator cut: bleep up this atheist thing.
Of course, if Jeff had been my neighbor, I would have been mean and oppressed him first. A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
I'm assuming either there was no baby or no BBQ sauce.
The real question is would you have still done all those things if your neighbor was mean and a total prick to you? I believe atheists are certainly capable of doing nice things, but deep down, there is a self serving motive involved.
I am sure that you do not mean that as an insult simply the truth that you are vastly superior to all atheists. You are basically telling the OP that the only reason he did it was for selfish reasons whereas if you had done the exact same thing it would have been for unselfish pure reasons. The OP must of been mean spirited doing that good deed simply because he is an atheist? Sucks to be a bigot and that is exactly what you demonstrate with the above post. Would you have stated the same thing if the OP was Muslim, Jew or Black? You are not superior in morals, kindness and certainly not in politeness compared to any of those of us who are not Bible Believing Christians no matter how much you claim you are. Insulting someone who did a good deed is just wrong.
The real question is would you have still done all those things if your neighbor was mean and a total prick to you? I believe atheists are certainly capable of doing nice things, but deep down, there is a self serving motive involved.
We all have motives. Isn't your motive to serve your god as you see fit, and avoid damnation? Isn't that ultimately self serving?
Which is a more noble motive? For me to have done this because I expected brownie points after I am dead, or because I wanted to make sure the dog was safe? Th dog isn't going to thank me in any significant way.
I understand that you are probably going to bring up works vs faith for salvation, but it doesn't matter. Your molication is that Christians do the same things as atheists, with no difference in result, for very different and allegedly more noble reasons. You are talking of works, and so is Vizio in his threads. V
The real question is would you have still done all those things if your neighbor was mean and a total prick to you? I believe atheists are certainly capable of doing nice things, but deep down, there is a self serving motive involved.
You believe a lot of things but seem remarkably intransigent about substantiating any of them. Whence did you gain the magic insight that allows you to perceive the deep down motives of people you don't know -- and then assign it to a class of people as a bloc, to boot?
He would be just as likely to do it for a total prick as you or anyone else would. You have no basis -- other than a flattering image of your belief-system -- as a basis for suggesting otherwise.
You believe a lot of things but seem remarkably intransigent about substantiating any of them. Whence did you gain the magic insight that allows you to perceive the deep down motives of people you don't know -- and then assign it to a class of people as a bloc, to boot?
He would be just as likely to do it for a total prick as you or anyone else would. You have no basis -- other than a flattering image of your belief-system -- as a basis for suggesting otherwise.
Well to be honest he has claimed that he can identify atheists in everyday life by how they act. He's never met a nice one or so he says.
The real question is would you have still done all those things if your neighbor was mean and a total prick to you? I believe atheists are certainly capable of doing nice things, but deep down, there is a self serving motive involved.
Are you saying a Christian would? The majority of my friends are Christians and the majority regularly do such things as walking right by homeless people muttering how they saw a documentary about a guy who begged on the streets and then got into his Mercedes parked around the corner at the end of the day.
As for self serving motives, generally, Christians become Christian to avoid pain (hell) and seek pleasure (heaven) and when pressed, will wax poetic about the amazing feeling of God working through them, so still, seeking that personal buzz. Just because it's a presumably holy buzz doesn't mean it isn't a buzz - and something to be sought for the fabulous feeling. So perhaps you shouldn't go there.
EVERYONE who feels good being empathetic and helping is being "self serving" even if that's just feeling positive about themselves and that they are on the right track.
But way to go minimizing if not negating another person's contributions to humankind, was that the Christian thing to do? Negatively judging someone else's motives sight unseen, being the judge of who is sincere and who is self-serving and knocking down a human beings efforts to help his fellow man?
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