Sometimes I have an exchange of words, comments, ideas, etc. with someone, and I am left wondering why I even bothered. I’d like to show you just such an exchange so that you can get an idea of why I feel this way at times.
Twitter is an interesting medium for conversations. The limit of only 140 characters per “tweet,” can make things difficult. It can be tough to convey complicated ideas on Twitter.
I had a brief exchange with someone via Twitter on 9 January 2011. The exchange ended with my asking of this question.
@godloving666 If a Christian does something “immoral,” they’re displaying “atheistic behavior”??
I had thought the exchange ended there, as many often do. I didn’t really know this person, nor had I conversed with them before. I had seen their Twitter “handle” mentioned by someone else whom I follow.
To my surprise, my question was (sort of) answered on 11 January 2011, and our exchange resumed. My own Twitter username, or “handle,” is @RelUnrelated. The person I was having the exchange with is @godloving666. Where you see my name, the comment is directed at me, not written by me.
@RelUnrelated Any Christian or anyone who displays a behaviour that can put his belief in any GOD in doubt,is displaying atheistic behaviour
@godloving666 So if you sin, that’s doubting god? I don’t understand.
@RelUnrelated We’re all free lost souls capable of believing that’s why we’re all equal b/c we all have equal chance 2return HOME by belief.
@RelUnrelated So, since d beginning of mankind, religion always was, always is, & always will be as long as humans exist b/c we can believe.
@RelUnrelated So,it matters not whether u believe in Zeus,Ala,Jesus, etc, 4 as long as HE is ur LovingGOD, GOD understands its all about HIM
@godloving666 Why can I not live a “moral” life by your standards without acknowledging your god?
@RelUnrelated U’r split of HolySpirit so u know what’s right &can possibly be moral, but u cant return HOME if u reject HOME. It takes faith
@RelUnrelated U’r here 2forget d past so u can blieve d way u believed Lucifer. GOD wont force u HOME. U have 2freely choose HOME by Faith
@RelUnrelated B/C it was ur own freewill 2believed in Lucifer w/out proof that ended u in HELL. So u can only return HOME by ur own freewill
@godloving666 I will happily live with that, then. Thanks.
@RelUnrelated But ur happiness is shortlived. Once ur fun is over,u’ll return 2hell. U can only return HOME by faith 2 override prior choice
@godloving666 I trust facts. Faith is for the gullible. Fairy stories don’t come true.
@godloving666 I kinda like it here where I am, so I think I’ll stay.
@RelUnrelated “RoundEarth” was once a fairy story too b/c “FlatEarth” was d popular science that started from cavemen who saw earth was flat
@godloving666 6000 yr-old Universe was a fairy story too. I grew up. Did you?
@RelUnrelated Caveman Ronduk was chastised for believing that d earth is round from watching d moon. Ronduk died w/out knowing he was right
@RelUnrelated But when d ship was built, one was brave enough to navigate 2prove all wrong. So, mocking a believer b/c u dont know, is wrong
@godloving666 I’m betting with the odds. The odds say you’re full of shit.
@RelUnrelated Many atheists/agnostics here complain y I spue hate. It’s not me. It’s b/c of them like u who resort 2foulwords once beaten
@RelUnrelated We can say we both have no proofs of our opposing choices.However,we can debate what choice makes sense w/out any name calling
@RelUnrelated But b/c u’r an atheist, I fully understand that u can appear civil at any moment and be evil the next. U’r toxic 2any society.
@godloving666 Christians can also be civil one moment, yet commit a crime the next.
@RelUnrelated Some true believers can succumb to strong temptation, but 4 an atheist, it wont take any to do evil, even sky is not the limit
@RelUnrelated Science & Belief have its failings. However, while science may take centuries 2hit d truth, belief can hit d truth in seconds
@godloving666 revealed wisdom has never advanced our knowledge about our universe.
@RelUnrelated Had men not capable of believing & just stick 2 what he knows, we would still be using stick also 2 collect ants as a delicacy
@godloving666 your ideas about learning are ridiculous.
@RelUnrelated Truths have been discovered b/c men are able to believe so to take any risk to prove his beliefs. Belief is not limited to GOD
@RelUnrelated A scientist wont dare 2risk his fortune for expensive experiments if he has no strong faith on his ideas. Faith opens the way
@godloving666 then why are our prisons not filled with mostly atheists?
@RelUnrelated If u’r sent 2prison b/c of ur atheist evil crime, would u reveal that u’r GODless that may ruin ur possibility of parole ? NO
@godloving666 men are able to reason. That has nothing to do with faith or god.
@godloving666 being an atheist ruins your chances for parole? LOL! You know not of which you speak.
@RelUnrelated Reasons, data, facts are not proofs that u’ll succeed. So, w/out faith, you can not advance if you stick to what u only know
@godloving666 god’s words do not allow experiment. Dogma prevents advances.
@RelUnrelated Exmple,if u dont believe ur plane will arrive in ur destination, then u’ll stay home.U wont risk b/c u only stick 2what u know
@RelUnrelated Statistics or info about plane is not guarantee nor proof that d plane wont send u 2the ocean. U dont know so u must not risk.
@RelUnrelated Therefore, if our ancestors were atheist incoherent idiots like u who only stick to what they know, humans would never advance
@godloving666 You really understand almost nothing about science or learning, isn’t that true? Where were you educated?
@RelUnrelated Faith is not limited 2GOD. We use faith everyday in our lives. Idiot who says he can’t believe is just proving he is an idiot.
@RelUnrelated It is our souls ability 2believe that separates us from animals like Kingkong who only stick to a stick to collect ants to eat
@godloving666 You do realize that “King Kong” is a fictional beast in a novel and motion picture, don’t you?
@godloving666 So, anyone who says they don’t believe in your god is an “idiot”, eh? What is your definition of “idiot”?
Gosh. @godloving666 wouldn’t answer when I asked where he was educated. I was educated in public schools in Lafayette, Indiana, US.
Immediately following this end to our exchange, he was briefly conversing (if you want to call it that) with someone else.
@godloving666 Maternal instinct & drive, and extended familial culture are the foundation of the morality we get from evolutionary history
@Beechbum Maternal instinct/drive from animals or humans will teach u to love those u think ur own. It wont teach loving others not ur own.
@Beechbum If a mother is an atheist,she most likely abort her fetus b/4 it can learn love. If a baby is born, atheist rather party than care
@godloving666 If you can read anything longer than a tweet, try The Moral Animal by Robert Wright & The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris, ok?
@Beechbum Well if u can widen ur narrow view &see the bigger picture, your morality is only limited to those who love their own, not for all
@Beechbum Believing in a LovingGOD, w/c I believe is d real whole truth, will make us GOD’s ONE BIG FAMILY where everyone is our own to love
@Beechbum Believing that we’re all GOD’s ONE BIG FAMILY & that everyone is our own, is great 4Society, great 4Country,& awesome for d Planet
@Beechbum Now, you can very well see why u are the idiot, not me. Thank u 4sharing ur cents w/out w/c u never would have known u’r d idiot.
That should give you an idea of why I find many exchanges on Twitter frustrating, to say the least. Many people are so misguided, ignorant, and poorly educated that it is simply pathetic. The worst part is that they will do everything within their power to stay that way. They will not allow themselves to be dragged into the 21st century.
Kicking and screaming about their god, their bible, and satan, they cling to the iron post of 17th century Christianity as though they will simply cease to exist without it. I’d be happy to just let them stay there, but they won’t shut up, and they keep trying to drag the rest of humanity back with them.
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Ok, I guess; if you look at it that way, I should feel like a tool. But I don’t. You know why? It is not his moron I am typing to. It is you. It is all of you out there in the twitterverse. You are worth it, the future is worth it—hell even that moron is worth it if my time prevents them from voting or acting on their delusions. This is why I bother. I have converted a few godbots into critical thinkers when one would be a win.
It truly sucks! If you could see the muffled rage on my side of the computer… well I’m not arrogant I’m sure many of you have the same struggles with restraint. The blank godbots are not worth that energy but some of you out there are and always will be; maybe I can get a two-for and plant a seed of reason in a follower of the one with which I correspond.
Thanks, I think. I’m humbled by your attention.
Shit, that was painful.
Why bother? Yeah, that was painful to read, and there’s a good chance that this @godloving666 idiot will remain misguided, ignorant, and poorly educated (we use faith everyday in our lives?)–but you never know. In the nearly sixty years I’ve been on this planet I’ve heard back several times directly and indirectly how something I said or did caused somebody somewhere to move away from error. More often I’ve been disappointed by people insisting on clinging to their delusions in the face of evidence, so it is disheartening, but the possibility is always there, and sometimes it’s the least likely thing that makes a difference. People who you would never expect to do change. (Of course the converse is true too.)
That said, I have to admit I have no serious expectations for somebody who can use taking an airplane trip as an instance of faith. I have quite a bit of evidence that airplane travel works; people who climb aboard planes usually arrive at their destinations sooner or later, I’ve seen airplanes fly, and I even understand some of the physics behind their working. Faith doesn’t come into it. It’s as illogical as the claim my fifth-grade teacher used to make about prayer–we don’t know what prayer is or how it works, just like we don’t know what electricity is or how it works. But just as we know that flicking a switch turns on a light, so we know that our prayers are answered. Or something like that.
Painful.
if u ask me. That guy was making sense. And if u ask me again, i’d say u guys realy need to figure out why u call yourselves non believers coz it seems clear u are trying to convince yourselves that they aint no supreme being. I they was no God, or lucifer, im sure u wldnt need 2 waste time talking about them. Let those “godbots” enjoy their belief, and u enjoy urs (coz u believe in smethng, and that smthing is just the opposite of wat “godbots” believe). Coz ther realy is nothng like a non believer.
It seems the “gifts of the spirit” do not include grammar.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by C Agent. C Agent said: RT @RelUnrelated: Latest blog post at Relatively Unrelated: "Why Do I Even Bother?" http://bit.ly/h0gutH [cc @godloving666 @beechbum] […]