Christians and dirty pictures on John's book

Those Christians couldn't refute any of the airtight arguments in John's book- so they resorted to posting scare tactics and dirty pictures of themselves on Amazon.This was posted by someone called dan under the images in Amazon. See how Dan is clutching his bible huddling in fear of John Loftus' intellectual superiority?
Dan caused the sales on John's book to drop to 220000th after that picture made its way in.
He also shows he has no arguments when he says

"Are you sure you want to go down the path John chose? Eternity is a very long time, you do understand. Your choice, the religion of atheism or follow the Creator of all called Christianity."

His grammar isn't even right. Dan clearly is scared of our irrefutable arguments.
Our attitude is summed up in one of those posts by Michael at amazon.

KC James says author John W. Loftus is abrasive for calling William Lane Craig 'delusional' and believers 'fools'. But what else would you call believers in the Flat Earth theory? For the arguments against Christianity are as strong as those against the delusional Flat Earth theory, believers in which most Christians would also call fools (although the bible writers with their 'four corners of the Earth' reveal themselves as Flat Earthers!), so Mr Loftus is not insulting believers, but merely stating a fact about them and their mental state.
-Michael

Farrell Till Diagnosed with Terminal Brain Damage

Extranational News report that Farrell Till's brain collapsed according to a Canton General Hospital nurse of 30 years. Family and friends have noticed Farrell Till had been acting weird for the past few years, waking up in the middle of the night soaked in a pool of his own sweat screaming "Holding" at the top of his lungs. The past few months in particular have been especially nightmarish as Farrell Till's "Holding" phantasm appered more and more often. Despite the total and complete loss of his brain, doctors expect Mr. Till to make a full and complete recovery.

"Mr. Till's brain was merely a vestigial organ, and removing it was much like removing one's appendix" said Canton General's oldest brain surgeon, the philosopher king Richard Carrier.

"I have full confidence in Mr. Carrier's abilites" said an exhausted but cheerful Mr. Till. "Any man who puts Aristotle to shame with his interdisciplinary insights is welcome to do with my brain as he wishes".

Mr. Till will be released this Thursday. The absence of a brain is not expected to impair his work in the realms of religion, philosophy and history in any way.

Atheist Critics

Okay, so this may be a bit of really old news by now, but my latest entrance onto the YouTube platform seems to have received some negative reviews from fellow YouTuber atheists on the horizon:

fritleyfrisp May 25, 2008
I think you're parodying ex Christians but I can't be quite sure. Your writing is shockingly bad and you can't argue for bunk. I'm not usually this forward with people but I'm putting you alongside Mike Wright and other parody websites. I could be wrong though and if I am...so what?

You can find all of this at my official YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/user/Johnwloftus

Something I have learned to acknowledge over the years is the fact that all great authors and philosophers will always have their dissenters (that is how you spell it, right?) and hard core critics. Socrates had his critics, Jesus had his critics, Ghandi had his critics, and even to this day Mother Teresa is being criticized for her apparent lack of faith or belief in God (I happen to be one of those critics but that's a different point altogether for now).

The point is, we know that the messages of these major figureheads carried were profoundly sound (except for the religion aspect to it, i.e., Jesus, Ghandi, and Mother Teresa). Jesus himself was even criticized by members of his own family as described in the New Testament. Now, a question I have for all of you readers out there is this: Just because a fellow atheist criticizes the methods and style of another unbeliever, does that mean that there is something to "fix" or something wrong with the person being criticized and his arguments? The utlimate answer, to put it bluntly, is NO. In which case I have no reason to think otherwise when it applies to my case. As far as I can tell, my arguments are withholding and I have not heard a single good refutation of them which has set my record straight. I'd say I'm on a pretty balanced diet of sound logic and philosophical principles. After all, logic is my trade, so when I suspect that someone is criticising me because of that, I simply assume that they are ignorant of philosophy and need to be educated in it before finding the gall to spout off nonsense that would only come from an ignoramus.

And I truly believe that most of the audiences here which subscribe to this blog are without judgmental biases and could tell you in a straightforward manner that I have presented a good solid case to doubt the central tenents of Christianity and theism in general (God belief). Theism leads to dangerous thinking, even to the point where you can use it as a justification for anything. So, I believe I am not only justified on the reasoning of my sound arguments, I am also doing this world a favor by presenting those sound arguments in hopes of deconverting Christians and pulling the wool covering the eyes hence blinding them from reality and ultimate truth.

WARNING: Impostering impersonators on the prowl!

As of lately it seems that I've been getting some forms of cheeky mockery from the Holdingnites over at TheologyWeb. As childish as they may be, I can't stand and allow for such conduct to be permissable as I continue to have complete and full administration of this blog and the content within its comments from warm-hearted opengly welcome guests and daily commentators.

Some people apparently can't get over their own insecurities when someone has the nerve to put them up for questioning and ridicule. Way in the beginning of when my relations with Holding as a new member of TheologyWeb had taken place, and our acquaintances had become familiarized with passing time, I had a much higher standard of respect for the likes of Holding. But as you can see, Holding is a hyena bent on breeding his own cult-following just to get more hyenas like himself to form a sort of mob-mentality complex, completely and willfully ignoring the very words of Christ himself: "Those without sin may cast the first stone."

I'll be blunt here, as this here blog's administrator and head author, I'm fed up with dealing with the crap. Those who don't know better are going to fall under the impression that this is some sort of parody blog based on a much older blog that existed a couple of years before this one was even spawned into its own existence. We don't need to get technical here, because it should be obvious to anyone that's beside the point here. What is the point here is that Holding and his groupies are up to no good, and further confirmation of this comes from a comment left by an 'Anonymous' user. Now, unlike the other "DC" blog, I allow for anonymous commentators to leave their food for thought in this little diary of mine and my fellow colleagues/former fundamental devout religionists. But some of the comments are going to leave deceptive impressions of what this blog is all about and its functioning relevance to modern day cultural society. I have no doubts Holding and comrades have something to do with these types of comments (as seen below), but my guess is that such comments come from a motivation to divert our actively-reading audiences in some sort of childish game of sandbox. For someone that is "Holier than art thou", I am beginning to suspect a rat, a very insecure and emotionally disturbed rat:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike. The book you're after can be found here although there has been a slight delay in publishing it but don't worry as it'll be worth the wait. The previous book was recommended by Norman Geisler amongst others so you can always get that whilst you're waiting. Just ignore the J P Holding groupies here.

May 1, 2008 9:40 AM

Let this post serve as an indication to the audience that from here on out if you come across these types of comments under the alias of 'Anonymous' or anything that may arise suspicision, that these comments are more than likely coming from a propagandist jackle who needs serious dire fufillment in his life.

Another Retarded Review of My Book

I have said that if you want to debate me then get my book and review it, and I will enage you. Otherwise, you're just an ignoramus who wouldn't know philosophy even if it stared you straight in the face. A young disabled cripple named Nick decided to do that. He's not only plauged with physical disabilities, but that's precisely why he's been given moderator priveleges over at TheologyWeb. Anyways he's been reviewing it my book chapter by chapter and I've been making some comments about it from time to time. But today he decided to review my chapter on the atonement and I am speechless. I don't know where to begin with such ignorance. I'm so speechless in fact I don't even offer any responses or rebuttals to his review! See what you think:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why I Rejected Christianity Review: Why Did Jesus Suffer?

Our review of Loftus’s book continues with a look at
the atonement. Why did it happen? The theory he chooses to address and I will defend as it’s the one I hold is the penal substitution view. It is the view that Christ took our place on the cross and he received our punishment and we in turn receive his righteousness. There is a brief history of various atonement theories before this (With some left out), but that is not relevant to the point at hand.

He starts out with asking about why this is? If the claim of Christianity is true, then Loftus does admit that he goes to Hell because of his sins. However, what has anyone ever done to deserve that? He states “All through my entire life I have never met, nor even heard of one person, who deserved such a punishment. Never.

I guess that settles it. Judge Loftus has spoken.

I beg to differ of course. First off, let me state my view of Hell. My view is not a fiery torture chamber. It is a place of darkness and isolation. In effect, it is eternal quarantine. God lets people go there and he leaves them alone. The worst suffering will be internal. People in Hell will know for all eternity that they have blown it.

Now who deserves eternal separation from God? I see someone every morning when I get up and look in the mirror who does. And I think this is shocking to some because we’ve lost what sin is.

To begin with, it’s not breaking an abstract rule. It’s violating the person of God. Consider God as the most awesome, holy, good, loving, powerful, intelligent being that there is. As Anselm would say, you can’t conceive of anyone greater than he is.

Sin is telling that one that he is not what he says he is. In fact, every sin is ultimately the sin of Satan. Every sin is choosing your own good over the good of God. In effect, it is you telling yourself that you will be God instead of him. It is divine treason and it cuts one off from the source of goodness and life. God simply cannot allow that sin in his presence.

Now Loftus says that in our modern society we are humane in our punishments. Perhaps we are, and perhaps that is the problem. C.S. Lewis wrote on how we seek to cure criminals rather than punish them long ago. http://www.angelfire.com/pro/lewiscs/humanitarian.html

The question is, is it just?Loftus mentions the death penalty. I support it. I know I probably lost some readers for that, but I do. I believe man is in the image of God and to murder a man is an attack on that image of God. I believe the murderer is to pay the price by having his own life be forfeit. Of course, this is when it’s shown beyond theshadow of a doubt that the accused did commit the crime. I have this strange belief that crime should be punished.

Loftus goes on to ask if it’s fair that he suffer eternally for one little white lie.

I’d like to meet the person whose only sin is one little white lie.

Loftus’s sins are at the beginning of his book. I have no need to go into them. My stance has been that they really don’t matter as long as one doesn’t live in them. I think they need to be confessed and repented of and the blame squarely accepted, but after that, I do believe in divine forgiveness. I know my sins and they’re not just little white lies either. We have all lived in constant rebellion against the Almighty and what we get is what we deserve.

Loftus says that we see in Scripture that God is willing to forgive if people will confess.

Yes. Absolutely. Getting out of Hell is quite simple. Just trust Christ. God does desire mercy and not sacrifice, but God is also just. He gives mercy to those who want it.

Loftus also wants to know since he became like us, why he can’t see sin from our perspective.

Let’s not consider that we shouldn’t want God to see it
from our perspective. I don’t want him to. I want him to see it from his perspective. Why? It’s the true one. How do I want to view something like myself even? Do I want to see me as I see me or do I want to see me as God sees me? It would obviously be the latter because that would be the true view.

Now we may intend God no wrong in sinning, but it does not matter. We have sinned and it cannot be ignored. Even Levitical Law had a sacrifice for unintentional sins. Death was still the price. (And frankly, I know I’ve committed sins in the past knowing they were sins and I seriously doubt anyone reading my blog is in a different position.)

For the third one, did Jesus pay an infinite price?
First off, Jesus did pay the price. Hebrews tells us that. The Son went and offered up his blood in the holiest sanctuary of all and God was pleased. What was the one who offered the sacrifice allowed to do with what was offered to him? Whatever he wanted. God restored the sacrifice he was given of the Son and
glorified him.

How does this work? I can only imagine that on some
level, there is an eternal reality in God of what happened on the cross. The Son is spoken of as the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. Do I understand this entirely? Of course not. I doubt anyone does. It doesn’t mean though that I throw out the whole thing as nonsensical. (Makes you wonder if
since there’s no understood theory of naturalistic evolution out there why that isn’t thrown out as well.)

The next point is that supposedly, forgiveness doesn’t
require punishment.

On a human court, that’s true, however, there are still
consequences. If someone hits my car for instance, I can forgive them and tell them not to worry, but that car will still be damaged and someone will still have to fix it. On a divine level, we are violating justice itself and the price for being cut off from life is death. Someone has to die. God can’t put his holiness on a secondary level. He must treat himself as the greatest good of all.
So what happens at the cross? His justice is satisfied
and his mercy is offered to all.

The fifth objection is really along the same lines.

He then asks if we die outside of the faith, what reason does God have to punish us?

Ooooooh. Let me guess. We’re sinners? Sounds like a good reason to me.

And yes, God does understand us perfectly and he does
know about the moral law on our hearts. If there were any circumstances that put the sin in a lesser degree, God would know them better than we would. In the end, there is no one biblically who will be able to say “It was not fair.” Creation shows us that God exists plainly and the moral law on our hearts tells us that some things are right and some are wrong.

Loftus also asks where sin abides in us. This is one of
those things that just makes me wonder what kind of theology was being taught. Sin is an action. Actions do not abide in us. They affect our character though and our souls. The same happens with good actions. It is those of us that do not choose to live to be what we were meant to be who get eternity apart from God.

Another theory is commented on later, but it is not the atonement theory I hold, thus I will stick to what has been said thus far. I do not find anything here that really gives me pause. I look and see “Did Jesus die on the cross? Did he rise from the dead?” Then even if I don’t understand it all, I understand that it does work, for God has told us so himself.

Ancient People Was Stupid, Part Duh!

One of the tenets of skepticism is that the ancients were idiots. It really helps us bolster our faith in atheism to believe that we're the cream of the evolutionary crop and so much more enlightened than those knuckle-dragging sheepherders that lived several thousand years ago. Then something like the Antikythera mechanism comes along and rocks our world:

When it came to making cogs and gears, the ancient Greeks got there more than a millennium before anyone else, scientists say.

Using advanced new imaging techniques, scientists have reconstructed the gear structure of the mysterious Antikythera mechanism—one of the world's oldest computers.

. . .

The device employs an elaborate arrangement of more than 30 gears for its calculations. The level of miniaturization and complexity is remarkable, with some parts resembling those used by 18th-century clockmakers.

"It is extraordinarily sophisticated," said Stephen Johnston, an expert on astronomical calculators from the Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford in England.

"In its complexity it exceeds medieval cathedral clocks, which were developed over a thousand years later."

-National Geographic News

Wow! What do we say about that? Obviously the ancients weren't quite as stupid as some of us would like! Well, don't worry. A genius by the name of Harry McCall addressed this point so eloquently that I have to quote his words in full:

the ancient Greek were MUCH more intelligent than the dumb Biblical writers. Classical Greeks such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle were the exceptions. I web noted that this gadget was Greaco-Roman and not Biblical.

It reads like poetry, doesn't it? So now we can safely conclude that not all ancient people was stupid, just the ones we need to be.