Flat Earth, religion, exBurner, roadie hate, alien existence, mushrooms and badgers thread

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
If a cyclone appears over Australia, it's not God's work* ok - it's just a collective sigh of relief.

*Although I've heard He can reveal himself in Dozerish ways.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I worked with a guy (also engineer but different variety) who was deeply religious. One of the others used to bait him terribly. Problem was it quickly became personal and nonsensical. I was sitting with him at a party once and we had a level discussion, well as level as you can with blood in the alcohol stream, and I think he was a lot like I think summit and cyclo appear to be. Raised a Christian by missionary parents (another story...) and he used the bible as a guide. He acknowledged a lot of it is faith based and a lot is probably wrong and likely the result of a text being spoken and written over a couple of thousand years. The whole creation of the earth and aging was interesting. He agreed that evolution was a thing and that the earth was way older than the bible suggests. After that we had some good discussions about perspective and beliefs without ever trying to persuade each other to flip. What I found interesting was that in times of difficulty they would find some passage or other in the bible which either gave them an insight into their situation or demonstrated that things really weren't that bad. They were able to park a lot of issues that I have seen others let burn away at them and ultimately become a problem later on. One of the funniest moments was when we were driving in Brisbane (he was pilot) and he got cut off badly, really really close to having an accident. He turned to me and said I am feeling most unChristian like at the moment. So I wound down the window and yelled and swore at the other driver on his behalf. There was an interesting mix of science and faith and he managed the conflict well and was and is happy in his skin.

On the parents who worked in West Papua, Africa and South America we had a robust discussion on the 'rights' of missionaries to force their beliefs on others and some minutes in realised he agreed 100%. He saw first hand how elders in tribes took the extra power they considered the bible gave them to enforce their will on others, things like raping young girls and having opponents killed all in the name of the bible. Really sad.
 

Cardy George

Piercing rural members since 1981
I worked with a guy (also engineer but different variety) who was deeply religious. One of the others used to bait him terribly. Problem was it quickly became personal and nonsensical. I was sitting with him at a party once and we had a level discussion, well as level as you can with blood in the alcohol stream, and I think he was a lot like I think summit and cyclo appear to be. Raised a Christian by missionary parents (another story...) and he used the bible as a guide. He acknowledged a lot of it is faith based and a lot is probably wrong and likely the result of a text being spoken and written over a couple of thousand years. The whole creation of the earth and aging was interesting. He agreed that evolution was a thing and that the earth was way older than the bible suggests. After that we had some good discussions about perspective and beliefs without ever trying to persuade each other to flip. What I found interesting was that in times of difficulty they would find some passage or other in the bible which either gave them an insight into their situation or demonstrated that things really weren't that bad. They were able to park a lot of issues that I have seen others let burn away at them and ultimately become a problem later on. One of the funniest moments was when we were driving in Brisbane (he was pilot) and he got cut off badly, really really close to having an accident. He turned to me and said I am feeling most unChristian like at the moment. So I wound down the window and yelled and swore at the other driver on his behalf. There was an interesting mix of science and faith and he managed the conflict well and was and is happy in his skin.

On the parents who worked in West Papua, Africa and South America we had a robust discussion on the 'rights' of missionaries to force their beliefs on others and some minutes in realised he agreed 100%. He saw first hand how elders in tribes took the extra power they considered the bible gave them to enforce their will on others, things like raping young girls and having opponents killed all in the name of the bible. Really sad.
When friends of ours lost their only daughter to a car crash, we were both amazed and baffled at how calmly they accepted that fact. They are 100% confident God has a different task for her to complete in another realm, and if they keep their faith in his plan they will see her again. They're both quite open in how religious they are, in fact the mother introduces themselves as "weird religious ones".

I don't have that belief, but I do see the benefits of having that level of confidence that it's all going to work out in the end.
 

moorey

call me Mia
Where atheists piss me off…and I’ve been guilty of this too…is trying to prove that god doesn’t exist.
Atheism isn’t a claim, it’s a rejection of a claim.
It’s as simply as that. Everything else is just semantics, proselytising and intellectual masturbation.

I have zero issue with any person of any religious persuasion believing what they want and living accordingly (extremists aside, of any flavour). It’s only when they think their beliefs should inform and dictate how I live MY life, and society and laws should run, that I have a problem and will take offence.

TLDR version: The oft quoted ‘religion is like a penis. I’m happy for you to be proud of yours, just don’t flop it out in public’.
I do understand that ministering is essential to many people/religions, but please put it away.
 

Tubbsy

Packin' a small bird
Staff member
I thought about posting this earlier, but as the shitshow unravelled I refrained.

But Ricky Gervais puts it very well:


"There are 3000 to choose from, I believe in one less god than you"

All delivered with no disrespect to those who do believe. Courtesy goes both ways.
 

moorey

call me Mia
I don't have that belief, but I do see the benefits of having that level of confidence that it's all going to work out in the end.
I know people (mostly family) who have the opinion that they don’t need to make the most of relationships here on earth, because they’ll be seeing them in heaven etc afterwards anyway. They also don’t place much value on their earthly life, because they see it as a small, insignificant step towards the afterlife.
I also know people who actively welcome Armageddon, and see Covid/famine/natural disasters/climate change as a glorious step towards that end goal. Granted, these are outliers and extreme views, but they scare the hell outta me how many of our leaders seem to pander to, if not believe this.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Is it ok to ask if anyone watched the Good Omens TV series? I really liked the way it covered the parts of the world outside the scope of the bible stories I remember from my childhood.
Book was better, but the TV show was one of the better adaptions of a favourite book I've seen :)
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Wow, that was a fun thread to have missed!

I'll never forget standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and discovering the very friendly fellow I'd been chatting to was not only a pastor of some sort, but actually a literalist bible thumper. He was super polite and as was I, but i did ask the question if we were looking at the same thing (ie millions of years of Grade A geology on full display) when he said the world was a few thousand years old. He said it was just evidence of Noah's flood. ok... He seemed pretty happy is whatever lala land he inhabited so I didnt try to change his mind, but wow...

I grew up with pretty "religious" parents (of the Wicca/paganism etc variety) and one of the best things my parents ever did for me was leave me out of it. They viewed such things as very personal and it was up to me to figure it out and if that was something i wanted to be a part of. I didnt obviously, but they seem happy enough. The whole paganism caper is pretty harmless though, lots of ex catholics in it who still have that need for something spiritual but couldn't hack the toxicity of Christianity (especially those who were gay...).

Anyway, I just want to know what sex the Great A'Tuin is...
 

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
Wow, that was a fun thread to have missed!

I'll never forget standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and discovering the very friendly fellow I'd been chatting to was not only a pastor of some sort, but actually a literalist bible thumper. He was super polite and as was I, but i did ask the question if we were looking at the same thing (ie millions of years of Grade A geology on full display) when he said the world was a few thousand years old. He said it was just evidence of Noah's flood. ok... He seemed pretty happy is whatever lala land he inhabited so I didnt try to change his mind, but wow...

I grew up with pretty "religious" parents (of the Wicca/paganism etc variety) and one of the best things my parents ever did for me was leave me out of it. They viewed such things as very personal and it was up to me to figure it out and if that was something i wanted to be a part of. I didnt obviously, but they seem happy enough. The whole paganism caper is pretty harmless though, lots of ex catholics in it who still have that need for something spiritual but couldn't hack the toxicity of Christianity (especially those who were gay...).

Anyway, I just want to know what sex the Great A'Tuin is...
Yes we did get a little off topic lol

What I have found with the flat earth believers is that they follow the "if it doesn't make sense, or if I can't replicate it in my backyard, it's false" type of thinking so if you don't have an understanding of something, instead of educating yourself so that you do, just write it off as lies. They also seem to go down the "do your own research" philosophy which is similar to what I have seen the anti covid mob do, in that you look for an scrap of evidence that matches your predisposed ideas. When I was talking to the flat earther I met and I asked him had he tried to physically validate any of the flat earth claims he just wanted to show me YouTube videos of the "evidence".
 

link1896

Mr Greenfield
Where do these flat earthers fall on nuclear fission and fusion? Surely this must fail into the superfragilistic magic category.

Ok, fusion still kind of is, but I’m hopeful it’s mastered in our lifetimes without sucking the Milky Way into a man made black hole.
 
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