Discussion with an obnoxious atheist
Nick is an atheist who sought me out for a dialogue. Not all atheists are as obnoxious as this one. But, it illustrates well how a lot of them behave and think. I tried to be civil with him but he became quite rude. Such discussions rarely accomplish anything.
I bleeped out a few of his "colorful" words.I failed to save the first few lines so it just jumps right in.
Nick: I am an Atheist.
Matt: It seems to me you already have you mind made up and trying to change it won't make any difference....
Nick: Nothing funnier than self-righteous indignation...
Matt: You want me to be reasonable, but you have started off unreasonably.
Nick: OK .. let me re-approach.
Matt: Good idea.
Nick: Matt. I love your dialogues with Atheist on carm.org. It's an extremely intelligent site. I Love it.
Matt: Thanks.
Nick: I may learn from it.
Matt: Good.
Nick: But I have questions.
Matt: Okay, that was better, now go ahead and attack. I'm ready.
Nick: Hope you log this one.
Matt: You want me to?
Nick: I wanna see it appear on carm.org. Again let me repost: What makes you so sure that your Christian idea of the universe is better than all the other religions? Where's your evidence to disprove the validity of other religions?
Matt: That is quite a question. Let me wade through it slowly.
Nick: Just try it. I know your going to wimp out on this one. ;-)
Matt: First of all, I don't begin with trying to disprove other religions. I begin with demonstrating the validity of Christianity. Once that is done, the other ones fall by the wayside. The Bible is quite reliable historically, archaeologically, prophetically, etc. It has Jesus' words and deeds in it, which are, to say the least, miraculous. In short (very short), I believe the eyewitness accounts of His miracles....of the fulfilled prophecies...of the accurate accounts, historically, of the Bible, etc. It is quite logically to conclude it is truthful.
Nick: What, you think there haven't been thousands of gods invented throughout human history ???
Matt: In it, Jesus said that He alone was the way, the truth, and the life. Therefore, Jesus said all other systems are false. I believe what Jesus said. Simple.
Nick: Why do you twisted morons insist that these stupid rules your Christian masters made up from thin air actually apply to everybody?
Matt: I think you missed the whole point. You ignored the reasoning...
Nick: Allah created the universe. The Koran is the story (Islam)
Matt: Ah, I see... you ask for reason and when I give it to you, you ignore it and make emotional accusations.
Nick: Shiva created the universe....mahabharata is the story (Hinduism). Spirits created the universe...our ancestors tell the story Indians). God created the universe......The bible is the story (Christianity)
Matt: yeah... ? so?
Nick: Pink Turtles created the universe... Told by a friend at a party (drunkenness)
Matt: Jesus said they were all wrong when He said He was the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). I believe Him.
Nick: Now, which one of these is valid? If one is valid, then all others must be invalid. Or none are valid at all.
Matt: Now, please, can you tell me why I shouldn't believe what Jesus said?
Nick: For the world cannot be created more than once by different entities if it was not destroyed first. The Koran can't be the story of creation if the Bible is.
Matt: Jesus said they were all wrong when He said He was the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). I believe Him. Now, please, can you tell me why I shouldn't believe what Jesus said?
Nick: Matt, I will tell you why this way, how can you reasonably reject every other religion in the world except yours? They've all got musty old books of myths.
Matt: ... and please, one comment at a time.....Can you please tell me why I should reject the words of Jesus who claimed to be God in flesh, fulfilled the prophecies, rose from the dead, etc.?
Nick: Maybe because he died, because he was a minor rabble rouser and pissed off the authorities. Then he whined like a ***** when they pinned him to a stick and left him to dry in the sun. You tell me.
Matt: You wanted reasonable discussion. So, please give me a reasonable answer to my question. Okay, I see you don't really have a good reason. I have given you some quick, basic reasons for my faith and why I believe what I do and you've offered nothing of substance at all. So, please, try again.
Nick: Matt ... it's text written by moronic peasants who believe any pie the sky is by and by.
Matt: By the way, if you can't offer something, I think I'll just end this discussion and go do something else.
Nick: Why do you theists insist on misusing the word "faith" when you really mean "confidence"?
Matt: Come on, last chance for a reasoned comment from you with some evidence... if not, I'm going to leave you to your own thoughts.
Nick: I just don't get it. It must be some huge mental problem where you have to project your baseless beliefs on those who are demonstrably free of them.
Matt: Last chance....
Nick: It bothers you immensely, so you have to pretend that we are just as stupid as you. Faith means ungrounded belief *without* evidence or reason.
Matt: You started it, please finish this....
Nick: You try and zap me with my illogic.
Matt: Later....
Nick: Well, here you are becoming just another arrogant theist *#@^#@*. You think that real meaning only comes with god-belief. Piss off. Or try to understand.
Matt: Is that your best come-back? You began this by stating you wanted facts and reason. I'm asking that of you and you don't give me any.
Nick: If you want to call this Jesus assertion faith, then fine, all you are proving is that you are a solopsist. For me, the difference between this and *religious* faith, is that my sense data can be corroborated by others. If it cannot, then I think that is a reliable indication that I am deluded in some way. There's plenty of evidence that humans can be deluded in many different ways, so it would be foolish of me to think that I or anyone else are beyond delusion.
Matt: Instead, you insult me. Okay, I'll see you round.... When you are ready for a serious discussion, contact me again.Signing off.
Nick: Matt your faith in "his" words is clearly nothing more than a psychological delusion, which your mind has manufactured in order to give you a feeling of worth and purpose, that you should have developed as a child. I've noticed that a significant number of atheists who profess a desire for rational debate often degenerate their own arguments into accusations and insults. When this happens, it means they have nothing rational to offer. I point that out and if they don't calm down, I just leave.
On the other hand, I have had some very good conversations with a few atheists who were polite and reasonable. We disagreed, but neither side ended up in name-calling.
One more thing, he misspelled "solipsist" which is someone who believes in solipsism: "The theory or view that the self is the only reality."