A Protestants Question

Prot: "I just wounder[sic] why if you don't believe in a god what dose[sic] it matter to you that anyone dose[sic]?"

Sin: It's not the belief in God that I'm attacking, it's you presenting that belief as if it's absolutely true - and attempting to prove God through logic or science. In the case of the positive religions, it's the ideas that come along with that belief in God. For instance, Old Testament states, "Disobedient children should be stoned to death." I'm going to attack anyone who believes that because their God or a book told them to. It's dangerous and it should be treated as such.

If someone were to say to me, "I believe in a first principal, the God of philosophy, the God of Spinoza, the God of Aristotle, The Prime Mover", I have absolutely no problem with that. However, when someone says, "I believe in the God of the Bible." Well, that God is a dangerous God and, ibid, should be dealt with accordingly.

Prot: It is not a dangerous God, the God of the Bible is a God of love.

Sin: Scripture states, "For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts [the Canaanites] so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed, and might receive no mercy, but be exterminated, just as the LORD had commanded Moses." That in no way resembles a God of love. It resembles a racist, sexist, violent God.

Prot: Well couldn't that be construed as quote mining and possibly a straw man fallacy?

Sin: It is not a strawman. The Bible, especially Old Testament, is littered with a violent, racist, selfish, sexist God. Period. If you read that book without having any preconceived notions of what particular God it's about, or anyone telling you. "It should be interpreted this way", you will probably come away saying, "That God is an evil God."

If people insist on claiming their God is a God of love, which is an extraordinary claim considering the content of the Bible, then I would like them to show me how -- without attempting to explain away or rationalize every violent, genocidal, racist verse in the Bible with, "Well God in his infinite wisdom had to do this" - teleological suspension of the ethical rubbish.

Prot: Well, if it isn't a strawman it's definitely mining for quotes.

Sin: No it is not mining for quotes. You obviously have limited knowledge of how logic works, its' principles or its laws. The claim was made, "The God of the Bible is a God of love." That is an extraordinary claim. All I'm required to do to debunk such a claim is produce one single shred of solitary evidence from the Bible itself that does not support God being a God of love. Which I did, thus proving that he is not a God of Love.

The United States For Israel

Under a 1975 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the USA guaranteed all Israel's oil needs in the event of a crisis. This Memorandum of Understanding is quietly renewed every five years. It commits U.S. taxpayers to maintain a strategic U.S. reserve for Israel, equivalent to $3 billion in 2002 dollars. Special legislation was enacted to exempt Israel from restrictions on oil exports from the USA. Moreover, the U.S. government agreed to divert oil from the USA, even if this causes domestic shortages. The U.S. government also guaranteed delivery of oil in U.S. tankers if commercial shippers become unable or unwilling to carry oil from the USA to Israel.

Memorandum of Agreement between the Governments of the United States of America and Israel - Oil, March 26, 1979

The oil supply arrangement of September 1, 1975, between the Governments of the United States and Israel, annexed hereto, remains in effect. A memorandum of agreement shall be agreed upon and concluded to provide an oil supply arrangement for a total of 15 years, including the 5 years provided in the September 1, 1975 arrangement.

The memorandum of agreement, including the commencement of this arrangement and pricing provisions, will be mutually agreed upon by the parties within sixty days following the entry into force of the Treaty of Peace between Egypt and Israel.

It is the intention of the parties that prices paid by Israel for oil provided by the United States hereunder shall be comparable to world market prices current at the time of transfer, and that in any event the United States will be reimbursed by Israel for the costs incurred by the United States in providing oil to Israel hereunder.

Experts provided for in the September 1, 1975 arrangement will meet on request to discuss matters arising under this relationship.

The United States administration undertakes to seek promptly additional statutory authorization that may be necessary for full implementation of this arrangement.

M. Dayan
For the Government of Israel

Cyrus R. Vance [at the time, Secretary of State]
For the Government of the United States
Annex to the Memorandum of Agreement concerning 0il

ANNEX

Israel will make its own independent arrangements for oil supply to meet its requirements through normal procedures. In the event Israel is unable to secure its needs in this way, the United States Government, upon notification of this fact by the Government of Israel, will act as follows for five years, at the end of which period either side can terminate this arrangement on one-year's notice.

(a) If the oil Israel needs to meet all its normal requirements for domestic consumption is unavailable for purchase in circumstances where no quantitative restrictions exist on the ability of the United States to procure oil to meet its normal requirements, the United States Government will promptly make oil available for purchase by Israel to meet all of the aforementioned normal requirements of Israel. If Israel is unable to secure the necessary means to transport such oil to Israel, the United States Government will make every effort to help Israel secure the necessary means of transport.

(b) If the oil Israel needs to meet all of its normal requirements for domestic consumption is unavailable for purchase in circumstances where quantitative restrictions through embargo or otherwise also prevent the United States from procuring oil to meet its normal requirements, the United States Government will promptly make oil available for purchase by Israel in accordance with the International Energy Agency conservation and allocation formula, as applied by the United States Government, in order to meet Israel's essential requirements. If Israel is unable to secure the necessary means to transport such oil to Israel, the United States Government will make every effort to help Israel secure the necessary means of transport.

Israeli and United States experts will meet annually or more frequently at the request of either party, to review Israel's continuing oil requirement.

Source: Israeli Foreign Ministry

One can't help but wonder how our great country can continually fund the state of Israel(65 Billion$ and counting) while our infrastructure continues to collapse, recession looms, and THEIR war is being fought with our soldiers lives.

Absurd Protestant Claims Part 1.

Prot: Albert Einstein died a Christian!

Sin: No, he did not.

Prot: No he did not? What kind of answer is that? Yes he did!

It is so often used by theists as a means to say, "See, even the most die hard non-Christian eventually saw the light!" Fortunately, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence -- So it makes it very easy for us who are in a perpetual state of suspended judgement to debunk such claims with solid evidence.

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism." [-Albert Einstein]

Let us not become confused -- Einstein is not claiming Buddhism as his faith and conviction -- merely pointing out that Buddhism is most open to scientific advancement than the other positive religions.

"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." [-Albert Einstein, 1954, The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press]

An obvious denial of both theism and moreover, Christianity.

"Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being."
[-Albert Einstein, 1936, The Human Side. Responding to a child who wrote and asked if scientists pray.]

Ibid.

"A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
[-Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science", New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930]

I'm not going so far as to agree with him on this subject -- but once again we see Einstein denouncing the necessity of religion.

"I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature." [-Albert Einstein, The World as I See It]

Sound absolutely nothing like something a Christian would say.

"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings."
[-Albert Einstein, responding to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein who had sent Einstein a cablegram bluntly demanding "Do you believe in God?" Quoted from Victor J. Stenger, Has Science Found God? 2001, chapter 3.]

Check the link for a quick overview of Spinoza, his idea of God, and his general philosophy.

"The idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I am unable to take seriously." [-Albert Einstein, Letter to Hoffman and Dukas, 1946]

Is there any more room for doubt in this matter?