He’s one of those “how can an atheist be a good person without the promise of heaven?” type of Christians. You know, the kind of Christian who can’t imagine doing the right thing just because it’s the right thing, and not because there’s a reward for it.
A bunch of years ago, a buddy of mine was asking me how I went from devout catholic to atheist. At one point in the story, I said I realized that my beliefs in right and wrong, and how we should treat each other, didn’t depend on the existence of god - that I would live my life the same way if you could prove there was or wasn’t a god. He seemed surprised, so I asked what he’d do differently if it was proven that god didn’t exist. He thought for a minute, then said “Well, I might kill someone.” I truly didn’t know how to process that, especially since the guy was both very kind and gigantic/ripped.
He doesn’t avoid killing someone because he won’t go to heaven when he dies, he avoids killing people because he knows he’d go to prison for the entirely of THIS lifetime, and deep in his subconscious, he knows damn well that this is all he gets.
I always love hearing that I am an Atheist so I can rape and or murder people. Thankfully Penn Jillette’s response to that statement gets them every time, “I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want, and the amount I want is zero.” I always enjoy then asking how many people they are not raping and murdering solely because a book (or their imaginary friend if I am feeling spiteful) tells them not to.
No matter what you call yourself, if you treat people well you are basically considered one of the chosen ones by Pope Leo XIV. Further, no matter what you call yourself, where you worship or with who worship you will not be salvageable if you do not treat others well.
Oh no had you not heard, in most denominations of Christianity the way you lived your life doesn’t mean a thing, it’s the instant of your death that matters. If the church is to believed there is no act too heinous, no person too far gone for redemption. This is why there are instances of murderers taking the lives of victims who fail one of the arbitrary standards the church requires people meet to be eligible to be saved, then repenting on their deathbed.
I’m going to level with you, I didn’t get far on your linked YouTube video, I couldn’t listen to that self congratulatory tone for too long. As a religious leader he could be out there calling for holy crusade against the worst excesses of the republican party. He is choosing the path of appeasement instead, historically this has only gone well when used to navigate relations with fascist, I can’t imagine this ending differently.
The problem with these control schemes is they were instigated as a way to exert control over the masses and then had hundreds of years of being tweaked to overcome the most obvious revealing mistakes, as they have this collection of stolen plot points and retroactive continuity the whole thing becomes unwieldy.
Give the Warhammer 40k community a few more hundred years and see what kind of mess you wind up with, I doubt it will be more incoherent than Christianity but it might be approaching.
He’s one of those “how can an atheist be a good person without the promise of heaven?” type of Christians. You know, the kind of Christian who can’t imagine doing the right thing just because it’s the right thing, and not because there’s a reward for it.
A bunch of years ago, a buddy of mine was asking me how I went from devout catholic to atheist. At one point in the story, I said I realized that my beliefs in right and wrong, and how we should treat each other, didn’t depend on the existence of god - that I would live my life the same way if you could prove there was or wasn’t a god. He seemed surprised, so I asked what he’d do differently if it was proven that god didn’t exist. He thought for a minute, then said “Well, I might kill someone.” I truly didn’t know how to process that, especially since the guy was both very kind and gigantic/ripped.
Sorry, but this sounds like a Monty Python bit and I laughed.
“Well, I suppose I might murder someone…”
lol
I’m with you! It was surreal. I found myself thinking, “I’m glad my friend was raised in a repressive christian household.” So strange.
He doesn’t avoid killing someone because he won’t go to heaven when he dies, he avoids killing people because he knows he’d go to prison for the entirely of THIS lifetime, and deep in his subconscious, he knows damn well that this is all he gets.
Yeesh… Ya, not great.
If the only reason you’re not a shitty person is because someone’s supposedly looking over your shoulder all the time… You’re a shitty person.
I always love hearing that I am an Atheist so I can rape and or murder people. Thankfully Penn Jillette’s response to that statement gets them every time, “I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want, and the amount I want is zero.” I always enjoy then asking how many people they are not raping and murdering solely because a book (or their imaginary friend if I am feeling spiteful) tells them not to.
No matter what you call yourself, if you treat people well you are basically considered one of the chosen ones by Pope Leo XIV. Further, no matter what you call yourself, where you worship or with who worship you will not be salvageable if you do not treat others well.
Oh no had you not heard, in most denominations of Christianity the way you lived your life doesn’t mean a thing, it’s the instant of your death that matters. If the church is to believed there is no act too heinous, no person too far gone for redemption. This is why there are instances of murderers taking the lives of victims who fail one of the arbitrary standards the church requires people meet to be eligible to be saved, then repenting on their deathbed.
I’m going to level with you, I didn’t get far on your linked YouTube video, I couldn’t listen to that self congratulatory tone for too long. As a religious leader he could be out there calling for holy crusade against the worst excesses of the republican party. He is choosing the path of appeasement instead, historically this has only gone well when used to navigate relations with fascist, I can’t imagine this ending differently.
The problem with these control schemes is they were instigated as a way to exert control over the masses and then had hundreds of years of being tweaked to overcome the most obvious revealing mistakes, as they have this collection of stolen plot points and retroactive continuity the whole thing becomes unwieldy.
Give the Warhammer 40k community a few more hundred years and see what kind of mess you wind up with, I doubt it will be more incoherent than Christianity but it might be approaching.
I’ve always felt that if he thinks you can’t be a good person without religion, then he’s not a good person.
I don’t need the promise of after life or heaven to treat people with care or respect.