Frank A

@EugeneBurger3 @McClureShawn There most definitely are. Just as there have been many atheists in foxholes. I've personally known both. Why would illness or a dangerous situation suddenly make someone start believing in an eastern tribal desert god?

@McClureShawn One cannot prove nor disprove the existence of God. It is not for science or logic to determine. That is why it is called faith, one believes without proof or one doesn’t. All I know is that there aren’t any atheists in a cancer ward.

If God is ineffable, unprovable, unfalsifiable, and unobservable, then everyone who claims to know God exists and everyone who claims to know anything about God are inherently incorrect, or at the very least are wild-ass guessing with no defensible basis whatsoever.

@Folla_gatos2000 @ThinkingAtheist This is true, in the same way that Tuesday, pronounced Chews day, comes from Old Welsh 'ciu' and refers to the way the faithful all nibble away at bits of Jesus' flesh at Holy Communion.

@ThinkingAtheist Linguistics denies this because for example Sunday in Romance languages has another meaning, in Spanish Sunday is said “Domingo” which comes from the Latin that means "Dominus Dei" which means “Día del Señor” (Lord's Day) referring to the Catholic God.

@LarsTheBadMan Target practice?

What the heck would an all-powerful "god" need a bigoted ass like Charlie Kirk for?

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist I wasn't familiar with Evans so checked him out. He's a conservative evangelical scholar whose work is somewhere between academic and apologetics. Not someone I'd trust to present an unbiased critical study of anything biblical.

@edward15043 @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Grok cites Simon Gathercole’s “The Titles of the Gospels in the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts” and books by Brant Pitre and Michael Kruger. But I don’t know them. I’ve only read Dr. Craig Evans archeological work “Jesus and the Manuscripts.” Some of what he writes …

Think about it.. your IQ has to be pretty low to be convinced there’s a magic being in the sky that will torture you for all eternity if you touch your naughty bits. And ironically it also needs your money.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Which brings us back to magic dogs. If you want me to believe in regurgitated pagan mythology in contradictory accounts written decades after the supposed events, at least one of whose authors didn't know the geographical area he was writing about, I need a tad more evidence.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Yes, most (not all) 4th and 5thC copies have 'according to Mark' or similar written on them by scribes or others, because the church had given names to the anonymous gospels a couple of hundred years earlier. What's far more important than authorship is, are they true.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist But there were no witnesses for any of the resurrected gods, yours included. Stories about witnesses aren't eyewitnesses. My b-in-law told me this was one of his biggest hurdles when leaving the faith, accepting the fact that none of the supposed eyewitnesses exist.

@edward15043 @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist But I agree that what makes/breaks Christianity compared to the rest of your list is if the witnesses were present & reliable. I'd be lots better off if I could disbelieve, but I haven't seen any arguments that sufficiently dispute them [to me] as witnesses.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Imagine the 1st gospel's covering letter. 'I'm Jacob/Jim, I've written a story about Jesus and included a few ancient magic tales to make him seem more powerful than other preachers. Maybe in a couple of years someone will copy this and add a magic birth and stuff' Hi Matthew.

@edward15043 @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist The myth of anonymous gospels has been put to bed. Documents back then came with a cover letter from the author. And John lived til 100; he knew who’d written those and probably confirmed to his students. Everyone back then knew who’d written them. For a truly anonymous letter,…

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Personally I don't think dead Jewish preachers have thoughts either way. Neither do- Osiris Dionysus Tammuz Asclepius Adonis Baldr Quetzalcoatl Innana or any of the other resurrected gods with similar evidence to Jesus. No eyewitnesses, stories written long afterwards.

@edward15043 @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist culmination of it. Is Jesus really present in the bread & wine as we believe? I like the quote that if Jesus wants to be present in the bread & wine then there’s no way to prevent it; and if He doesn’t want to be present, we can’t force Him.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Literacy thought to be around 5-15% even basic writing. Acts confirms they were unschooled ordinary men. But the gospel writers weren't disciples and never claimed to be. Luke (he of the fabricated birth story fame) confirms that he wasn't a witness.

@edward15043 @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist look at Hebrews. Even in the 2nd century there were questions of who wrote it. Why do you think the disciples were illiterate? I’ve seen research that literacy rate in Judah was higher than the rest of the Roman Empire. And Greek had been spoken in Judah since the time of the …

@Username0843 @DogecoinFool @NoHolyScripture If god made Adam from dust, why is there still dust?

@DogecoinFool @NoHolyScripture My parents told me my ancestors came from Germany. If that’s true then why are there still Germans?

Humans didn’t evolve from modern apes, we ARE apes, sharing a common ancestor with chimps, bonobos, and gorillas ~6-7 million years ago. Just like you and your cousin share grandparents, humans and chimps share deep ancestral roots. Evolution isn’t linear; it’s a family tree.

@NoHolyScripture @AF_GenZer 🎯

@AF_GenZer If only you hypocritical evolution deniers subjected Adam and Eve, talking snakes and donkeys, virgin birth, resurrections, miracles, etc. to the same scrutiny!

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Sorry, I meant 'substitute' blood and flesh, though of course in less enlightened times people believed it became magically real.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist As Christians copied the layout of pagan temples complete with sacrificial altar I don't think it's an unreasonable hypothesis that they continued rites with blood and flesh to make local pagans feel included. After all, Gregory gave instructions to take over pagan festivals.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Another strong option is that you really believed your dog was magic, just as the gospel writers possibly believed the stories they'd heard 3rd, 10th, 97th hand before writing them down. Most of the martyred apostle stories only appeared centuries later. Check 'em out.

@edward15043 @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist dog did miracles, you’d say either I’m lying or mis-led. Right? (The 3rd choice is it's actually true.) Are there any other options? It starts getting too weird… Alien manipulation? If I say go ahead & torture me to death & I refuse to recant, maybe you eliminate lying.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist No-one knows who wrote the gospels, names were ascribed by the church in the 2nd century. We know they were educated Greek speakers and clearly not illiterate Galilean fishermen. We know two of them copied Mark and that John probably had several authors. Fascinating stuff.

@edward15043 @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist It’s a myth they were anonymous. Common practice is the manuscript would’ve circulated w/ a cover letter from the writer. Everyone knew who wrote the gospels. For a truly anonymous text, see Hebrews. Even in the 2nd century they were wondering who wrote it. If I told you my …

@MiniJet10 @Number10cat @SGriffin_Lab

@Number10cat @SGriffin_Lab

Translation: "I started something I can't finish and broke something I can't fix so I'm going to walk away and pretend it's your fault"

@Rakohan22 @drodvik52 @Angry_Staffer @JenelleComedy No the visit's been confirmed. He's in an impossible position, let's face it no-one ever expected the dignified position of POTUS to be held by a coarse deranged lunatic with access to the nuclear code. Perhaps the king can have a steadying influence on him for a few days.

@drodvik52 @Angry_Staffer @JenelleComedy I think he already has

This might be the most unhinged thing he’s ever tweeted, and that’s saying something. He’s flailing. Has no idea how to get out of this war cleanly.

@CLHinkle @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist Healing the sick, turning water to wine, raising the dead, casting out demons, restoring sight and mobility, calming storms, feeding a multitude, all tales from older religions regurgitated by the gospel writers. Ditto of course magic birth/death/magic rebirth in Spring.

@edward15043 @A_Philosopher @Maximumatheist fantastic story, then you have to deal with their claims.