To wit, at Repsac3's attack blog, American Nihilist, we have this post from Truth101, "Dead Nihilist of the Week - Jesus."
Folks can read the whole thing at the link, but even those who are but moderately religious would recoil at the blasphemy. Indeed, I have received this e-mail from a reader commenting on Repsac3 and his fellow bloggers:
The more I read the things these guys write, the more appalled I am at the way they seem to revel in their godlessness, as evidenced by their mockery and ridicule of God, and the Bible.
If they were as wise as they believe themselves to be, they would realize how close they have come to blasphemy, and instead of being in derision, they would be in fear - and since they are so familiar with the Bible, they should, also, know about this verse: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good," Psalm 14:1.
I invite Donald's anonymous pen pal to write me personally at repsac3blogs@gmail.com if s/he wishes to discuss my faith, as there's little chance Donald knows a thing about it, despite his being such a learned, learned man. (Just ask him...)
ReplyDeleteBarring that, I'd appreciate it if you folks who lack the courage to confront me directly, and who choose instead to chat about me behind my back, do what you can to keep your private conversations private, including asking those with whom you speak do the same...
While Donald seems to get some perverse thrill from repeating the words of these anonymous pen pals--this must be the 4th or 5th "reader e-mail" critical of a "nihilist" he's blogged about just in the year or so I've known him--he's making a good portion of his readership out to be cowards unwilling to stand up for their beliefs, which if true, would be a sad state of affairs.
And that assumes he's not just making these folks up out of whole cloth... While Donald seems to be what he claims, who can really say, for sure? As long as these critical "readers" of his remain anonymous and allow Donald to speak in their absence, they may just as well be disembodied voices in his head...
You're right, Don. We should have some kind of Sharia law to prevent people from writing such "blasphemy" because this stupid First Amendment of ours just ain't doing the job. Who do these people think theu are?
ReplyDeleteAnd why exactly should I not "revel in my godlessness"? Are you saying that your spiritual beliefs are superior to mine? That it is in fact wrong to not believe in an invisible guy who knows everything and can see what I'm doing alone in the dark with a bottle of salad dressing and the sleeve of my favorite jacket?
I hear Christians talking up their religion all the time and I have no problem with it so long as they don't require me to believe the same things but apparently for me to be happy that I have established my own set of moral and ethical beliefs is somehow wrong or sinful in your eyes. God bless America, huh?
Repsac3: I've blogged about this already. I get many e-mails from people who either do not blog or who do not want you and your hordes attacking them in the comment threads at their blogs.
ReplyDeleteYou have a blog with all of your buddies. You link to it in my comment threads. I have a considerably large readership, and I ask permission before I post e-mails. Perhaps some folks will come out and confront you directly and reveal themselves as the authors of the e-mails. But that is not my decision to make, and this is a free-speech zone. The best ideas will win out, I'm sure, and your blogging hordes are certainly helping me the case for traditionalism.
Ooooooh ya'll juss dont git it do ya...
ReplyDeleteWait till Grace shows up mmmmhmm
Den dares gon be a big ol, esplosion
Gracey style, dAT IS
She gon write n write n write mmmhmm
ya'll be ready now.....Den comes Phillipe! ohhh lawd....den Gracey Agin.....its gonna be a bloga armigeddin!
So yall should be nice to each other
Bunch of high school crap.
ReplyDeleteJBW: "And why exactly should I not "revel in my godlessness"?
ReplyDeleteLet's say you are right. God does not exist. At the end of it all you and God-fearing me end up as exact equals - buried six feet under.
But let's say you are wrong. God does exist. You end up in hell and I end up in Heaven.
While most godless folks seem to think they are being uber-logical by renouncing any belief in God, in fact, it is the most illogical of beliefs if one is actually concerned with self-preservation. Worst case scenario for a God-fearing person? Six feat under. Best case? Heaven. Worst case for a godless person? Hell. Best case? Six feet under.
And I don't mean to try and convert. Clearly nothing in my comment could be fairly called proselytizing. It just seems that the logical thing to do would be to believe in a higher power, if for no other reason than to save your own ass.
ReplyDeletePP, I don't think that you're proselytizing and I have heard the exact same argument you pose from many friends and family members. My rebuttal is this: do you really believe that your god works that way?
ReplyDeleteI mean, do you really think that your everlasting salvation from this all-knowing being hinges on hedging your bets? Wouldn't an omnipotent being put up a few more roadblocks, be they ethical or moral or whatever? Do you really think that your god is cataloging every time you eat meat on Friday and that this check will come due when you die?
Despite our recent ideological headbutts I'm honestly asking you these questions. Do you think that your god would be fooled by my token ascension to his supreme awesomeness? Isn't he all-knowing? Is faith something I can realistically fake?
Because I'll be honest with you: I don't believe this stuff, and I don't think I could no matter how much I denied reality. I see horrible things happening to good people all the time, and I see equally great things happening to horrible people all the time. The empirical evidence seems to contradict what you believe.
And I've heard the argument that "He works in mysterious ways". Be honest: if you were doing business with someone who worked by the same rules that your god does, would you even believe a word that that guy said to you?
Again, I'm not saying that you are wrong to believe the things that you believe. I'm just saying that if I had to choose what I believe I would believe in a logical universe that ran according to understandable laws, not the seemingly arbitrary whims of an omniscient creator who seems to let some major things slide while putting way too much emphasis on others.
I understand logic and I don't see it in pretending to believe something you don't. If there is a god (and yes, I am open to that possibility) I would hate to think that He or She is so petty as to bully those who don't believe into doing just that by fear of eternal damnation.
But the point of my original comment was that Don seems to think that because I don't believe the same things that he does that I am somehow morally inferior to him and others who share his beliefs. I understand that there are a lot of people like this in American society but I was hoping for a more open-minded world-view from a man as well educated as he.
JBW,
ReplyDeleteYour post is one of the more thoughtful I have read from you. I am a life-long Catholic having attended Catholic schools for 18 years. My faith is personal to me and I don't see much of a point arguing with others, except to engage in the mental exercise.
I understand your resistance to believing in an invisible guy in the sky, especially in light of your very good point about bad things happening to good people observation. I have questioned that at times in my life through my years in the military and on the police department.
These are tests of faith. And sometimes it ain't easy to believe. My faith tells me that God has endowed man with a free will and this accounts for the evil that exists in the world. I truly believe that there is evil in the world that must be fought by the forces of good.
I refuse to torture myself with the angst of trying identify who is evil and who is not. The evil ones are easily identified by their deeds.
People who blow themselves up to injure and kill others are evil. People who prey upon the weak and the elderly are evil. The many atrocities that have been committed in the name of religion are evil. I could go on, but you get the picture. Moral relativism is a stain on humanity and gives cover to evil people.
My faith has covered me in hard times. If you have the opinion that faith is a crutch, I think you are wrong, but I certainly don't look down upon those who feel the way you do.
My faith is deeply held and I will continue to hold these beliefs as I have throughout my life. I believe there is a heaven and I hope to enter it one day.
I believe that God is concerned with my salvation, not whether my car breaks down or not. I try to follow his teachings in order to save my soul. I believe God is in the saving business and my responsibility is to worthy of being saved. That's what I believe.
Donald, my comment was not directed at you, but at the very people who're contacting you privately...
ReplyDeleteWhile they have every right to write you privately and secretly to say nasty things (or in fact any thing) about me, whether they do so because they do not blog or because they fear retribution/discussion/reply, I see nothing wrong with giving them a polite invitation to discuss "me" with "me," directly, rather than hiding behind a far worse anonymity--allowing their words to flow through you--than you attacked not all that long ago as cowardly. ("What's all very interesting here is that each and every one of my antagonists goes by an anonymous online handle. Now that's cowardly. And worthy of a little analytical consideration.") Anaalytical consideration, indeed... Who's more anonymous; a person with no name or voice at all, or one using a consistent pen name?
Regardless, my comment wasn't directed to you, so you've no need to defend yourself... I'm sure your super-secret readership will contact you if they have a reply for you to offer on their behalf.
JBW: "do you really believe that your god works that way?... I mean, do you really think that your everlasting salvation from this all-knowing being hinges on hedging your bets? ... Do you think that your god would be fooled by my token ascension to his supreme awesomeness?"
ReplyDeleteI believe God requires true faith. Thus, bet-hedging doesn't work. Obviously there is no fooling God with "token" actions. I would never propose "faking it." What I am proposing is that because you might recognize that being a true believer is probably better for your everlasting salvation than not believing (if you play the "odds," as I discussed in my first comment), it might be worth your time to make an honest attempt at embracing faith.
I mean, what have you got to lose by trying? Not trying, on the other hand, could result in everlasting damnation if God turns out to be real.
And all of us believers struggle with seeing evil in the world and asking "Why?", and all of us must work on renewing our faith, etc., so it's not like attempting to embrace the faith would require anything of you the the rest of us don't do daily.