Mark from Proud Atheists does it again! He manages to prove his general and willful ignorance of religion even while attempting to mock it. His latest diatribe is a thoughtful post titled “Dear Christians, ‘I Simply Do Not . . . .‘” It’s a fascinating line of crap from start to finish. Let’s see what we can make of it:

I simply do not understand the need for humans to collectively subscribe to mythology and claim it as reality.

That’s a fairly tall assumption. But that’s all it is. You’re assuming that the Bible is myth, but you’re not trying to prove it. Argument by sound byte. You fail.

I simply do not care if I offend you, your clergy or even your imaginary savior. Since when do many Christians care if they offend others outside of their worldview?

Of course, convicting a person of their sin often requires offending them. That’s the whole point. If we didn’t jaunt the person out of pure complacency, then our message would hardly have impact. The difference is motivation. We’re offending out of love, so that the person in question sees the error of his ways and repents. You’re offending to mock us. That’s a huge difference.

I simply do not condemn gays or gay marriage because homosexuality is “an abomination to God” as many Christians repeat over and over, but yet ignore the warnings of heterosexual adultery in Luke 16:18 when re-marrying.

If you don’t believe in God, then I wouldn’t expect you to believe that homosexuality is an abomination. I know of no secular condemnations of homosexuality.

I much doubt that Christians ignore the warning you speak of. But many people, even Christians, are treating marriage less as a “forever” thing with each generation. I saw an article once advocating the first marriage be a “starter husband,” meaning that the first marriage is a warm up to help prepare for subsequent marriages. Other people are of the mind that marriage should be abolished altogether.

Christians, who are supposed to be counter-culture, are just blending in to society with the whole marriage thing. That’s bad, and you’re right to call us out on it. With much of this, I think it’s a good idea to heed Jesus in Matthew 7:5. Let’s focus on how we can free our own selves from the bondage of sin before we try to convert the rest of the world.

I simply do not feel the presence of any deity or “supreme being” that can control us human beings. Has this deity stopped any diseases/illnesses, natural disasters or crimes against humanity. I’m not blaming your skydaddy for these things, I’m pointing out the flaws in your interpretation of “God”. You are the ones always reminding us that “God loves everyone”.

Who said that God “controls” us? He can shape our attitudes and outlook, but we still have a free will last I checked and are therefore able to make up our own minds as to the course of action that we take in a given situation.

God does love everyone, but he shows no partiality either. He brings rain on both the good and evil (Mt 5:43-48).

Finally, if God stopped diseases, illnesses, natural disasters, or crimes against humanity, would you know that he did? Of course not. Because the disease, illness, natural disaster, or crime would never have taken place. So don’t claim that God hasn’t stopped anything, when you are not omniscient. You don’t know all of the possibilities of the universe.

I simply do not see anything beneficial or special about being a Christian. Human compassion is not exclusive to Christianity. In fact, I’ve witnessed more compassion outside of the circle of “Born Agains”.

Christ is the exclusive way to heaven, to an afterlife of eternal glory with God the Father. But even the earliest Christians recognized that compassion wasn’t exclusive to Christianity. Paul took ideas from pagan poets in Acts 17:28. God would be the ultimate source of all goodness, and Jesus would reveal that goodness, but no one ever said that the Bible was the exclusive fount from which goodness is made known to the world.

Folks who remain outside the “circle of ‘Born Agains'” remain in bondage to their sins. They are incapable of doing actual good, but that doesn’t render them unable to do any good. Some are more enslaved to sin than others. Even many Christians, especially ones who ascribe to certain popular preachers indistinguishable from the average fortune cookie, aren’t ever taught that they are sinful and repentance is required.

I simply do not believe everything was created in six days, nor created by someone who needed to rest on the day after. Why do you go to a church and pray to someone on their day off?

I can appreciate that you don’t buy a literal six-day creation. But it’s not a continuous resting period. Read the Bible. God is obviously active within his creation through all of human history. The Bible is the story of God’s active involvement.

I simply do not kneel, bow down or pray to any imaginary supernatural forces or the idols that represent those forces. Get off your knees. You look very silly talking to the air too! And tell your Christian professional ball players that thanking God for homeruns or touchdowns is a sign of ignorance.

The “idols that represent those forces?” What brand of Christianity are you attempting to critique? Not the biblical variety. Talk to TurretinFan; he’s got an extensive section on idol worship!

Thanking God for a touchdown or a home run only makes a person look silly if atheism is the truth. Of course, you haven’t actually argued or proven that it is; you’re just making assumptions here.

Mark had a total of 14 points with one concluding thought. Let’s digest what has been covered today, and we’ll pick up with points 8 through 14, and offer some concluding remarks tomorrow.