so upset that one of the few people on earth who could so eloquently put the psychopaths of religion in their place has left us. The world needs a 1000 Hitch's
i love this man but he is GROSSLY ignorant about Buddhism and seems to be confusing it with Hinduism. Buddhism is NOT a revealed philosophy (same as he has previously referenced to Socrates). It is NOT a religion but a philosophy and he is confusing the actions of those ignorantly expressing their misguided and ignorant understanding of Buddhism with the actual teachings. Shameful.
@kennhiser I beg to offer in his defence, as he is no longer with us, is his consistent annoyance at those who express "revealed wisdom" as if they have knowledge that is not available to others, a position I believe reasonable. To label him ignorant and misguided is, ignorant and misguided, and dare I say a touch arrogant.
@kennhiser ....totally agree. Buddha built his teachings on the observations of verifiable human experience, which renders his approach actually very scientific.
@kennhiser the telling of the story of siddartha (buddha) - how he was birthed from his mother and how his father (the king) reacted (with tears of joy that transformed to tears of sorrow) - makes buddhist philosophy a revealed philosophy in itself, as it sets the prince up as someone to take highest regards towards (for his teachings only, albeit).
and with buddhist countries such as shangrilah and myanmar you have to admit that it hasn't been practiced with much peace in mind.
Please visit my channel for the unpopular truth about homosexuality.
A person does not need religion, hatred or any kind of phobia in order to acknowledge important, qualitative differences between heterosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption and homosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption.
Homosexual activists, with complete support from the media, have succeeded at framing themselves as noble victims and martyrs; it's an effective way to push a social agenda.
Hitchens, ' God is not great' is one of my favourite books. For similar great thoughts try Dan Barker, John W. Loftus, Robert M Price, Valerie Tarico, Victor Stenger, Bart Ehrman, Ken Humphreys, Richard Carrier, Ken Pulliam, Keith Parsons, Gary Greenberg, Robert Ingersoll, Thomas Paine, Mark Twain, Earl Doherty, Israel Finkelstein, Daniel Dennett, C Dennis Mckinsey
Nuclear weapon in the hands of Arabs is like giving a child a complex equation and asked them to solve it while they don't even know what that means. I'm an Arab atheist and I agree that Arab's interest apart from fucking many virgins and drinking from the river of heaven that's all pouring wine is beyond the reach of nuclear weapon. they don't have that in mind, give them a pussy, and you will see what nuclear weapon they have attached to their body, it's just penis
.I think it may also prove helpful to some of the viewers here to try to evaluate many of the more strident claims of the anti-theist critique ("brights") from a ideological/ metaphysics perspective. Check out the recent article by Jackson Lears in the May 16, 2011 issue of the The Nation entitled "Same Old New Atheism" .The article offers a compelling analysis of Sam Harris' works. Consideration is given to general atheistic social perspectives
Mr. Hitchens, you make many excellent points, however there is one I don't agree with. The notion that loving your enemies is hideous and disgusting. To me this is actually one of the few Christian teachings that is good and I will always have enormous respect and envy for those who can forgive and feel pity for those who have hurt them. As Ghandi said, "An Eye for an Eye Makes the whole world blind." If Christians actually respected this, there would be far less war.
Bottom Line? St. Thomas Aquinas proves God's existence in the Summa. Atheists, in their lack of understanding, only misrepresent what Thomas says. Not even Hitchens and Dawkins can defeat Aquinas. God wins again :)
@TADGELL, I know a number of Iranians and they all say that the Iranian people are actually not that religious, they are only forced to religion by their government. In fact a lot of them see Islam as a religion imposed by foreigners. There is far more Atheists among Iranians than we may think, they just can't show themselves.
Well, not true, Arabs and Persians are different ethnicities altogether, despite the intermixture that may have taken place between them. Arabs speak Semitic languages, whereas Persians speak Indo-European languages (for example Farsi in Iran and Dari in Afghanistan). Your example is incorrect as Canada and the USA are multi-ethnic countries comprised of people of different ethnicities who speak the same language. The case with the Arabs and the Persians is mostly the opposite.
@Xantion you can't just draw an imaginary line in the sand and say that the people on either side are different suddenly (in this case the imaginary line is literally in the sand). in today's world, and you even said it yourself, that they have intermixed because of proximity. have you seen ahmedinejad? do you know any iranians or abarb? arabic and farsi are like spanish and portuguese. as for canada and the u.s. i meant in the beginning where everyone was from western europe.
I do know Arabs and Iranians, especially being half-Iraqi myself, that's why I originally pressed for distinction. Also, don't forget that Iran is quite the maverick and pursues an agenda of its own, rather than some over-promoted solidarity with Arabs. I'm kinda privy to Middle Eastern culture (for better or for worse) so apologies for reacting in a slightly over-correcting way, but I really see some differences that perhaps are invisible for the average person, hence my stubbornness.
@Xantion i see your point, but i think it's interesting how humans seem to need to create these artificial (man-made) distinctions in order to have some kind of unique ethnic identity to hold on to as a source of pride. it's all so arbitrary and random and insignificant. we're all the same really. so what if we eat different vegetables (because of what different regions naturally produce) and speak a different language?
I could not agree with you any more on your last thoughts and can only commend you for having such mentality. However, a lot of ignorant people tend to lump Arabs, Persians (ethnic markers) and Muslims (religious markers) in one bag and define them as a single, unified and mono-characteristic entity which is why I was stubborn about making that distinction.
Anyway, I don't think we really disagree on anything so all the best to you and thanks for your comments :)
The only dislikes on atheist videos are from fundamentalist sycophants. Isn't it interesting how most videos regarding the discussion of atheism is open to ratings and comments, whilst most videos that back a fundamentalist view of religion are closed to ratings and comments?
Yup. Religion is useless superstition. Embarrassment for mankind.
Christian faith has been toned down to almost tolerable level by science and secularism.
Muslim faith is being eroded by western television-shows. Desperate Housewives and Friends are being broadcasted to muslim countries, and those shows are opening the eyes of arab youth.Life does not have to be just praying 5 times per day and useless superstition shadowing everything.Old farts with their ridiculous desert bullshit are losing.
I totally agree with Christopher here. Even living in a traditionally religious society makes one feel needlessly guilty. I know I often do. From my own experience, I think that Christianity and Buddhism are the worst in this respect.
Answer to the question: is the world becomming worse or better?
Obviously the world is becomming better because of the decline of religions!
Yes, the number of people which are now alive is larger than at any time in history combined! Yes, in the 20th century the number of the crimes was huge, maybe more than at any time in history combined!
But percentageweise, it was a trifle if compared with the previous centuries!
The average lifespan has increased dramatic ally in the last century
@48acar19 Yeah, right. Nuclear bombs, bio weapons, mass global pollution. looming global warming disasters, global famine, growing poverty, homelessness, joblessness; predicted global disease plagues, predicted loss of much of the earth's green plants and all of the grasses we and cattle depend on. Growing and predicted much worse fresh water losses. Yeah sure, the world is really improving since the age of science and wonder reared it's ugly head.
As many people are quoting here Judaism as a perfect religion, I will only add that I read the conclusions of the Institute of Archeology from Tell Aviv:
"It is imposiible for the present-day Jews to renounce to the Idea that their Holy Wrritings are not history. There was no Exodus from Egypt, there was no Noah, there was no "promissed land"".
Al these data have been written also in the Wickipedia, at the "Exodus", but some fundamentalists have deleted this information asap they saw it!
@kidlomax What Christopher HItchens says in another video: "All Jewish historians now admit Moses probably didn't exist." What the 2010 edition of the Britannica says in the heading "Moses", which is written by a prominent Jewish historian: The majority of historians believe that either Moses or a leader like Moses probably did exist. Only one of many examples of how HItchens entirely misrepresents what historians actually believe. Christopher HItchens is an obvious liar, charlatan and fraud.
This false opinion is the result of the little education given to our youngsters.
In fact even when considering the Nazi and Soviet crimes, it is still very obvious that the degree of violence has decreased dramatically in our history.
Now the average life span is over 70; only a few centuries ago it was 25 and everybody used to die in wars!
Whatever you just said is not only false, it is also stupid.
@48acar19 Several modern highly educated historians have concluded that probably more people died from war and related violence in the 20th Century than ALL previous centuries combined; several million Russians alone died in WWII. Life expectancy on a global level today 67 to less than 70 years, depending on which source you choose. Life expectancy in 14-1200 BC Hebrew society was 70 years. Life expectancy in Middle Age Europe was far less; difference is mainly due to diet, not medicine.
You can lie easily with figures. For example, it is true that about 50 million people died in the WW2. that represented less than 80%of the total increase of population in the world during a single year!!
During of the 100 years old war in Europe, about 90% of the population of those German lands were killed!
The Colliseum in Rome was built with Jewish slaves only, and their life span was less than 25 years! Maybe you are adding Mathusalem's age to your calculation!
@48acar19 That is true, you can lie about figures. For example, many historians believe that more people died from violence in the 20th Century than in all previous centuries combined. And it is well established that more people lived in all of the previous centuries combined than lived in the 20th Century. So, it is easy to see who the liar is.
@48acar19 Oh, and then there is the odds actually calculated by a British research experiment, where it was determined that the odds of just a single Shakespearean sonnet appearing without any Creator was calculated as 1 x 10 to the 457th power. Given that all of the particles in the entire universe are estimated to be 1 x 10 to the 80th power, it isn't difficult to determine that atheists are so completely and entirely dishonest, calling them liars isn't fair to the other liars of history.
@48acar19 People pretending there is no God, pretend Shakespeare's brain, along with the rest of the universe, appeared magically all by itself. The more you respond, the more ignorant you appear in public. You were better off before you opened your mouth and inserted obviously self-contradicting foot. Atheism pretends that my computer, Shakespeare's sonnets and everything else known to humanity, doesn't require any creative brains to exist. Any moron who has studied logic 1-A knows better.
@48acar19 Darwin credited the Creator with being behind the evolutionary process. You on the other hand, pretend that the universal reality magically appeared all by itself, without any creative mind behind it. You are grossly lying about the known evidence, which I have studied in great depth. I told you where you can find my footnoted article on evolution. If you're too lazy to read it, that's your problem, not mine.
If you would have been educated, you would not talk this nonsense!
Darwin was an atheist even when he died! But there are Christrian assholes liars, who said otherwise. Even dawkins has mentioned this lie!
As for Hitchens (Jewish) he specifically said that he would always have close to him a taping device in order to stop the eventual liers saying lies about him, as you are saying lies about Darwin.
In fact the darwinian evolution is not "creation from nothing"!
@48acar19 "There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one". -- On the Origin of Species; revised edition 1876 (pub about 6 yrs before Darwin's death). "I have never been an atheist" and Darwin also wrote in the same letter written 2 years before he died "one can be an ardent Theist and evolutionist". Calling you a liar is not being fair to the other liars of human history.
Yes, the number is huge, but the proportion is minuscule. While 50 million people is a huge number, it does not represent but a tiny fraction of a procent of the population of the Globe in 1945.
While in the Ancient world, 50 million people would have been more than the population of the Entire Roman Empire with the Jews included!
@48acar19 You are obviously lying and tripping all over yourself. According to many if not most historians, more people died from violence in the 20th Century than in ALL previous centuries combined. There were a lot more people who lived in ALL previous centuries combined than who were alive in the 20th Century. Your just pissing up a rope, to pretend that humanity is becoming less violent, which every legitimate historian knows is false.
Either you did not understand what I said or you are totally uninformed. Yes, it was a huge number of people who died during the last century, but their proportion was minuscule!
During the ancient times, the Bible and the Jewish sacred texts have condoned the ETHNIC CLEANSING! Read the Bible! Read the Torah!
The proportion of the people killed because of the Torah was huge, even though their number is lower than the people killed in WW2.
@48acar19 I didn't misunderstand what you said, you tried to pretend what I said is not true. What is true is, many if not most historians believe that more people died from war and other violence than in ALL PREVIOUS CENTURIES COMBINED. That is what is true, whether you like it or not. There is no evidence whatsoever that humanity is morally improving but rather, the evidence clearly points in the opposite direction.
What in the ancient world meant annihilation, today might be only an insignificant percentage of the people! The overal effect on the general population of the world is a trifle now, if compared with ancient conflicts were ethnic cleansing was applied, as reccomended by the "good" Torah teachings or by the Bible!
The so-called Armagedon fight, thought to be related with the end of the world (a stone-age battle in Meggido) resulted in less than one hundred casualties!
@48acar19 You are obviously lying and tripping all over yourself. According to many if not most historians, more people died from violence in the 20th Century than in ALL previous centuries combined. There were a lot more people who lived in ALL previous centuries combined than who were alive in the 20th Century. Your just pissing up a rope, to pretend that humanity is becoming less violent, which every legitimate historian knows is false.
@48acar19 You are inventing history to someone who is a 60 and is a lifetime history major. Anybody who has studied a lot of history knows that violence is increasing on a population % level, not decreasing. And, anybody who has studied a lot of history knows that a great many people have lived well past 70 throughout the historical record and, that the main reason for differences is due to poor nutrition & living conditions, rather than medicine. You very clearly no little about history.
The Inquisition was based on the idea of "loving your neighbor like yourself".
The inquisitors used to say that they are burning at stake people in order to make their ordeal in the next world easier for them.
Wasn't that impressive? So much "love"?
They would have been much more appreciated today if only they would have applied the tenet "live and let live" than their stupid religious belief system!
@48acar19 I am neither a Catholic or Christian, yet you continue to blame me for what Catholics and other Christians do or have done. Now, that really makes a lot of sense.
@48acar19 No, I did not blame science. Rather I pointed out the obvious, if religion causes war, then science and education also cause war. You very clearly don't understand very much at all. No modern behavioral scientist believes that either religion or science causes war, nor does anyone in their right mind believe religion is the root of all evil. It is clearly demonstrated in the historical record that both atheists and theists engage in war, as do both educated and uneducated people.
Science is a tool. Religion is, on the other hand, an ideatic structure that may have as a goal (and many time it has) destroying others (perceived as "non-believers!)
Science never makes wars against the "non-believers" in science! But religion did cause war many times in the history. Your denial is uninformed an really pathetic.
Do you deny that the Crusades were caused by Religion?
@48acar19 Your analysis is shallow and uninformed. Religious people build homeless shelters, hospitals and orphanages and religious people also fight wars. Scientists try to use science to cure disease, grow more and better food and build artificial limbs. Scientists also build weapons of mass destruction and often deliberately lie for corporate employers. The evidence very clearly demonstrates that people cause war and other human oppression, it is irrational to blame it on anything else.
@48acar19 What I told you is exactly correct. Some religious people help people, some religious people hurt people. Some scientists help people, some hurt people. ALL people hurt other people at various times in their lives. I have never met a person who has not been hurt by another person. Thus, the problems of human oppression come from what is within people. Both modern science and the Bible agree, as well as ALL of the known evidence. You and Maher are just complete loony tunes.
@48acar19 Both modern behavioral science and the Bible agree that the cause of war and other violence begins within individual human beings. If you would read a legitimate source once in a while, instead of listening to crackpot atheists, you wouldn't come off looking so poorly educated in public. When BOTH science and the Bible agree, you may as well shoot yourself in the head as to pretend you know better.
@48acar19 Actually, that's a good term for modern science theory. Modern science theory = nuclear bombs, bio weapons and global mass pollution. Modern education has resulted in the most violent 20th Century known in all of human history. Perhaps Hitchens and a few scientists should pay a little closer attention to what Jesus said, about taking the beam out of one's own eye before removing the splinter from someone else's eye.
@48acar19 I might add, I'm very glad you are not dictator, what with abolishing all of those "stupid and wrong" teachings in the Bible about caring about the sick and poor, loving our neighbor, doing good to those who hate us, promoting love, peace and justice rather than violence, not murdering, stealing, lying. Yeah, that would be a great society if all of those "stupid and wrong" ideas were all removed, we opened the jail house doors and let the gangs of LA roam freely without any police.
Somehow you have forgotten those horrible tenets of the bible: like:"if a child does not obey to his parents he should be put to death", or "if a woman has sex with a man during her period she should be put o death together with that man", or "if a man sleeps with another man like with a woman they should be both put to death and their blood should fall upon them" and so on.
@48acar19 No, I have read the Bible and am aware of what you say. Unlike you, I understand the OldT mostly portrays an "eye for an eye" God of judgment, while the NewT mostly portrays a God of forgiveness, love and compassion. This is because God is both a God of unbending judgment and a God of forgiveness, compassion and love. It is up to you, if you want Jesus to forgive you. Otherwise, you will end up in a black hole, which the Bible describes almost exactly as modern science describes it
No, you are not aware about the evil brought by the judeo-christian belief system.
If you are still pretending that all these monstruosities about killing children, gays, women are coming from a god, your belief is non-sense. And don't point to the new testament like it is better that the old one: read St. Paul's injunctions against women, against gays and even against the effeminate men.
This is disgusting enough for a normal person to end his or her Christian belief.
@48acar19 Evil is caused by people; people make good choices and bad choices. Systems do not cause evil, people do. What is interesting about atheists is, they pretend to believe in science, but often directly contradict the known science of human behavior. People cause the problems of people.
Everything in the human society is caused and invented by people, including the concept of god.
Once invented by people, the concepts are forging a new reality. For example, in the Ancient World the Jews and the Christians have decided that sex is sinful.
Unlike the Greeks, they have decided to kill people for extramarital sex by stoning them to death (especially women). That was and still is EVIL!
Yes, evil is created by people, by inventing stupid religions!
When you are saying that people are those who make good or bad choices, you are chosing a reference, which in your case is given not by the real world, but by religion.
For example a man loving another man or a boy is a good choice according to the Ancient Greek culture, but a bad choice according to your evil religion.
After the Christianity has conquered the political power in the Eastern Roman Empire, the Christians have decided to kill by fire the "sodomites".
@48acar19 Well, I could pretend that there really is no sin, that what Hitler did to Jews, gypsies and Communists was just a part of the larger natural selection equation and thus, we should pin a medal on him instead of vilify his type and put them in prison. Anybody can pretend anything they want and, we can change the word sin to "social maladjustment" or "aberations of the norm" or whatever fancy phrase we wish, but at the bottom-line the hunger, pain and suffering remains.
@48acar19 And just for the record, as like many atheists, you apparently have never actually read very much if any legitimate sources for yourself, most scholars believe that the term "sodomite" is a King James era mistranslation of what is intended to refer to as pedophile, that is, people who enslave, kidnap and otherwise molest children. Most atheists I have personally known believe they should be locked up in jail, as do I. Your ignorance is clearly demonstrated by your several responses.
@777TIZZable I am not a Christian, nor was Jesus a Christian, nor did Paul ever claim to be a Christian. No well-educated person would conclude Jesus is the founder of Christianity and likewise, no well-educated person would conclude that Jesus is anything but the Messiah. If you want to listen to poorly educated media hacks instead of Jesus, that's your problem, not mine. And if you want legitimate facts, you might try the Britannica instead of an obvious historical fraud like Hitchens.
god is a blanket concept people use to fill the wholes in their knowledge. It is nothing more than an idea. Stating it as a fact is a lie. FIRST we have to come up with a coherent and VERIFIABLE definition for the concept....yet we can't.
As far as atheism being ubscientific...lol Since when is a default position wrong? Believing in something that is unproven (not to mention defying facts) is unscientific. Just because someone (Like Einstein) buys into bs doesn't make it valid.
@InFromTheVoid haha thats true. One of my mates, whose a devout Muslim, when i became an atheist told me to research islam & science because where science ends Islam continues. What he meant by that is, god created the world, god created the universe, god created everything. hahaha. to me thats the lamest and most pathetic answer for anything. Its a major cop out in a debate against religious people. Ofcourse the big bang is just a theory! science always continues to find the truth from evidence
@halflifeproductionz My computer just magically self-designed. Ha, ha, ha. That the "lamest" excuse I've ever heard of for embracing atheism. Your so-called "logic" just represents circular nonsense. If nobody designed the universe, then nobody designed modern human beings and at the bottom-line, nobody designed anything that exists on our planet today, including the pyramids, the Taj Mahal, The U.S. Supreme Court building and my computer. HA, HA, HA. ATHEISM = TOTAL BULLSHIT.
@InFromTheVoid Atheism is a blanket SUPERSTITION people embrace who otherwise aren't intelligent enough to embrace cartoons and fairy tales, which are far more likely "true" than atheism ever hoped to be. ATHEISM PROPOSES: Nobody designed the universe, nobody designed humans, and thus at the bottom-line, computers, fairy tales and cartoons all magically appeared on their own. Yeah, now that's really smart, let's eliminate God and see what kind of bullshit "theory" we can come up with.
@richardaberdeen calm down angry christian. if god created me, then which god created me, jesus, god or the holy spirit? is christianity meant to be a monotheistic religion or all you all polytheists?
@halflifeproductionz Of all of the websites on the internet, the most ignorant comments can be found uttered by those who call themselves atheists. Eternal God--look up the word "eternal" in the dictionary. I am not a Christian, Jesus was not a Christian and Paul never referred to himself as a Christian. Christianity arose after 90 A.D. As I have already noted, if you want to be educated, read the Bible and Britannica; if you want to be a moron, listen to atheists instead.
@halflifeproductionz I am not a Christian, nor was Jesus a Christian, nor did Paul ever claim to be a Christian. No well-educated person would conclude Jesus is the founder of Christianity and, no well-educated person would conclude that Jesus is anything but the Messiah. If you want to listen to poorly educated media hacks instead of Jesus, that's your problem, not mine. And if you want legitimate facts, you might try the Britannica instead of an obvious historical fraud like Hitchens.
@InFromTheVoid I believe it is spelled "hole" not "whole", as in the black hole God is going to toss people in who pretend he doesn't exist. And, you "parrot" this atheism nonsense that if one can't define God, then there can't be one. That is far more stupid than saying that a child can't believe his parents exist unless he first can completely understand his parents. It is no small wonder that atheists make the most ignorant of all statements to be found on the web.
@JordanKimball I feel sorry for conservative Christians, who don't understand that Jesus is history's greatest liberal, but I feel more sorry for atheists who listen to Hitchens, who is clearly demonstratably a historical fraud and over liar, which I have pointed out in this forum and which you can easily find by searching for responses under "richardaberdeen" within the various responses in this forum.
@LightHasDawned Hitchens is an obvious historical fraudster, pretending that the majority of historians claim what the majority of historians do not claim. Of that much is absolutely demonstrated by his own self-contradictory statements. As for example, Hitchens states in another video that "all Jewish historians now admit Moses probably didn't exist", which is an absolute lie. I have the writings of contemporary Jewish historians in my own library that state opposite, and so does Britannica.
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I'm still waiting for your better ideas than Jesus had. Who cares what's wrong with Christianity or whatever? Where are Hitchens better ideas for how to actually help human beings? What better idea does he have to achieve peace, eliminate hunger, eliminate the massive pollution plague his god of science has left our children? Why is Hitchens wasting everybody's time? If he doesn't have any better ideas, why doesn't he just shut up? Lord knows, our children have been lied to enough already.
Many philosophers, psychologists and others believe that taking life one day at a time is a very wise and health choice. Of course, if you don't have God to watch out for you, then you have to plan way ahead and keep looking over your shoulder, which is why I suppose Hitchens doesn't know what he's talking about.
@cyphern So am I and, we will likely be waiting a very, very, very long time. According to historian Will Durant, probably human history's most educated man, Jesus was way more intelligent than any other known person in history. It is far more likely the sun won't rise tomorrow, than that Christopher Hitchens will ever remotely have a better idea for saving our planet than Jesus.
@richardaberdeen Do you often reply to year-old posts with non sequiturs? What exactly in my post will we be "waiting a very, very, very long time" for?
@cyphern I was responding regarding your response above, where you said "still waiting for your better ideas than Jesus had", which is kind of poorly worded, because you then give an opposite idea as if it is an improvement. Someone else in the forum said they were still waiting for an atheist to provide a better solution for war, proper education and environmental awareness than Jesus already taught and that is what my response refers to. Hitchens tries, but it's pretty hard to beat God.
@richardaberdeen No sir, I did not say "I'm still waiting for your better ideas than Jesus had". *You* said that, and i quoted you in my response.
Jesus said (or is claimed to have said) many wise things. He also said (or is claimed to have said) many incredibly foolish things. One example of the latter is found in Matthew 6:34, and I used that to provide you with what asked for: a better idea than Jesus had.
@cyphern That is actually a very wise way to live, which the vast majority of modern psychologists and self-help so-called "experts" would likely agree with. I personally know a highly educated psychologist who also a medical doctor and psychiatrist who agrees with that, as well. I have already explained in detail why that is a wise idea in this forum and I'm not going to do it all over again, as you can do a search under "richardaberdeen" in this forum and find it for yourself.
@cyphern And no, he is not my personal shrink. I don't have much use for psychology because the teachings of Jesus are much better; I find the entire "science" of psychology pretty much a waste of time and energy. To be brief in case you don't want to search, Jesus himself made future plans for going to Jerusalem and Paul made several extended plans for his various journeys, thus if think it through carefully in proper context, you will agree with my grandfather, it is a very wise idea.
@cyphern Jesus practiced what he preached more than anyone known in human history. You don't understand WHY Jesus said what the did about taking one day at a time, which has little to do about whether or not we can plan a future trip. Jesus himself predicted future events and told people to watch for signs occurring, so he clearly wanted people to think about the future. Like Hitchens, you don't understand what it means to "live one day at a time", which is a long held human health belief.
@cyphern One would think if you have actually studied much psychology, my mentioning of my psychiatrist friend would have provided a clue. Psychologists are well aware that a significant amount of the reasons why people end up on mental medication, in mental hospitals and otherwise, on the "psychiatric couch", is because they can't cope with reality in their daily lives that gets in the way of their plans. Often people with mental problems try to rigidly plan and control their lives.
@cyphern Thus, it is an extremely beneficial and sound idea to take life one day at a time and, to not worry about future events, which often turn out different than we plan. Nobody who has lived very long is unfamiliar with the "curveballs" that life can throw at us, that interrupt our long-term plans. A friend who is a quadriplegic used to belong to unions. Talk to him about how smart it is to make long-term plans. You don't know what the hell you're talking about & neither does Hitchens.
@cyphern One of the primary surface causes behind people who seek psychological help, as noted in previous, is because they can't cope with the differences between their plans and what the reality of their life allows them to do or otherwise, not do. It is a very good, sane and healthy idea to take one day at a time and not worry about tomorrow; we have enough trouble dealing with our problems today. Any moron who has lived and worked in the real world knows that, apparently except for Hitchens
@richardaberdeen Simply put, you are ignoring what is said in the bible and are interpreting it to mean something that it does not say. Your interpretation is actually pretty good advice, but it is totally divorced from what is said in the bible.
Jesus didn't merely say to take one day at a time, he said explicitly that the things you should not worry about are food, drink, and clothing. Ignoring these things is a fatal mistake. Any moron who has lived and worked in the real world knows that.
@richardaberdeen sure dude. Maybe you need to get your so called " education" by someone that actually knows a little about history. Don't take pride in your ignorance.
@JordanKimball I've likely studied more science and history than you even know exists, who can say for sure. Only a moron who has never picked up a history book with any understanding at all would have supported the war in Iraq like Hitchens did. Only a psychological infidel would pretend that worrying about tomorrow is a good idea. Not being able to cope with reality in relation to carefully laid out plans and otherwise worrying about tomorrow is a primary reason for mental breakdowns.
If you didn't take everyday at a time you wouldn't go to school or collage or invest in fact if really had absolutely no thought for the morrow you wouldn't have a house, I'm assuming for have a house which would make you a hypocrite. Another idea which isn't his but he promotes is don't love your enemy it really is the most stupid stupid thing to suggest to love for enemy. To go back on the attack Jesus was a homophobe in my view that is just wrong there are many more moral people e.g.arastotal
Jesus himself had long term plans to visit Jerusalem and Paul also had long term travel plans. Concentrating on the problems of today rather than worrying about tomorrow is basic to healthy human psychology. For all we know, an asteroid strike, nuclear bomb or paralyzing accident can happen tomorrow. And, Jesus never mentioned human sexuality as far as history knows. You obviously haven't read the teachings of Jesus very carefully or like Hitchens, studied human behavior with any discernment
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And, if we love our neighbor as ourself or, if we love our enemy as ourself, our neighbor or enemy may still harm us, but they are far less likely to do so. Any moron who has ever had a hard to get along with neighbor knows that.
You just contradicted yourself in one you have said live everyday as it come and in another you've said have plans. What is your position? Love your enemy is stupid for example you "love" a tyrant like Saddam Husein by giving him aid all that will come of it is he will have more resources to persecute his people.
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No, I just pointed that you are just a language Pharisee. In the Bible, Jesus is clearly pictured as having long term plans to visit Jerusalem, while Paul also had plans to visit various cities. Any moron can grasp the idea of having long-term plans, yet taking one day at a time, because as I pointed out, nobody knows what tomorrow will bring to interrupt such plans. You obviously haven't actually read the Bible or studied psychology and thus, you aren't qualified to comment regarding it.
As an example, a friend of mine is a quadriplegic. He didn't wake up one day and decide to be one--he was healthy and whole one day and the next day his life was basically over due to circumstance beyond his control. That is a very good example of why we should take life one day at a time. People who think they can control their own destiny are just naive boobs who haven't been around the block.
Excuse my ignorance but as a 16 year old I have no idea what a "language Pharisee" is, please explain. I think you misunderstand me. My view is that every day is precious I know that when I die I'm just going to rot and cease existence. So to me I have long term plans and short term plans and then I have objective that I want to do when I feel like it.
If you had read the New Testament, you wuld know what a language Pharisee is. Since you obviously haven't, I see no point in this discussion. People who criticize Jesus who haven't actually read what he said are just pissing up a rope.
I don't need to though. If we start to talk morals the god of the old testament has a lot of blood on his hands. Besides that I see you've completely dodged my last statement, is what I said in anyway a bad thing? Besides that your I take it that you believe in a destiny then what about people like Hitler was it his destiny to attempt to kill all of the Jews "gods chosen people"?
I don't believe that people are robots and it is not an "either/or" question. In the real world of human reality, people make choices and people are also influenced by the choices of others, as well as random circumstance. Thus, we are only partly in control of our own destiny. You seem to have a significant problem with matching what you believe to the real world, which doesn't surprise me, considering you don't think it's wise to take life one day at a time.
I said nothing of the sort. I said "So to me I have long term plans and short term plans and then I have objective that I want to do when I feel like it." I'm saying taking everything strictly one day at a time is a bad thing. I say we are in full control of who we can become and what we do. I was bullied as a child in my primary school because i wasn't into what everyone else was into, did I deserve this? what did I do in this all loving gods eye's to have a torture of a school? at that time..
I was a very devout fundamentalist christian with a fundamentalist mum and grandfather who is a priest. Why did dog hate me so? after I realized god wasn't going to do anything I started to do things for myself and stopped relying on god now I have a good group of friends who care about me and girlfriend who loves me all because I realized god/jesus doesn't answer prayers and sits in his high and mighty chair doing nothing
@freef49 Well, I'm neither a fundamentalist or a Christian, neither was Jesus and neither was Paul or any other author of the Bible. Christianity didn't arise until after 90 AD. I feel sorry for you if you have just been duped into assuming otherwise by poorly educated media hacks and obvious historical fraudsters like Hitchens.
Erm.... That is Pharisee not the language Farsi. Pharisee as in Middle Class Businessman. You may have read the New Testement but obviously not too well. Look up; Pearls before swine. That was JCs response to the question of should they share the gospel with the Gentile i.e. you. The answer seems pretty negative to me. The gospel was never for you but was for the Jews alone. So, to be a true Christian, you would in fact have to be a Jew and believe in Judaism.
Apparently, you have never bothered to actually read the Bible. According to the New Testament, the ideal lifestyle is for people to share all things in common and give their excess to the poor. According to the New Testament, "he is not a Jew who is one outwardly" and, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free", which remains the most liberal writings in the history of human civilization. Apparently you haven't actually read what the New Testament claims Jesus said.
I was dragged up in religion & forced 2 go 2 seminary. So actually, yeah, I would say I am pretty well versed in the Bible. It was there I completely lost my faith. Not only was it obviously not true, I was glad it could not be true because even if it was, I could never worship such a cruel and evil God.
In some ways however, I agree with you. From each according to their abilities. To each according to their needs. Is something I could see JC signing up for. So why is the US so anti communist?
I was born into conservative Christianity myself and like you, I have long ago rejected that as completely irrational. Marx was a biblical scholar in his youth, as were many 17th-18th Century prominent intellectuals. The base idea of socialism traces directly from the book of Acts in the Bible. There is not a Christian or capitalist do or iota in the entire New Testament. Paul NEVER referred to himself as a Christian and Paul was by far, the most liberal writer in all of human history.
Samples from Paul: "To the pure all things are pure", "nothing is to be refused if received with thanksgiving", "there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free", "we are not under the law but under grace". No modern so-called "progressive" is remotely as liberal as either Jesus or Paul.
In deciding how liberal or conservative someone is, one must weigh their historical timeframe and reality in comparison to what they actually said and more importantly, did. When you weigh either Jesus or Paul in this type of fair and accurate historical balance, modern so-called "progressives" come out severely wanting by fair and just comparison.
@freef49 That is only a contradiction to you, because atheists are like religious conservative fundamentalists, who can't see the forest for the trees. Modern psychologists agree that it is a very good idea to take one day at a time, to concentrate on what needs to be done today, to take "baby" steps rather than to try and fix everything all at once. That is very clearly what Jesus said. Hitichens on the other hand, like the Pharisees, is the most obvious of liars.
@freef49 EXAMPLE I myself personally live in Tennessee and fly to California once per year to visit relatives in December. I purchase a ticket in July because if I wait until December, it is difficult if not impossible to get a seat due to the Christmas holidays. Thus on this particular day in July, I concentrate on what I need to do that day, which among other things, is buy a ticket. I then put the ticket away and don't worry about it; if I can't go for some reason in Dec., it's only money.
@freef49 No I didn't. Jesus taught to focus on what is needed done for the day. If someone is going to take a trip, part of a previous day's work is to make preparations. Jesus himself made plans to visit Jerusalem; Paul made specific plans to travel places, informing people in advance he was planning to be there. Like I said, Hitchens is like a conservative fundamentalist literalist Pharisee, rather than grasping the sane significance of this teaching, agreed to by modern psychologists.
Actually this is entirely false. Taking one day at a time insinuates that we concentrate on the immediate reality, rather than pretending we can control our own destiny, which quite obviously nobody can. Planning which school to go to is an activity one normally sets aside for a particular day and when that time comes around, such is being consistent with the basic idea. As I noted, both Jesus and Paul planned trips in advance.
I have read your three comments above and note lower down that you are neither evangelical or Christian. It helps to know the direction someone is coming from. I am PEARList. Physical Evidence And Reasoned Logic. I have an open mind and can be persuaded of anything within those parameters. Your quotes from Paul, are no more clear than political slogans; Yes we can. What is he actually saying? As for JC being liberal, well. Christians often say that his ministry did away with all the .....
I base what I believe in evidence. As the Bible says, "faith is the evidence of things not seen". Just as I believe in black holes and invisible based on the mirrored evidence, so I believe in God based on the mirrored evidence. There is zero evidence that the universe or anything else has ever randomly spontaneously magically appeared on it's own. ALL known evidence indicates intelligent design. There is no evidence for physical existence apart from conception, design and construction.
I am sorry, there is no evidence for design whatsoever in the natural world. While proof that God doesn't exist can never be offered, where the bible makes statements about the physical world we find it to be false. The Universe is not 6000 years old. Humans can not live into their 900s even with the best diet, environment and medical care we can offer today, let alone a bronze age medical and dietary environment. The bible does offer us a cure for leprosy involving the sacrifice of a bird.
What there is no evidence for is universes filled with intelligent beings magically appearing on their own. It is you and Hitchens who believe in the very worst and most baseless form of superstition, not me.
You seem to throw the word Magically about a lot. Magic is another word for Religion. Science says it doesn't know rather than attribute anything it hasn't quite worked out yet to a deity.
However, if things must be created, then we always get back to who created God. An answer that he is eternal really doesn't cut it. You and every prophet ever lays claim to know what it is impossible to know. For them to know is for God to prove his existence in exactly the same way they tell us he won't.
I don't throw the word "magically" around, nor do I believe in magic. It is you and Hitchens who believe in magically appearing universes, not me. I can change the word to "spontaneously" appearing, but it doesn't change the obvious fact that neither of you play by the rules of science and evidence. Where is your evidence for motion apart from primary cause or for physical existence, apart from design? As I noted previously, you demonstrate a significant lack of basic understanding.
God did in no uncertain terms proves himself to the Jews in Exodus (Jewish archaeologists hunting for evidence of "The Deeds to the Nation" have found no evidence that there was ever a wondering in the desert). The parting of the Red Sea etc. Yet the second Moses turned his back they were off cavorting with false Gods. Clearly they weren't too impressed.
The miracles of the Old Testament don't happen now. Why, God is the same now, then and forever? He did for Pharaoh, but nothing for Nazis.
This is a common error of Hitchens. Historians have long known that deserts can swallow up entire civilizations without leaving a trace in a relatively short historical time, let alone a group of wandering nomads not settling in one place. As for example, a large city mentioned in the story of Abraham, once assumed mythological, was uncovered not long ago in the middle of a desert. As I have noted already, you and Hitchens demonstrate a significant lack of basic knowledge and understanding.
There is no record other than the bible of the Jewish people being held captive in Egypt.
I think that a sea parting and swallowing an army might make it into the history books too.
Sorry, things get lost, but they tend to turn up again too, like the dead sea scrolls. I will take your word for it that they found this city, but that is the point. When we try hard enough we find things. Again, no evidence of the happenings of the Exodus ever having taken place.
@wickedashtray Then let's keep his voice alive. I think it's the least we can do.
mog1255 7 hours ago
so upset that one of the few people on earth who could so eloquently put the psychopaths of religion in their place has left us. The world needs a 1000 Hitch's
Wickedashtray 3 weeks ago
How did the North Koreans get internet access to dislike this video?
E11imist 3 weeks ago
I liked the man, but he has obviously never heard of Aung San Sung Kyi which, as a journalist, he should have. Abhaja! :)
jonakompa 1 month ago
i love this man but he is GROSSLY ignorant about Buddhism and seems to be confusing it with Hinduism. Buddhism is NOT a revealed philosophy (same as he has previously referenced to Socrates). It is NOT a religion but a philosophy and he is confusing the actions of those ignorantly expressing their misguided and ignorant understanding of Buddhism with the actual teachings. Shameful.
kennhiser 2 months ago in playlist More videos from ChristopherHitchensV
@kennhiser I beg to offer in his defence, as he is no longer with us, is his consistent annoyance at those who express "revealed wisdom" as if they have knowledge that is not available to others, a position I believe reasonable. To label him ignorant and misguided is, ignorant and misguided, and dare I say a touch arrogant.
kramdoog 2 months ago
@kennhiser ....totally agree. Buddha built his teachings on the observations of verifiable human experience, which renders his approach actually very scientific.
jonakompa 1 month ago
@kennhiser the telling of the story of siddartha (buddha) - how he was birthed from his mother and how his father (the king) reacted (with tears of joy that transformed to tears of sorrow) - makes buddhist philosophy a revealed philosophy in itself, as it sets the prince up as someone to take highest regards towards (for his teachings only, albeit).
and with buddhist countries such as shangrilah and myanmar you have to admit that it hasn't been practiced with much peace in mind.
lloydgar01 1 month ago
Rest in peace Christopher... You'll be missed, but remembered as one of the greatest minds of our time!
kick2004 2 months ago
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Please visit my channel for the unpopular truth about homosexuality.
A person does not need religion, hatred or any kind of phobia in order to acknowledge important, qualitative differences between heterosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption and homosexual attraction / behavior / marriage / adoption.
Homosexual activists, with complete support from the media, have succeeded at framing themselves as noble victims and martyrs; it's an effective way to push a social agenda.
lightandbeautiful 5 months ago
why the fuck was "fucking" censored! we're all adults, its okay :p
LogicSpeaks 5 months ago
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Hitchens, ' God is not great' is one of my favourite books. For similar great thoughts try Dan Barker, John W. Loftus, Robert M Price, Valerie Tarico, Victor Stenger, Bart Ehrman, Ken Humphreys, Richard Carrier, Ken Pulliam, Keith Parsons, Gary Greenberg, Robert Ingersoll, Thomas Paine, Mark Twain, Earl Doherty, Israel Finkelstein, Daniel Dennett, C Dennis Mckinsey
zytigon 5 months ago
Pakistan...islamic....AND has nuclear weapons...
scootkh 6 months ago
Nuclear weapon in the hands of Arabs is like giving a child a complex equation and asked them to solve it while they don't even know what that means. I'm an Arab atheist and I agree that Arab's interest apart from fucking many virgins and drinking from the river of heaven that's all pouring wine is beyond the reach of nuclear weapon. they don't have that in mind, give them a pussy, and you will see what nuclear weapon they have attached to their body, it's just penis
Bruno243141 7 months ago
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.I think it may also prove helpful to some of the viewers here to try to evaluate many of the more strident claims of the anti-theist critique ("brights") from a ideological/ metaphysics perspective. Check out the recent article by Jackson Lears in the May 16, 2011 issue of the The Nation entitled "Same Old New Atheism" .The article offers a compelling analysis of Sam Harris' works. Consideration is given to general atheistic social perspectives
shieldsff 9 months ago
Mr. Hitchens, you make many excellent points, however there is one I don't agree with. The notion that loving your enemies is hideous and disgusting. To me this is actually one of the few Christian teachings that is good and I will always have enormous respect and envy for those who can forgive and feel pity for those who have hurt them. As Ghandi said, "An Eye for an Eye Makes the whole world blind." If Christians actually respected this, there would be far less war.
Viat65 1 year ago
@spruntfemalespray
You forgot, South Africa fared the worst in getting the Dutch!
brokenscimitar 1 year ago
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Bottom Line? St. Thomas Aquinas proves God's existence in the Summa. Atheists, in their lack of understanding, only misrepresent what Thomas says. Not even Hitchens and Dawkins can defeat Aquinas. God wins again :)
helpyouseeit 1 year ago
@spruntfemalespray
The irony is that no "arab fucks" are actually any close to obtaining nuclear weapons in the near future.
Iran springs to mind but the Iranians are Persians, not Arabs.
Pakistan and India - Pakistanis and Indians respectively
North Korea - North Koreans
And of course you have the deceitful Israelis, who refuse any UN inspectors near their nuclear sites - again these are Jews, not Arabs.
Ignorance may I say? And just for the record I'm an atheist.
- an "arab fuck"
Xantion 1 year ago 43
@Xantion today's iranians are the same as arabs. to say they're not is like saying that canadians are ethnically different than americans.
TADGELL 1 year ago
@TADGELL, I know a number of Iranians and they all say that the Iranian people are actually not that religious, they are only forced to religion by their government. In fact a lot of them see Islam as a religion imposed by foreigners. There is far more Atheists among Iranians than we may think, they just can't show themselves.
Viat65 1 year ago
@TADGELL
Well, not true, Arabs and Persians are different ethnicities altogether, despite the intermixture that may have taken place between them. Arabs speak Semitic languages, whereas Persians speak Indo-European languages (for example Farsi in Iran and Dari in Afghanistan). Your example is incorrect as Canada and the USA are multi-ethnic countries comprised of people of different ethnicities who speak the same language. The case with the Arabs and the Persians is mostly the opposite.
Xantion 1 year ago
@Xantion you can't just draw an imaginary line in the sand and say that the people on either side are different suddenly (in this case the imaginary line is literally in the sand). in today's world, and you even said it yourself, that they have intermixed because of proximity. have you seen ahmedinejad? do you know any iranians or abarb? arabic and farsi are like spanish and portuguese. as for canada and the u.s. i meant in the beginning where everyone was from western europe.
TADGELL 1 year ago
@TADGELL
I do know Arabs and Iranians, especially being half-Iraqi myself, that's why I originally pressed for distinction. Also, don't forget that Iran is quite the maverick and pursues an agenda of its own, rather than some over-promoted solidarity with Arabs. I'm kinda privy to Middle Eastern culture (for better or for worse) so apologies for reacting in a slightly over-correcting way, but I really see some differences that perhaps are invisible for the average person, hence my stubbornness.
Xantion 1 year ago
@Xantion i see your point, but i think it's interesting how humans seem to need to create these artificial (man-made) distinctions in order to have some kind of unique ethnic identity to hold on to as a source of pride. it's all so arbitrary and random and insignificant. we're all the same really. so what if we eat different vegetables (because of what different regions naturally produce) and speak a different language?
TADGELL 11 months ago 2
@TADGELL
I could not agree with you any more on your last thoughts and can only commend you for having such mentality. However, a lot of ignorant people tend to lump Arabs, Persians (ethnic markers) and Muslims (religious markers) in one bag and define them as a single, unified and mono-characteristic entity which is why I was stubborn about making that distinction.
Anyway, I don't think we really disagree on anything so all the best to you and thanks for your comments :)
Xantion 11 months ago
The only dislikes on atheist videos are from fundamentalist sycophants. Isn't it interesting how most videos regarding the discussion of atheism is open to ratings and comments, whilst most videos that back a fundamentalist view of religion are closed to ratings and comments?
CRISNCHIPS12398 1 year ago 166
@CRISNCHIPS12398
Very true, and indicative of the totalitarianism of theism, the blunt ignorance of, "The Bible/Koran/Talmud said it, I believe it, that settles it."
brokenscimitar 1 year ago
@CRISNCHIPS12398
Totally true. I think of this post whenever I see a religious video with that is closed to ratings and comments.
stxtigers08 10 months ago
@CRISNCHIPS12398
I'm pretty sure fundamentalists on average have a much smaller internet presence, probably because the internet is frightening and confusing to them.
Bertoffski 3 months ago
@CRISNCHIPS12398 It's basically their equivalent of sticking their fingers in their ears and going "La La La La, I can't hear you, LA LA LA LA LA..."
jjobie 2 months ago
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@CRISNCHIPS12398 Wow, that's the dumbest comment I've ever read out of 3.8 million posts on my 2 accounts.
notterswavely 1 month ago
Yup. Religion is useless superstition. Embarrassment for mankind.
Christian faith has been toned down to almost tolerable level by science and secularism.
Muslim faith is being eroded by western television-shows. Desperate Housewives and Friends are being broadcasted to muslim countries, and those shows are opening the eyes of arab youth.Life does not have to be just praying 5 times per day and useless superstition shadowing everything.Old farts with their ridiculous desert bullshit are losing.
bary1234 1 year ago 2
I totally agree with Christopher here. Even living in a traditionally religious society makes one feel needlessly guilty. I know I often do. From my own experience, I think that Christianity and Buddhism are the worst in this respect.
SkullOfYorick 1 year ago
The guilt put on Christians by the religion is psychotic to say the least.
xxDrudgeryReportxx 1 year ago
@spruntfemalespray I think Europe will be free of religion before America is.
BeardedBill86 1 year ago
Answer to the question: is the world becomming worse or better?
Obviously the world is becomming better because of the decline of religions!
Yes, the number of people which are now alive is larger than at any time in history combined! Yes, in the 20th century the number of the crimes was huge, maybe more than at any time in history combined!
But percentageweise, it was a trifle if compared with the previous centuries!
The average lifespan has increased dramatic ally in the last century
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 Yeah, right. Nuclear bombs, bio weapons, mass global pollution. looming global warming disasters, global famine, growing poverty, homelessness, joblessness; predicted global disease plagues, predicted loss of much of the earth's green plants and all of the grasses we and cattle depend on. Growing and predicted much worse fresh water losses. Yeah sure, the world is really improving since the age of science and wonder reared it's ugly head.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
As many people are quoting here Judaism as a perfect religion, I will only add that I read the conclusions of the Institute of Archeology from Tell Aviv:
"It is imposiible for the present-day Jews to renounce to the Idea that their Holy Wrritings are not history. There was no Exodus from Egypt, there was no Noah, there was no "promissed land"".
Al these data have been written also in the Wickipedia, at the "Exodus", but some fundamentalists have deleted this information asap they saw it!
48acar19 1 year ago
I will quote a truth here, forgotten by many people:
Good people do good things and bad people do bad things, in the absence of religion.
But it takes religion for good people to do bad things!
How true!
48acar19 1 year ago
hope you get well buddy i would pray for you but i know thats a waste of time
pana376 1 year ago
The US Constitution is not the ONLY constitution not to much the word GOD. The Italian Constitution, for one, doesn't either.
mrmoto74 1 year ago
contemptuous is you, you smug, angry jabba-faced warmonger!
jazzmunky 1 year ago
USA being the only country that has a secular constitution?! really? there is no word about god in my countrys constitution either.
Blackerer 1 year ago
Hitch - the smartest man on the planet.
kidlomax 1 year ago
@kidlomax What Christopher HItchens says in another video: "All Jewish historians now admit Moses probably didn't exist." What the 2010 edition of the Britannica says in the heading "Moses", which is written by a prominent Jewish historian: The majority of historians believe that either Moses or a leader like Moses probably did exist. Only one of many examples of how HItchens entirely misrepresents what historians actually believe. Christopher HItchens is an obvious liar, charlatan and fraud.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
This false opinion is the result of the little education given to our youngsters.
In fact even when considering the Nazi and Soviet crimes, it is still very obvious that the degree of violence has decreased dramatically in our history.
Now the average life span is over 70; only a few centuries ago it was 25 and everybody used to die in wars!
Whatever you just said is not only false, it is also stupid.
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 Several modern highly educated historians have concluded that probably more people died from war and related violence in the 20th Century than ALL previous centuries combined; several million Russians alone died in WWII. Life expectancy on a global level today 67 to less than 70 years, depending on which source you choose. Life expectancy in 14-1200 BC Hebrew society was 70 years. Life expectancy in Middle Age Europe was far less; difference is mainly due to diet, not medicine.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
You can lie easily with figures. For example, it is true that about 50 million people died in the WW2. that represented less than 80%of the total increase of population in the world during a single year!!
During of the 100 years old war in Europe, about 90% of the population of those German lands were killed!
The Colliseum in Rome was built with Jewish slaves only, and their life span was less than 25 years! Maybe you are adding Mathusalem's age to your calculation!
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 That is true, you can lie about figures. For example, many historians believe that more people died from violence in the 20th Century than in all previous centuries combined. And it is well established that more people lived in all of the previous centuries combined than lived in the 20th Century. So, it is easy to see who the liar is.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@48acar19 Oh, and then there is the odds actually calculated by a British research experiment, where it was determined that the odds of just a single Shakespearean sonnet appearing without any Creator was calculated as 1 x 10 to the 457th power. Given that all of the particles in the entire universe are estimated to be 1 x 10 to the 80th power, it isn't difficult to determine that atheists are so completely and entirely dishonest, calling them liars isn't fair to the other liars of history.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
This is BS.
You have absolutely no understanding of Evolution!
Shakespeare's sonnets did not appear from vacuum!
Human beings dis not appear from void!
The Darwinian evolution has been misrepresented by you religionists in an awful way!
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 People pretending there is no God, pretend Shakespeare's brain, along with the rest of the universe, appeared magically all by itself. The more you respond, the more ignorant you appear in public. You were better off before you opened your mouth and inserted obviously self-contradicting foot. Atheism pretends that my computer, Shakespeare's sonnets and everything else known to humanity, doesn't require any creative brains to exist. Any moron who has studied logic 1-A knows better.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
You have no understanding at all of the evolutionary process because you are uneducated!
Did you finish at least your high school? I don't think so!
THE EVOLUTIOPN OF SPECIES DOES NOT SAY THAT THE BRAIN HAS APPEARED FROM NOTHING!
ONLY STUPID PEOPLE THINK SO!
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 Darwin credited the Creator with being behind the evolutionary process. You on the other hand, pretend that the universal reality magically appeared all by itself, without any creative mind behind it. You are grossly lying about the known evidence, which I have studied in great depth. I told you where you can find my footnoted article on evolution. If you're too lazy to read it, that's your problem, not mine.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
If you would have been educated, you would not talk this nonsense!
Darwin was an atheist even when he died! But there are Christrian assholes liars, who said otherwise. Even dawkins has mentioned this lie!
As for Hitchens (Jewish) he specifically said that he would always have close to him a taping device in order to stop the eventual liers saying lies about him, as you are saying lies about Darwin.
In fact the darwinian evolution is not "creation from nothing"!
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 "There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one". -- On the Origin of Species; revised edition 1876 (pub about 6 yrs before Darwin's death). "I have never been an atheist" and Darwin also wrote in the same letter written 2 years before he died "one can be an ardent Theist and evolutionist". Calling you a liar is not being fair to the other liars of human history.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
Yes, the number is huge, but the proportion is minuscule. While 50 million people is a huge number, it does not represent but a tiny fraction of a procent of the population of the Globe in 1945.
While in the Ancient world, 50 million people would have been more than the population of the Entire Roman Empire with the Jews included!
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 You are obviously lying and tripping all over yourself. According to many if not most historians, more people died from violence in the 20th Century than in ALL previous centuries combined. There were a lot more people who lived in ALL previous centuries combined than who were alive in the 20th Century. Your just pissing up a rope, to pretend that humanity is becoming less violent, which every legitimate historian knows is false.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
Either you did not understand what I said or you are totally uninformed. Yes, it was a huge number of people who died during the last century, but their proportion was minuscule!
During the ancient times, the Bible and the Jewish sacred texts have condoned the ETHNIC CLEANSING! Read the Bible! Read the Torah!
The proportion of the people killed because of the Torah was huge, even though their number is lower than the people killed in WW2.
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 I didn't misunderstand what you said, you tried to pretend what I said is not true. What is true is, many if not most historians believe that more people died from war and other violence than in ALL PREVIOUS CENTURIES COMBINED. That is what is true, whether you like it or not. There is no evidence whatsoever that humanity is morally improving but rather, the evidence clearly points in the opposite direction.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
What in the ancient world meant annihilation, today might be only an insignificant percentage of the people! The overal effect on the general population of the world is a trifle now, if compared with ancient conflicts were ethnic cleansing was applied, as reccomended by the "good" Torah teachings or by the Bible!
The so-called Armagedon fight, thought to be related with the end of the world (a stone-age battle in Meggido) resulted in less than one hundred casualties!
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 You are obviously lying and tripping all over yourself. According to many if not most historians, more people died from violence in the 20th Century than in ALL previous centuries combined. There were a lot more people who lived in ALL previous centuries combined than who were alive in the 20th Century. Your just pissing up a rope, to pretend that humanity is becoming less violent, which every legitimate historian knows is false.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@48acar19 You are inventing history to someone who is a 60 and is a lifetime history major. Anybody who has studied a lot of history knows that violence is increasing on a population % level, not decreasing. And, anybody who has studied a lot of history knows that a great many people have lived well past 70 throughout the historical record and, that the main reason for differences is due to poor nutrition & living conditions, rather than medicine. You very clearly no little about history.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen Yeah, loving your neighbor as yourself, not murdering, not stealing, not bearing false witness--those are some really stupid laws.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
Yeah right.
The Inquisition was based on the idea of "loving your neighbor like yourself".
The inquisitors used to say that they are burning at stake people in order to make their ordeal in the next world easier for them.
Wasn't that impressive? So much "love"?
They would have been much more appreciated today if only they would have applied the tenet "live and let live" than their stupid religious belief system!
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 I am neither a Catholic or Christian, yet you continue to blame me for what Catholics and other Christians do or have done. Now, that really makes a lot of sense.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
I did not blame you for being Catholic or Christian (by the way, Catholics are Christians, you should know that).
All I am blaming is Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the real root of evil in the World. Religion, more generally speaking.
Especially the Abrahamic Religions.
And you are blaming science, as I understand.
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 No, I did not blame science. Rather I pointed out the obvious, if religion causes war, then science and education also cause war. You very clearly don't understand very much at all. No modern behavioral scientist believes that either religion or science causes war, nor does anyone in their right mind believe religion is the root of all evil. It is clearly demonstrated in the historical record that both atheists and theists engage in war, as do both educated and uneducated people.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
I think you don't get it at all.
Science never causes war.
Science is a tool. Religion is, on the other hand, an ideatic structure that may have as a goal (and many time it has) destroying others (perceived as "non-believers!)
Science never makes wars against the "non-believers" in science! But religion did cause war many times in the history. Your denial is uninformed an really pathetic.
Do you deny that the Crusades were caused by Religion?
What about 9-11?
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 Your analysis is shallow and uninformed. Religious people build homeless shelters, hospitals and orphanages and religious people also fight wars. Scientists try to use science to cure disease, grow more and better food and build artificial limbs. Scientists also build weapons of mass destruction and often deliberately lie for corporate employers. The evidence very clearly demonstrates that people cause war and other human oppression, it is irrational to blame it on anything else.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
Your statements are incorrect, like usually.
If you would have said "Some religious people built..." that could have been correct.
In fact in today's Europe there is a huge number of Muslim-oriented people, whose declared target is to kill "all the infidels"!
Never heard of them?
Three centuries ago in Europe the local princes intended the same thing: to kill the infidels (this time the god was different).
Never heard of that?
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 What I told you is exactly correct. Some religious people help people, some religious people hurt people. Some scientists help people, some hurt people. ALL people hurt other people at various times in their lives. I have never met a person who has not been hurt by another person. Thus, the problems of human oppression come from what is within people. Both modern science and the Bible agree, as well as ALL of the known evidence. You and Maher are just complete loony tunes.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@48acar19 why atheists always resort into calling names..assholes, moron etc..they can not engage in any constructive debate.
TheToosy 1 year ago
@TheToosy fucking moron
deathxe5 1 year ago
@48acar19 Both modern behavioral science and the Bible agree that the cause of war and other violence begins within individual human beings. If you would read a legitimate source once in a while, instead of listening to crackpot atheists, you wouldn't come off looking so poorly educated in public. When BOTH science and the Bible agree, you may as well shoot yourself in the head as to pretend you know better.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
Yeah right, the Ethnic Cleansing described in the Torah and Bible is exactly that: loving your neighbor!
48acar19 1 year ago
Necrocracy is the best name for North Korea!
Hitchens is the best!
Almost all of the Christian@Jewish@Muslim tenets are stupid and wrong!
So is also Buddhism!
I just read about three Buddhist girls who committed suicide in order to be born as boys in the "next life".
Yeah right! Born boys or...insects. Cockroaches. Whatever happens.
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 Actually, that's a good term for modern science theory. Modern science theory = nuclear bombs, bio weapons and global mass pollution. Modern education has resulted in the most violent 20th Century known in all of human history. Perhaps Hitchens and a few scientists should pay a little closer attention to what Jesus said, about taking the beam out of one's own eye before removing the splinter from someone else's eye.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@48acar19 I might add, I'm very glad you are not dictator, what with abolishing all of those "stupid and wrong" teachings in the Bible about caring about the sick and poor, loving our neighbor, doing good to those who hate us, promoting love, peace and justice rather than violence, not murdering, stealing, lying. Yeah, that would be a great society if all of those "stupid and wrong" ideas were all removed, we opened the jail house doors and let the gangs of LA roam freely without any police.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
Somehow you have forgotten those horrible tenets of the bible: like:"if a child does not obey to his parents he should be put to death", or "if a woman has sex with a man during her period she should be put o death together with that man", or "if a man sleeps with another man like with a woman they should be both put to death and their blood should fall upon them" and so on.
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 No, I have read the Bible and am aware of what you say. Unlike you, I understand the OldT mostly portrays an "eye for an eye" God of judgment, while the NewT mostly portrays a God of forgiveness, love and compassion. This is because God is both a God of unbending judgment and a God of forgiveness, compassion and love. It is up to you, if you want Jesus to forgive you. Otherwise, you will end up in a black hole, which the Bible describes almost exactly as modern science describes it
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
No, you are not aware about the evil brought by the judeo-christian belief system.
If you are still pretending that all these monstruosities about killing children, gays, women are coming from a god, your belief is non-sense. And don't point to the new testament like it is better that the old one: read St. Paul's injunctions against women, against gays and even against the effeminate men.
This is disgusting enough for a normal person to end his or her Christian belief.
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 Evil is caused by people; people make good choices and bad choices. Systems do not cause evil, people do. What is interesting about atheists is, they pretend to believe in science, but often directly contradict the known science of human behavior. People cause the problems of people.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
Everything in the human society is caused and invented by people, including the concept of god.
Once invented by people, the concepts are forging a new reality. For example, in the Ancient World the Jews and the Christians have decided that sex is sinful.
Unlike the Greeks, they have decided to kill people for extramarital sex by stoning them to death (especially women). That was and still is EVIL!
Yes, evil is created by people, by inventing stupid religions!
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 And, your evidence that people invented God is ?
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen
When you are saying that people are those who make good or bad choices, you are chosing a reference, which in your case is given not by the real world, but by religion.
For example a man loving another man or a boy is a good choice according to the Ancient Greek culture, but a bad choice according to your evil religion.
After the Christianity has conquered the political power in the Eastern Roman Empire, the Christians have decided to kill by fire the "sodomites".
48acar19 1 year ago
@48acar19 Well, I could pretend that there really is no sin, that what Hitler did to Jews, gypsies and Communists was just a part of the larger natural selection equation and thus, we should pin a medal on him instead of vilify his type and put them in prison. Anybody can pretend anything they want and, we can change the word sin to "social maladjustment" or "aberations of the norm" or whatever fancy phrase we wish, but at the bottom-line the hunger, pain and suffering remains.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@48acar19 And just for the record, as like many atheists, you apparently have never actually read very much if any legitimate sources for yourself, most scholars believe that the term "sodomite" is a King James era mistranslation of what is intended to refer to as pedophile, that is, people who enslave, kidnap and otherwise molest children. Most atheists I have personally known believe they should be locked up in jail, as do I. Your ignorance is clearly demonstrated by your several responses.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
Awesome Atheist of Rationally God Is Not Great: ChristoperHitchens, We Atheists Will Never Give Up Our Freedom To Christians Rights...
777TIZZable 1 year ago 13
@777TIZZable I am not a Christian, nor was Jesus a Christian, nor did Paul ever claim to be a Christian. No well-educated person would conclude Jesus is the founder of Christianity and likewise, no well-educated person would conclude that Jesus is anything but the Messiah. If you want to listen to poorly educated media hacks instead of Jesus, that's your problem, not mine. And if you want legitimate facts, you might try the Britannica instead of an obvious historical fraud like Hitchens.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
god is a blanket concept people use to fill the wholes in their knowledge. It is nothing more than an idea. Stating it as a fact is a lie. FIRST we have to come up with a coherent and VERIFIABLE definition for the concept....yet we can't.
As far as atheism being ubscientific...lol Since when is a default position wrong? Believing in something that is unproven (not to mention defying facts) is unscientific. Just because someone (Like Einstein) buys into bs doesn't make it valid.
InFromTheVoid 1 year ago 7
@InFromTheVoid haha thats true. One of my mates, whose a devout Muslim, when i became an atheist told me to research islam & science because where science ends Islam continues. What he meant by that is, god created the world, god created the universe, god created everything. hahaha. to me thats the lamest and most pathetic answer for anything. Its a major cop out in a debate against religious people. Ofcourse the big bang is just a theory! science always continues to find the truth from evidence
halflifeproductionz 1 year ago
@halflifeproductionz My computer just magically self-designed. Ha, ha, ha. That the "lamest" excuse I've ever heard of for embracing atheism. Your so-called "logic" just represents circular nonsense. If nobody designed the universe, then nobody designed modern human beings and at the bottom-line, nobody designed anything that exists on our planet today, including the pyramids, the Taj Mahal, The U.S. Supreme Court building and my computer. HA, HA, HA. ATHEISM = TOTAL BULLSHIT.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@InFromTheVoid Atheism is a blanket SUPERSTITION people embrace who otherwise aren't intelligent enough to embrace cartoons and fairy tales, which are far more likely "true" than atheism ever hoped to be. ATHEISM PROPOSES: Nobody designed the universe, nobody designed humans, and thus at the bottom-line, computers, fairy tales and cartoons all magically appeared on their own. Yeah, now that's really smart, let's eliminate God and see what kind of bullshit "theory" we can come up with.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen calm down angry christian. if god created me, then which god created me, jesus, god or the holy spirit? is christianity meant to be a monotheistic religion or all you all polytheists?
halflifeproductionz 1 year ago
@halflifeproductionz Of all of the websites on the internet, the most ignorant comments can be found uttered by those who call themselves atheists. Eternal God--look up the word "eternal" in the dictionary. I am not a Christian, Jesus was not a Christian and Paul never referred to himself as a Christian. Christianity arose after 90 A.D. As I have already noted, if you want to be educated, read the Bible and Britannica; if you want to be a moron, listen to atheists instead.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen then what are you? a stinky muslim.
halflifeproductionz 1 year ago
@halflifeproductionz I am not a Christian, nor was Jesus a Christian, nor did Paul ever claim to be a Christian. No well-educated person would conclude Jesus is the founder of Christianity and, no well-educated person would conclude that Jesus is anything but the Messiah. If you want to listen to poorly educated media hacks instead of Jesus, that's your problem, not mine. And if you want legitimate facts, you might try the Britannica instead of an obvious historical fraud like Hitchens.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@InFromTheVoid I believe it is spelled "hole" not "whole", as in the black hole God is going to toss people in who pretend he doesn't exist. And, you "parrot" this atheism nonsense that if one can't define God, then there can't be one. That is far more stupid than saying that a child can't believe his parents exist unless he first can completely understand his parents. It is no small wonder that atheists make the most ignorant of all statements to be found on the web.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
I'm voting BNP! : )
samtheman180 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
psalms 53
"only fools say's that their is no GOD"
azzkhicker 2 years ago
Mr. Hitchens, you demonstrate WHY few there be that find eternal life.
You have disregarded God and He is not out to side with your views.
You need to side with HIS. Thats the problem atheists despise and it exposes them to GOD.
LightHasDawned 2 years ago
Your an idiot. maybe next time you should listen to his argument.
JordanKimball 2 years ago
@JordanKimball I feel sorry for conservative Christians, who don't understand that Jesus is history's greatest liberal, but I feel more sorry for atheists who listen to Hitchens, who is clearly demonstratably a historical fraud and over liar, which I have pointed out in this forum and which you can easily find by searching for responses under "richardaberdeen" within the various responses in this forum.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
What a loving god, you go to hell for having an intellectual disagreement with a flawed book.
freef49 2 years ago
@LightHasDawned Hitchens is an obvious historical fraudster, pretending that the majority of historians claim what the majority of historians do not claim. Of that much is absolutely demonstrated by his own self-contradictory statements. As for example, Hitchens states in another video that "all Jewish historians now admit Moses probably didn't exist", which is an absolute lie. I have the writings of contemporary Jewish historians in my own library that state opposite, and so does Britannica.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
I'm still waiting for your better ideas than Jesus had. Who cares what's wrong with Christianity or whatever? Where are Hitchens better ideas for how to actually help human beings? What better idea does he have to achieve peace, eliminate hunger, eliminate the massive pollution plague his god of science has left our children? Why is Hitchens wasting everybody's time? If he doesn't have any better ideas, why doesn't he just shut up? Lord knows, our children have been lied to enough already.
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
- I'm still waiting for your better ideas than Jesus had.
How about "DO take thought for the morrow"? That would be a good place to start.
cyphern 2 years ago 4
Many philosophers, psychologists and others believe that taking life one day at a time is a very wise and health choice. Of course, if you don't have God to watch out for you, then you have to plan way ahead and keep looking over your shoulder, which is why I suppose Hitchens doesn't know what he's talking about.
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
@cyphern So am I and, we will likely be waiting a very, very, very long time. According to historian Will Durant, probably human history's most educated man, Jesus was way more intelligent than any other known person in history. It is far more likely the sun won't rise tomorrow, than that Christopher Hitchens will ever remotely have a better idea for saving our planet than Jesus.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen Do you often reply to year-old posts with non sequiturs? What exactly in my post will we be "waiting a very, very, very long time" for?
cyphern 1 year ago
@cyphern I was responding regarding your response above, where you said "still waiting for your better ideas than Jesus had", which is kind of poorly worded, because you then give an opposite idea as if it is an improvement. Someone else in the forum said they were still waiting for an atheist to provide a better solution for war, proper education and environmental awareness than Jesus already taught and that is what my response refers to. Hitchens tries, but it's pretty hard to beat God.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen No sir, I did not say "I'm still waiting for your better ideas than Jesus had". *You* said that, and i quoted you in my response.
Jesus said (or is claimed to have said) many wise things. He also said (or is claimed to have said) many incredibly foolish things. One example of the latter is found in Matthew 6:34, and I used that to provide you with what asked for: a better idea than Jesus had.
cyphern 1 year ago
@cyphern That is actually a very wise way to live, which the vast majority of modern psychologists and self-help so-called "experts" would likely agree with. I personally know a highly educated psychologist who also a medical doctor and psychiatrist who agrees with that, as well. I have already explained in detail why that is a wise idea in this forum and I'm not going to do it all over again, as you can do a search under "richardaberdeen" in this forum and find it for yourself.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@cyphern And no, he is not my personal shrink. I don't have much use for psychology because the teachings of Jesus are much better; I find the entire "science" of psychology pretty much a waste of time and energy. To be brief in case you don't want to search, Jesus himself made future plans for going to Jerusalem and Paul made several extended plans for his various journeys, thus if think it through carefully in proper context, you will agree with my grandfather, it is a very wise idea.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen I'm fully aware that Jesus didn't practice what he preached. It was very wise of him to ignore his bad advice.
Good advice: "Pay attention to today". This draws one's attention to present events, while not procluding planning for the future.
Bad advice: "Ignore tomorrow". While this implies paying attention to today, it does so at the expense of the future.
Jesus said the latter.
cyphern 1 year ago
@cyphern Jesus practiced what he preached more than anyone known in human history. You don't understand WHY Jesus said what the did about taking one day at a time, which has little to do about whether or not we can plan a future trip. Jesus himself predicted future events and told people to watch for signs occurring, so he clearly wanted people to think about the future. Like Hitchens, you don't understand what it means to "live one day at a time", which is a long held human health belief.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@cyphern One would think if you have actually studied much psychology, my mentioning of my psychiatrist friend would have provided a clue. Psychologists are well aware that a significant amount of the reasons why people end up on mental medication, in mental hospitals and otherwise, on the "psychiatric couch", is because they can't cope with reality in their daily lives that gets in the way of their plans. Often people with mental problems try to rigidly plan and control their lives.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@cyphern Thus, it is an extremely beneficial and sound idea to take life one day at a time and, to not worry about future events, which often turn out different than we plan. Nobody who has lived very long is unfamiliar with the "curveballs" that life can throw at us, that interrupt our long-term plans. A friend who is a quadriplegic used to belong to unions. Talk to him about how smart it is to make long-term plans. You don't know what the hell you're talking about & neither does Hitchens.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@cyphern One of the primary surface causes behind people who seek psychological help, as noted in previous, is because they can't cope with the differences between their plans and what the reality of their life allows them to do or otherwise, not do. It is a very good, sane and healthy idea to take one day at a time and not worry about tomorrow; we have enough trouble dealing with our problems today. Any moron who has lived and worked in the real world knows that, apparently except for Hitchens
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen Simply put, you are ignoring what is said in the bible and are interpreting it to mean something that it does not say. Your interpretation is actually pretty good advice, but it is totally divorced from what is said in the bible.
Jesus didn't merely say to take one day at a time, he said explicitly that the things you should not worry about are food, drink, and clothing. Ignoring these things is a fatal mistake. Any moron who has lived and worked in the real world knows that.
cyphern 1 year ago
@richardaberdeen sure dude. Maybe you need to get your so called " education" by someone that actually knows a little about history. Don't take pride in your ignorance.
JordanKimball 1 year ago
@JordanKimball I've likely studied more science and history than you even know exists, who can say for sure. Only a moron who has never picked up a history book with any understanding at all would have supported the war in Iraq like Hitchens did. Only a psychological infidel would pretend that worrying about tomorrow is a good idea. Not being able to cope with reality in relation to carefully laid out plans and otherwise worrying about tomorrow is a primary reason for mental breakdowns.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
He does have better ideas much better ideas
freef49 2 years ago
Such as???
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
If you didn't take everyday at a time you wouldn't go to school or collage or invest in fact if really had absolutely no thought for the morrow you wouldn't have a house, I'm assuming for have a house which would make you a hypocrite. Another idea which isn't his but he promotes is don't love your enemy it really is the most stupid stupid thing to suggest to love for enemy. To go back on the attack Jesus was a homophobe in my view that is just wrong there are many more moral people e.g.arastotal
freef49 2 years ago
Jesus himself had long term plans to visit Jerusalem and Paul also had long term travel plans. Concentrating on the problems of today rather than worrying about tomorrow is basic to healthy human psychology. For all we know, an asteroid strike, nuclear bomb or paralyzing accident can happen tomorrow. And, Jesus never mentioned human sexuality as far as history knows. You obviously haven't read the teachings of Jesus very carefully or like Hitchens, studied human behavior with any discernment
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
And, if we love our neighbor as ourself or, if we love our enemy as ourself, our neighbor or enemy may still harm us, but they are far less likely to do so. Any moron who has ever had a hard to get along with neighbor knows that.
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
You just contradicted yourself in one you have said live everyday as it come and in another you've said have plans. What is your position? Love your enemy is stupid for example you "love" a tyrant like Saddam Husein by giving him aid all that will come of it is he will have more resources to persecute his people.
freef49 2 years ago 9
This comment has received too many negative votes show
No, I just pointed that you are just a language Pharisee. In the Bible, Jesus is clearly pictured as having long term plans to visit Jerusalem, while Paul also had plans to visit various cities. Any moron can grasp the idea of having long-term plans, yet taking one day at a time, because as I pointed out, nobody knows what tomorrow will bring to interrupt such plans. You obviously haven't actually read the Bible or studied psychology and thus, you aren't qualified to comment regarding it.
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
As an example, a friend of mine is a quadriplegic. He didn't wake up one day and decide to be one--he was healthy and whole one day and the next day his life was basically over due to circumstance beyond his control. That is a very good example of why we should take life one day at a time. People who think they can control their own destiny are just naive boobs who haven't been around the block.
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
Excuse my ignorance but as a 16 year old I have no idea what a "language Pharisee" is, please explain. I think you misunderstand me. My view is that every day is precious I know that when I die I'm just going to rot and cease existence. So to me I have long term plans and short term plans and then I have objective that I want to do when I feel like it.
freef49 2 years ago
If you had read the New Testament, you wuld know what a language Pharisee is. Since you obviously haven't, I see no point in this discussion. People who criticize Jesus who haven't actually read what he said are just pissing up a rope.
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
I don't need to though. If we start to talk morals the god of the old testament has a lot of blood on his hands. Besides that I see you've completely dodged my last statement, is what I said in anyway a bad thing? Besides that your I take it that you believe in a destiny then what about people like Hitler was it his destiny to attempt to kill all of the Jews "gods chosen people"?
freef49 2 years ago
I don't believe that people are robots and it is not an "either/or" question. In the real world of human reality, people make choices and people are also influenced by the choices of others, as well as random circumstance. Thus, we are only partly in control of our own destiny. You seem to have a significant problem with matching what you believe to the real world, which doesn't surprise me, considering you don't think it's wise to take life one day at a time.
richardaberdeen 2 years ago
I said nothing of the sort. I said "So to me I have long term plans and short term plans and then I have objective that I want to do when I feel like it." I'm saying taking everything strictly one day at a time is a bad thing. I say we are in full control of who we can become and what we do. I was bullied as a child in my primary school because i wasn't into what everyone else was into, did I deserve this? what did I do in this all loving gods eye's to have a torture of a school? at that time..
freef49 2 years ago
I was a very devout fundamentalist christian with a fundamentalist mum and grandfather who is a priest. Why did dog hate me so? after I realized god wasn't going to do anything I started to do things for myself and stopped relying on god now I have a good group of friends who care about me and girlfriend who loves me all because I realized god/jesus doesn't answer prayers and sits in his high and mighty chair doing nothing
freef49 2 years ago 2
@freef49 Well, I'm neither a fundamentalist or a Christian, neither was Jesus and neither was Paul or any other author of the Bible. Christianity didn't arise until after 90 AD. I feel sorry for you if you have just been duped into assuming otherwise by poorly educated media hacks and obvious historical fraudsters like Hitchens.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
Erm.... That is Pharisee not the language Farsi. Pharisee as in Middle Class Businessman. You may have read the New Testement but obviously not too well. Look up; Pearls before swine. That was JCs response to the question of should they share the gospel with the Gentile i.e. you. The answer seems pretty negative to me. The gospel was never for you but was for the Jews alone. So, to be a true Christian, you would in fact have to be a Jew and believe in Judaism.
Take care.
William00048 1 year ago
Apparently, you have never bothered to actually read the Bible. According to the New Testament, the ideal lifestyle is for people to share all things in common and give their excess to the poor. According to the New Testament, "he is not a Jew who is one outwardly" and, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free", which remains the most liberal writings in the history of human civilization. Apparently you haven't actually read what the New Testament claims Jesus said.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
I was dragged up in religion & forced 2 go 2 seminary. So actually, yeah, I would say I am pretty well versed in the Bible. It was there I completely lost my faith. Not only was it obviously not true, I was glad it could not be true because even if it was, I could never worship such a cruel and evil God.
In some ways however, I agree with you. From each according to their abilities. To each according to their needs. Is something I could see JC signing up for. So why is the US so anti communist?
William00048 1 year ago
I was born into conservative Christianity myself and like you, I have long ago rejected that as completely irrational. Marx was a biblical scholar in his youth, as were many 17th-18th Century prominent intellectuals. The base idea of socialism traces directly from the book of Acts in the Bible. There is not a Christian or capitalist do or iota in the entire New Testament. Paul NEVER referred to himself as a Christian and Paul was by far, the most liberal writer in all of human history.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
Samples from Paul: "To the pure all things are pure", "nothing is to be refused if received with thanksgiving", "there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free", "we are not under the law but under grace". No modern so-called "progressive" is remotely as liberal as either Jesus or Paul.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
In deciding how liberal or conservative someone is, one must weigh their historical timeframe and reality in comparison to what they actually said and more importantly, did. When you weigh either Jesus or Paul in this type of fair and accurate historical balance, modern so-called "progressives" come out severely wanting by fair and just comparison.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@freef49 That is only a contradiction to you, because atheists are like religious conservative fundamentalists, who can't see the forest for the trees. Modern psychologists agree that it is a very good idea to take one day at a time, to concentrate on what needs to be done today, to take "baby" steps rather than to try and fix everything all at once. That is very clearly what Jesus said. Hitichens on the other hand, like the Pharisees, is the most obvious of liars.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@freef49 EXAMPLE I myself personally live in Tennessee and fly to California once per year to visit relatives in December. I purchase a ticket in July because if I wait until December, it is difficult if not impossible to get a seat due to the Christmas holidays. Thus on this particular day in July, I concentrate on what I need to do that day, which among other things, is buy a ticket. I then put the ticket away and don't worry about it; if I can't go for some reason in Dec., it's only money.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
@freef49 No I didn't. Jesus taught to focus on what is needed done for the day. If someone is going to take a trip, part of a previous day's work is to make preparations. Jesus himself made plans to visit Jerusalem; Paul made specific plans to travel places, informing people in advance he was planning to be there. Like I said, Hitchens is like a conservative fundamentalist literalist Pharisee, rather than grasping the sane significance of this teaching, agreed to by modern psychologists.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
Actually this is entirely false. Taking one day at a time insinuates that we concentrate on the immediate reality, rather than pretending we can control our own destiny, which quite obviously nobody can. Planning which school to go to is an activity one normally sets aside for a particular day and when that time comes around, such is being consistent with the basic idea. As I noted, both Jesus and Paul planned trips in advance.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
I have read your three comments above and note lower down that you are neither evangelical or Christian. It helps to know the direction someone is coming from. I am PEARList. Physical Evidence And Reasoned Logic. I have an open mind and can be persuaded of anything within those parameters. Your quotes from Paul, are no more clear than political slogans; Yes we can. What is he actually saying? As for JC being liberal, well. Christians often say that his ministry did away with all the .....
William00048 1 year ago
I base what I believe in evidence. As the Bible says, "faith is the evidence of things not seen". Just as I believe in black holes and invisible based on the mirrored evidence, so I believe in God based on the mirrored evidence. There is zero evidence that the universe or anything else has ever randomly spontaneously magically appeared on it's own. ALL known evidence indicates intelligent design. There is no evidence for physical existence apart from conception, design and construction.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
I am sorry, there is no evidence for design whatsoever in the natural world. While proof that God doesn't exist can never be offered, where the bible makes statements about the physical world we find it to be false. The Universe is not 6000 years old. Humans can not live into their 900s even with the best diet, environment and medical care we can offer today, let alone a bronze age medical and dietary environment. The bible does offer us a cure for leprosy involving the sacrifice of a bird.
William00048 1 year ago
What there is no evidence for is universes filled with intelligent beings magically appearing on their own. It is you and Hitchens who believe in the very worst and most baseless form of superstition, not me.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
You seem to throw the word Magically about a lot. Magic is another word for Religion. Science says it doesn't know rather than attribute anything it hasn't quite worked out yet to a deity.
However, if things must be created, then we always get back to who created God. An answer that he is eternal really doesn't cut it. You and every prophet ever lays claim to know what it is impossible to know. For them to know is for God to prove his existence in exactly the same way they tell us he won't.
William00048 1 year ago
I don't throw the word "magically" around, nor do I believe in magic. It is you and Hitchens who believe in magically appearing universes, not me. I can change the word to "spontaneously" appearing, but it doesn't change the obvious fact that neither of you play by the rules of science and evidence. Where is your evidence for motion apart from primary cause or for physical existence, apart from design? As I noted previously, you demonstrate a significant lack of basic understanding.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
God did in no uncertain terms proves himself to the Jews in Exodus (Jewish archaeologists hunting for evidence of "The Deeds to the Nation" have found no evidence that there was ever a wondering in the desert). The parting of the Red Sea etc. Yet the second Moses turned his back they were off cavorting with false Gods. Clearly they weren't too impressed.
The miracles of the Old Testament don't happen now. Why, God is the same now, then and forever? He did for Pharaoh, but nothing for Nazis.
William00048 1 year ago
This is a common error of Hitchens. Historians have long known that deserts can swallow up entire civilizations without leaving a trace in a relatively short historical time, let alone a group of wandering nomads not settling in one place. As for example, a large city mentioned in the story of Abraham, once assumed mythological, was uncovered not long ago in the middle of a desert. As I have noted already, you and Hitchens demonstrate a significant lack of basic knowledge and understanding.
richardaberdeen 1 year ago
There is no record other than the bible of the Jewish people being held captive in Egypt.
I think that a sea parting and swallowing an army might make it into the history books too.
Sorry, things get lost, but they tend to turn up again too, like the dead sea scrolls. I will take your word for it that they found this city, but that is the point. When we try hard enough we find things. Again, no evidence of the happenings of the Exodus ever having taken place.
William00048 1 year ago