Self Reliance

[smokingbob34]

I read most AIG's newsletters too, always gives me a laugh.....

[enkelin32]

Really great video, enjoyed it immensly, yes reliance on the church is a hallmark of most religions. Dependence translates to clinging to just like in a co dependent relationship. They can do whatever they want to to you and you will still remain mo matter how heinous because you are dependent on the Church for your emotional well being. Mind twisting is what it is all about.

[seaweed2007]

Ironically, it IS a good ad-campaign. Gods and churches rely on your money. As long as you remain reliant on THEM, they can rely on YOU and your checkbook. Once you believe you can do all things with God's help, you'll cheerfully pay for His new rectory and repave His parking lot.

[WarmWeatherGuy]

Recently a guy was flying with his wife and two kids in a KingAir (twin turbo-prop) and the pilot died. The guy took over flying the plane. Controllers asked him if he was flying the plane. He said that it was himself and the good Lord that were flying the plane. If I was the controller I would have said that I was expecting him to land the plane, and to not count too much on the good Lord's help.

[ubergossen]

I used to go to a Christian camp and there was this guy who wore a necklace that had "D.O.G." engraved on a metal tag on one side and "dependent on god" on the other side.

[ubergossen]

Church billboards are usually lulz worthy. But also depressing.

[thatgaybloke]

It's strange how the very things that a rational person regards as good - self reliance, accountability, responsibility, the need to question, etc. are the very things that are denounced by Christianity.

And our accusation that they are unthinking sheep is taken as a compliment by "the flock".

There is, indeed, a gulf between us.

[932016]

trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understading

proverbs 3:5

not being self reliant is kinda a religoin thing. they take u when ure down, break u down even further and then build you back up with THEM as your supports. its the classic trick used by cults and most religions.

just look at some conversion storys here on youtube. the common thread is "stuff is fucked up, im not dealing with it well, i turned to jesus"

[BMS1974]

They stole the story from the pre-Hellenistic Greek's.

[RyuDarragh]

There are always more than one or even two options. Abiogenesis is not evolution. Put the tinny down and get sober, mate. "Satan" is mythology to me and bollocks to the whole lot of them. I go with what can be tested and verified by myself and others. And stop trying to type while pissed! Use punctuation, man!

[RyuDarragh]

As opposed to the bliblical stricture that "God helps those who help themselves." ?

[mishanoir]

For the record, that's not Biblical. A quick Google search says Benjamin Franklin printed it in Poor Richard's Almanac, though it is supposedly older than that.

And too true, Hairy. The Bible just isn't about self-reliance or reliance on other humans. Reliance on God is explicitly taught.

[TheNakedAtheist]

Seems like bad marketing to me, but I wonder how it reads to a Christian.

[pallevader]

I was not watching the visual while playing to this video and I swear, you sounded EXACTLY like NephilimFree when you read that AIG garbage. I was sure you were playing a clip from a video of his!

[lednerg]

It's almost like someone pulled a prank on the church and changed the sign to support atheism. What the hell were they thinking? lol

[mishanoir]

It's a very Christian message. Though I had to laugh because it's also true in a less flattering way.

[BatmanMatrix1]

Jesus talked about the flood as reality not fiction. My point you are uneducated re the bible you are so up your self your never get it !

[rrward]

BatmanMatrix1: You want to try that again in English? It's a bit hard to take you seriously if you can't even form a coherent sentence.

As for the Bible, it also says the earth is the center of universe, that the moon glows of its own light, that pi is 3.0, and a whole host of other factual errors. If the author(s) couldn't even get the basics right, how can you trust your immortal soul to what it says?

[BatmanMatrix1]

Mate your bloody hard work but i do not think your completely emptied mined. Ask your self this ! How did none living matter get organized to create living matter ! Again have you ever studied the bible after watching your take on the matter you are clueless and formulate your uneducated opinion.

[RyuDarragh]

Matter is not alive at all, BatmanMatrix1. Life is the behaviour of lots of atoms working together and is an emergent property of chemistry. This is proven fact. Folks like you do *NOT* understand great amounts of time so do not have a clue about what is possible. As with radio, where some hints were found by Hertz and others.. then after a few years, folks found ways of making radios. Or plastics. Hints and clues.. then after more study, plastics. (1 of 2)

[BatmanMatrix1]

Two options mate ! God evolution there is no third ! Deign order open your eyes and do not be one of the many fools who are being fooled by Satan !

[RyuDarragh]

(2 of 2) So it was with Abiogenesis. Several instances of life making molecules being made by pure chemistry have been found. So easily, in fact, it has been found in *SPACE*. Self replicating molecules have been found. Even evidence of RNA in places where there never was life. Evicence suggests where life is possible, life happens. It takes a long time? So? A billion years or so, evidently. Occams Razor says the simplest explanation is the likely one.

[BatmanMatrix1]

Mate there is your opinion and there is the wrong opinion.

[Vogter2100]

BatmanMatrix1 : and the there are willfully ignorant imbiciles like you!

[BatmanMatrix1]

next your be saying i am God stop being a bloody fool !

[SofaKingLoaded]

Hilariously enough you unintentionally got that one right.. but please do elaborate on your opposing anti self reliance opinion..

[ozmoroid]

I think you've hit the mark here. So many aspects of religion seem to be cop outs, substitutes for making your own decisions, your own values and your own meaning in life. And yet, Christians continue to accuse atheists of trying to avoid responsibility. Amazing to me.

[Largo64]

Isn't the whole idea of parenting to make the children ready to take care of themselves? I don't think any sky daddy wants his children to rely on him forever any more than any earthly one wants to keep grown children at home for life.

[hairyreasoner]

"Isn't the whole idea of parenting to make the children ready to take care of themselves?"

That only applies to GOOD parenting. You make the point perfectly.

[A4AgnstcFndmntlst]

Maybe they're looking for lazy people just to bust their numbers for bingo night.

[mobiltec]

I just looked under my feet. But I had to move Tabby out of the way. She likes to lay on my feet. It's great in the winter time. Anyways, I looked under my feet. You know what I found? Dirt... Don't know how that has anything to do with anything but I did think about how old that dirt is. So it must have a story. I just don't speak dirt so I don't know what that story is unless I refer to geology and there is nothing in there about a global flood that I can find.

[sweatytoothmadman]

Self Reliance from Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion"

One of my favorite essays.

[hairyreasoner]

Wonderful. I will remember that. For what that's worth. Thanks.

[beerijuana]

In saying that one cannot "earn" one's way to salvation by being a selfless, altruistic person who puts the greater good above all else unless you accept the oft contradictory tenets of Christian faith; is also stating the corollary: One needs not have been a good person to recieve salvation as long as one "believes" before they expire.

This l'il loophole fucking pisses me off.

No need for responsibility/accountability in self/others for self/others.

That's some fucked up shit.

[RosieDesire]

I pisses me off too. I love that secular humanism is just the opposite. No one cares if a conversion or acceptance is done before you expire... There is no salvation. what matters is what you do for society when you are here.

[beerijuana]

I do this without thinking about it, and have for most of the years I've been alive. Any view, ideology, etc, goes through my minds abacus and falls on the side of net benefit, net detriment to society or neutral. The trick is to make the parts inclusive to the whole.

Many atheists and theists debate morality, but it's always been that simple to my poor brain.

[beerijuana]

Theism often (it seems to me) places a finite value on human life lived, where the contrary is often the case with Atheists = a lifetime is priceless.

[RosieDesire]

It often seems that way to me as well. They are looking forward to what is 'after' life more than what is 'in' life. I mean we have fundies looking forward to the imaginary rapture from an imaginary sky daddy judge.

[blaziermissy]

Very well put. Quote worthy, in my opinion.

[RosieDesire]

I'm very much the same when it come to that, in fact, to such a degree that it's the focus of my entire business. Yes, some businesses actually outsource moral guidance. It saves them a great deal of face and money with PR issues. If only the makers of Motrin accepted my company as a partner they might not have made some recent blunders..

[geroldkid]

"...Crock of shit."

Sorry my friend, it's full of shit. The cornerstone of God may have been to one single powerful person that they have to create. Mankind was truly mad back then.

[soulinite]

Knowledge cures creationism.

[hairyreasoner]

Amen.

[saxmanchiro]

You're the best Hairy. I need to take a day off work or maybe on the weekend, drive around my little town and photograph the marque sayings on all the numerous churches and post them on YT. It would be a hoot. One could do stand-up with most of them and probably do very well. One problem I can foresee. Too many churches and not enough time. I bet the collage would be dizzying and too upsetting for most reasonable people. For the Jeebus lovers, it would be a feast for their eyes.

[glifencible]

Stop reading that AIG bullshit Hairy, it'll drive you nuts!

[beerijuana]

AnswersInGenitals

...buncha' cunts.

[CousinoMacul]

I couldn't agree more.

[NixuzE]

This is just like how the Church promotes "faith" as a positive attribute, while in reality '"faith" is nothing more than gullibility.

[Athaeus]

As bright and eloquent as always I see.

I'm glad there are people like you in the world.

[hairyreasoner]

You are too kind.

[AbdultheImpailler]

well said Hairy