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Every now and then, I encounter some random commenter on YouTube who is surpassingly ignorant on Biblical matters while being simultaneously arrogant regarding his or her intellectual self-assessment, and I am foolishly moved to reply. Since I no longer have an active presence on YouTube, I will reply to this user's prattling here.
The following paragraphs are from the comment section's magnum opus by "OldManRiv3r" on this video about the currently lost soul known as Demi Lovato. I performed the service of forming useful paragraphs apparently too strenuous for this mental colossus to generate in the YouTube post. I also feature OldManRiv3r's comments in italics, and my responses in bold. @cliffordrandell735 "cliffordrandell735" is the well-meaning user who unfortunately chose to waste time and energy on OldManRiv3r (from hence abbreviated to OMR). For sure its compelling to think about what was the original spark, and for lack of better explanation I understand the appeal to settle on religion to explain it instead. By religion OMR is referring to a belief in the King of the Universe, the Creator of everything we know. Surely someone of OMR's considerable bearing is aware that "religion" itself consists of a set of rituals, practices and doctrines that have little to do with the reality of our Creator's sovereignty. I just find it incredibly hard to believe that a group of people on this very specific planet, during a very specific time, in a very specific area are the ones that are "actually" right about existence. Of course OMR finds those contingencies incredibly hard to believe. They're not nearly as likely to be possible as an exhaustively innumerable collection of conveniently successive linear mutations that incidentally, according to some of the "scientific discoveries" he references later on in his masterwork, happen to be mathematically impossible given the time we claim they took to transpire (current estimate approximately 4.3 billion years for possibly life-supporting conditions). And you're not necessarily even supposed to stop there if you are a Christian. You have to believe that this new mary sue character is ACTUALLY the key to paradise, and that the far older Jewish faith was slightly wrong. Well well, there it is. Nothing like some blasphemous mockery to drive home a trite argument that features rigor commensurate to a wet noodle. Beyond his childish indulgence, OMR is demonstrably ignorant of the Biblical text he dismisses if he thinks Jesus isn't referred to many times in the Hebrew scriptures and also the fulfillment of the Law in the Greek scriptures. Not even taking into account the fact that The Old Testament is itself riddled with stories that were borrowed whole cloth from much older Egyptian stories.. Why did OMR stop with such a nebulous reference to "whole cloth from much older Egyptian stories?" OMR could have been even more specific with pointing out the Code of Hammurabi that sounded a lot like the Ten Commandments, which predated Moses and his trip up Mount Sinai. What objections such as this presume is that Abraham was the only individual God tried to work with. The victors write the world's history, and clearly Hammurabi wasn't up to the task. THEN I'm supposed to also discount all scientific discoveries that have happened in the last 2000 years, which DO explain some of existence, things that DO have repeatable and verifiable evidence..? Verifiable evidence, such as the fanciful extrapolations we consider fact, regarding the 'logical' biological progressions based on work from Carl Linnaeus, whose "Systema Naturae" was intended to classify animals in an efficient way, not be used as an arbitrary 'tree of life?' Repeatable evidence, such as experiments that scientists routinely perform in a laboratory as dictated by scientific method, that are unfortunately impossible to perform with a theory that requires thousands to millions of years to produce measurable results? And okay, you might chime in "Well its a metaphor obviously, and we should interpret it differently then its written." Well okay now we are delibrately (sic) changing the word of God, are we not? Any genuine Christian would not utter such nonsense. Either the Bible is true or it isn't. Pretending that some of the accounts are myths because we don't witness seas parting in the twenty-first century is a decision that also leads to impotent assertions such as 'God used evolution to create everything.' God did NOT use evolution, He literally spoke everything into existence. If you can't fathom that, then write out the schematic for a liquid crystal display. So you're telling me you don't really understand how your computer monitor actually works, but it still works whenever you turn it on? How do you reconcile your lack of understanding with the reality of its function? Seems to me like turning away from facts simply because my religion tells me "it's the devils work" might actually just be a scare tactic to have people police themselves from dissent. These are very textbook manipulations used not only by cult leaders, and abusers, but by almost every religion [emoticon] odd. Genuine facts are truth, and the truth is never "the devil's work." No Christian turns away from facts. Any cults who are involved in such behavior are easily discernible as false. OMR's desire to find mistakes in Biblical texts is motivated not by a reverence for facts, but a drive to gratify his own ego. Once you understand these things, and take off your blind faith goggles even for a moment, you quickly realize its all just a cleverly thought-out story designed to pacify the masses of society, and prevent them from doing things the rulers of the day didn't like them doing. And there's another classic chestnut! If you disagree with OMR, you just don't understand, it's that simple. OMR also seems to be a victim of his own blind faith goggles, but feeds himself on the delusion that blind faith only occurs with believers in Christ, not those stalwart brainiacs who worship "science." And a third tired example of sophistic chicanery: the Bible was created by clever Machiavellians who thought they'd pacify society by telling them about pleasant things like eternal torment in the Lake of Fire, all to keep the rulers from losing sleep over their powerless peasants. Well societies can fall, so how do we make sure everyone adheres to these basic principles we deem most important? We threaten them with the thing they fear most; "what happens to them after they die?" the most primordial fear. Societies WILL fall, that's guaranteed eventually, as witnessed by the entirety of human history. What OMR doesn't register is the fact that what happens after we leave this mortal coil doesn't even concern most of the population while they're still breathing, though by simple logic alone one would necessarily be forced to face the possibility that our four dimensions are not the end of reality's road. The Bible explains exactly what happens after we die, it just doesn't fit the designer universe many people prefer to create in their imaginations. That's it. And it's (sic) was a great plan. And it worked for hundreds and hundreds of years. But we don't have to keep fooling ourselves any longer, it's become ridiculous to perpetuate this story and have it dictate our lives on every level. To this, instead of bothering with exposition, I will feed OMR's out-of-control dumpster fire by simply quoting scripture: "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." In conclusion, the debates regarding the existence of God and the veracity of the Bible have been around since men could carry a conversation, and since the scriptures were written, respectively. No minds will be changed with this essay; I just felt like calling out someone who already knows the truth, but still prefers to hide it in unrighteousness. |