Because, Miller, God is good and wouldn’t order them to do anything immoral. Therefore, any immoral imperatives they get from a source claiming to be God aren’t really from God.
Which would make the person getting the command wiser than God, since they know what He would say so much better than He does. 
Does the guy RexDart encountered believe God forgives any earthly sin, as long as one accepts Jesus? (Grace versus deeds – I know not all Christians believe this, but some do).
If so, why should I trust him any more than his sociopathic atheist strawman?
So, Christian Guy disavows that there are christians who kill/rape/burgal/rob/etc simply because they’re christians & fear a vengeful God? He needs to read the paper more often, I’m thinkin’.
I think you´d win more bees with honey like
he thinks he can make a judgment about my character solely based on the fact that I don’t share same view of metaphysics
than with terms like Magical Sky Pixie.
Sorry for my pedantry. It just that “athiest” seems to be an amazingly common typo that I see everywhere, and it’s gotten to pissing me off. It stands to reason that eventually I would just snap, go crazy, and use the [size] tag.
Personally, I’m wondering if he might get in trouble for that little remark to a coworker. I’d be EXTREMELY offended if someone insinuated I was a thief.
What a bigoted fuckhead.
Ask him about Christians who are assholes.
Actually, I think that “Magical Sky Pixie” is probably a pretty accurate descriptor for the sort of conceptualisation which is seen as the sole emanating force of moral glitterdust, and only sprinkles it on those people who cry its name in times of stress and orgasm.
(And I say that speaking as a theist. Some bees I just don’t wanna win.)
Tell him that on the contrary you will be locking your doors and keeping any children you know away from him, as it is evident he is “projecting” his anti-social and dysfunctional urges onto atheists who are noted for their logical attitudes and self control. Run down a list of mis-behaving preachers and their struggles with sin, and tell him it is evident to you that the most ardent Christians are obviously the ones struggling with the strongest demons.
Tell his that while you appreciate that he is trying to be a “good” man and is looking to his God for help with his apparent urges, you would still feel better knowing your valuables are secure behind a locked door, from his covetous lusting and not tempting him.
athe athier athiest
Hence the common misspelling??
So, why is he even willing to be in the same room with you? Isn’t it plain that you would murder him to fuck his wife as well?
See, that doesn’t even work. If they are a Christian and believe in the Bible, then they must believe that on a number of occasions God ordered the Israelites to kill their neighboring nations.
1 Samual 15
God can’t order you to do immoral things, but only because everything He says is moral. Therefore, if He tells you to lie or cheat or murder, the moral thing to do is to do it. According to the idea of absolute morality coming from God.
I’m not an atheist … more of an agnostic. Actually I don’t really know what’s there and what to believe but I think organized religion is crap and that when people try and force others into their beliefs that is wrong.
But I was told since I don’t believe in God that I am unable to tell right from wrong. I have no moral compass at all and I should not be allowed to bring a child into this world as I would be unable to raise the child to have any moral or ethical convictions at all.
Yeah all those priests have a great moral compass… God pointed them towards those nuns and little boys and said “go get em.”
I agree that many of the Christian beliefs are downright nutty. I did my time in CCD and mass and learned they don’t like things like thought and questions. I was wholly confused about the Genesis creation story and I was berated by the nuns for trying to figure out where the wives Cain and Abel found came from. shrug
Somehow the righteous seem to feel it is ok to be rude since they are only trying to save our souls. Sounds like your afternoon sucked and it is too bad your friend has such crappy companions.
Heck, as a Christian I’d agree with that.
Living in Texas is no excuse for not having his beliefs challenged. Sure, there are a lot of Baptists in Houston. More in Dallas. The nuts of the bunch get nuttier the more in the “Bible belt.” Houston is the 4th largest city in country. Likely in the top 10 of metroplexes. Your friend is sheltered because he chooses to be. Houston has its share of Debauchery. I’ve heard it is internationally known for its nudie bars.
Enough of defending Houston. I used to get into debates with nuts like that. It usually ended with me getting flustered and nobody changing their minds. If you can’t change their minds, mess with their minds. I wish I had learned it in college, I could have had more fun with the fundies.
If they accuse anyone, or musical bands of satanism, backward masking, drinking a gallon of come, or some other evil shit, exclaim with a devilish grin, “COOL!” Or if they express a need to “watch their back” in the presence of an atheist, slam your fist on the table and shout, “DAMN RIGHT!” Then take a big chug of beer and grin at him, with beer soaked lips.
Another approach is the mindfuck him with common sense. “If I wanted to steal your stuff, do you think I would tell you I am an atheist?” Very truthful, but it can confuse a fundy-nut.
Another comment, one I heard over the walkie talkie when I was a driver. A supervisor asked a driver if he had taken a clients ladder, to which the driver responded, “C’mon Bill! Now what am I going to do with a ladder?” I had to pull over to the side of the road I was laughing so hard. Apply it to the christian-freak. “What in the world are you putting in your desk that an atheist would care about? You think he’s going to steal your Bible?” If he does put valuables in his desk, it is wise to lock up anyway.
Having fun with them lightens the situation. It tends to steer the conversation to more pleasant topics. And has the potential to make them look and feel like a bigger fool.
If your friend has a sense of humor, he will laugh at your cleverness. Until you leave, then the brainwashing resumes.
That’s kind of what I pointed out to him. I said basically, “look man, you hung out with me last night, you’re hanging with me this afternoon, we’re at a restaurant with alot of knives around, if you think I’d have no reason not to do anything nasty to you why aren’t you afraid I’ll pick up this knife and stab you?” I’d hate to have a religious viewpoint that led to me inherently distrusting a large chunk of the population.
He also said that he thinks companies should be allowed to discriminate against atheists. His logic on this was that since all but a couple people at his company are Christians, they should be allowed to have a “Christian workplace.” Of course, I doubt his figures. After all, if you were an atheist working with this guy, would you let this guy know it? Unlikely.
My friend is one of those who thinks it’s a good idea to post the Ten Commandments all over the place, on the grounds that they’re representative of common morals. Every single time I hear that argument, I point out that not all of them are just “common morals.” Atheists and polytheists alike vigorously disagree with god’s selfish and childish commandments about having “no gods before me”. And what do graven images and idols have to do with common morality? Christians and Jews need to stop kidding themselves, these are not universal rules for good behaviour, these are specific to time and place and in part were designed to uphold YHWH’s monopoly on deity. (I include Jews only because from what they’ve said here on SDMB, they think all people have to follow the Ten Commandments, whereas the rest of the little laws are only for Jews, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)
[best soothing voice]
Right. It was sort of a, uh, what do we call that? Oh, yeah, a joke! You see, RexDart mis-spelled “atheist” throughout his OP, putting the “i” before the “e”. So Tars Tarkar made a joke out of it, and said that only “thieves”, which is also spelled with an “i” before the “e”, who don’t believe in God are “athiests”. Normal, non-stealing folks who don’t believe in God are the “e” before “i” kind of “atheist”. [/best soothing voice]
Do we all feel better now? I sure do!
I dunno…
I’d be more freaked out about a guy whose sole apparent reason for not stealing from me is the fact that a book (however holy) told him not to. NO ONE try to unconvert this fellow, because he’s likely to go on a killing spree if he believes there’ll be no divine retribution forthcoming.
Precisely, Priam. When confronted with this sort of person and if feeling a bit feisty (yes, e before i is correct), I tend to point out Romans 12 and Philippians 2 to them – if the only reason you’re not murdering, stealing, and raping is the fear of God, then you haven’t let the Holy Spirit do His number on you.
But where does that leave the unsaved like me who reject murder, theft, and rape because we believe in living by an ethical code? I have no fear of God, and the Holy Spirit isn’t running the numbers in my neighborhood.
I believe in the Golden Rule or what C. S. Lewis, in The Abolition of Man called “The Tao” : the simple belief that you should not do to others what you don’t want done to you. I need no threat of Hell or reward of Heaven held over me as a whip to keep me in line. It always worries me when I run into Christians like the one described in the OP; what kind of people must they be if the only check on their barbaric behavior is the fear of being cast into Hell?
You’re wrong. 
My understanding of the Law (I’m not Jewish, but I get into lots of entertaining religious discussions) is that Gentiles are bound to follow what are called the Noahide commandments. These are, in no particular order: Do not thieve, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not worship idols, do not blaspheme, do not eat flesh torn from a living animal or drink its blood, and establish a court of laws to administer justice.