10A

I grew up an atheist, surrounded by secular culture. While I haven't read either of those particular books, I've read so many other arguments against God over the years. Yes, my faith is strong, but no, I don't desire to subject myself to the temptation to deny God. I have no doubt the books offer thought-provoking and compelling arguments, as both of those authors are intelligent. And I have no doubt that some Christians have read them and offered critiques and rebuttals, as with any opinionated book. Also I have so many books that I've bought but haven't read yet, and I'm working through them slowly, but I keep buying more! I'm pretty frugal overall, but I definitely lack some self-control when it comes to buying books. So overall, no, I won't read those, but I honestly do appreciate your recommendations. Thank you.

What a well-written, intelligent, and respectful rebuttal. Thank you.

I really wish the message of Jesus, exactly as you described it, was better understood by all of the anti-Christians. It's a seriously good message, yet so many people want to hate on it without giving it a chance.

As for the Old Testament, I'm continually blown away by how much of it foreshadows Jesus, His ministry, and His apostles. The number of times this happens is far too great for me to count, though I'm sure some biblical scholars have attempted to do so. Having grown up in the church, and clearly having read the good book, you may well be more familiar than I am with all of the foreshadowing, as I'm a convert who was raised atheist and didn't find God until my 30s. I still have a lot of catching up to do, and I'm sure I always will. But suffice it to say, there's foreshadowing through and through.

Before Christ, we made God's work more difficult. Humanity wasn't wholly ready to follow Him. Abraham and his descendants were, at least they were enough to form a series of binding covenants. But until we were ready to receive Christ, God did what needed to be done to lead His first non-begotten son to the point when Christ could successfully arrive. And that, I believe, explains why the OT played out the way it did.

As for twin roe deer, I have no doubt God appreciates the form of a woman. Otherwise He'd not have made her look as He did, and He'd not have predicated our entire civilization upon marital intimacy.

As for the scripture that we now consider canonical, do you really think God had no hand in the Church's selection? I find it implausible that He'd take the effort to inspire various works of scripture, but then leave their canonicalization unguided.

Actual Christian here. This decision is not extreme, whatsoever, though I get that it appears extreme to non-believers and feminists. The thing to understand here is that Christians follow the Bible. And conversely, those who do not follow the Bible are not Christian. So let's take a look at a relevant Bible passage (1 Timothy 2:11-12):

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

Now that's the word of God. It's eternal, unchanging, and dictates how He wills us to live.

It's definitely out-of-step with modern secular culture, and that's a very good thing from the Christian perspective. We are God's peculiar people (Titus 2:11-15).

As humble Christians, I'm sure you'd all eagerly learn from it how to better yourselves and become upstanding conservative citizens. So sorry to disappoint.

I find it fascinating to hear that perspective. Among conservatives, it's widely acknowledged that the Left is crazy, and has become increasingly crazy over the years. Conservative basically means normal, ie not crazy — we like preserving traditional values, whereas the Left like violently destroying everything we hold dear. I don't mean to dispute your perspective; we're all entitled to one. I just find it interesting, and without a doubt crazy.

As for your assertion that I'm condescending, I'm sorry for whatever I said that came across that way. I am praying for you and everyone else in this thread, that we may all come to be one in Christ.

I dunno, might be impossible. But the fear of getting canceled for being homophobic is very real and widespread.

Friend, my account is less than 24 hours old has has karma of -236 (probably lower by the time I finish writing this) almost entirely due to this thread. So let's talk about echo chambers, yours and mine.

Everyone (from across the political spectrum) knows reddit's r/politics abhors balance and neutrality in favor of extreme far-leftist idiocy. It's widely assumed that's due to the mods, so I figured there's no way that bizarre phenomenon could be repeated on another platform. Well I don't think it can be explained by moderation in the present thread. I think it's clearly that all the children from r/politics flocked here, creating a self-manifesting filter-bubble. It's a pretty interesting phenomenon, really. I don't think I've ever seen something like that manifest anywhere else.

Ideally, if this is m/politics, it should be well-balanced, encompassing perspectives from all sides, and always upvoting the level-headed conservative viewpoints. In this day and age, when the Left has gone so off-the-deep-end crazy, embracing evils such as homosex and baby slaughter, a balanced m/politics would downvote all extremist viewpoints, which means basically anything from the Left these days.

I commented on this article shortly after joining, when there were very few other comments on the article, with fingers crossed that all of the naive children from r/politics wouldn't be here en masse. Clearly I was wrong. But as you grow up, and become more conservative (like we all do with life experience), you'll learn that almost every adult is essentially conservative, and striving to become more mature (ie more conservative and traditional) as we age. Obviously some people fail at that goal, and yes there are some 80yo stoners out there who act like teenagers, but by and large the filter-bubble of normal adults is extraordinarily huge.

Quoting @AnakinSandlover from above:

Most people from the time they are born have had their sexual attractions set in stone.

Stop sexualizing children! There is no "gay gene". (Follow the science, or don't you like that idea anymore) Sex is strictly reserved for a grown man and woman who are joined in holy matrimony. Children are not sexual, even slightly, until puberty.

How do I give gold on this thing?

You misunderstand. What I said is not hateful, at all. Of course homosexuals exist, just like thieves, murderers, and practitioners of every other sin exist. Everyone acknowledges that. The issue is whether we repent for our sins and do God's will, or take pride in our sins and reject God. Pride itself is a sin (and some say it's the root of all other sins). That makes pride in sin a compound sin. The so-called "pride decorations" in this article are all about pride in sin (specifically the sexual immorality type). While the far-left activists think that's wonderful, and want to call everyone "hateful" and a "bigot" if we disagree, the truth is I expressed neither hatred nor bigotry. I hope we call all come to Christ, and the first step for many is to eliminate all these repugnant "pride decorations".

It's about time. Corporations are finally starting to realize the vast majority of their customers are not onboard with the increasingly radical leftist agenda. Go woke and go broke.