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PURPOSE: The purpose of this post is to get a general idea of what people see as the most problematic contradictions in the Bible. This is not to get into a deep discussion about those particular issues right now. My goal is to make a separate thread for single issues later to address those topics more in depth.
DIRECTIONS: Pick up to three specific contradictions in the Bible that you see as the most problematic and challenge the authority if it. This isn't a hard rule, nor do I have any way of enforcing it. I just don't need some long list copy and pasted from an atheist forum page. I can look that up myself. You could also include a particular contradiction that you may be interested in discussing further, even if you don't see it as an overly severe one.
Try to be concise but clear about what the alleged contradiction is. I'll ask questions if there is any misunderstanding. But to repeat myself, the intent here is that this is more of a survey for future use, not a debate thread.
Feel free to repeat a contradiction someone else has chosen if it would make your top three list. This will indicate popularity and may be helpful.
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Religion
Obviously, the goal of vaccine mandates is to get everyone vaccinated. My question is, for what purpose? What is the end goal? I am speaking in the context of a national level. Let's say we get 100% vaccination rate in the U.S. How does that get us "back to normal" again?
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Politics
I posted this article nearly 4 months ago after trying to find one of the most ridiculous and extreme examples of how people understand "racism" today:
Just saw this and it seemed relevant to what we talked about. From the article "How America’s treeless streets are fueling inequality":Trees, and the shade they provide, are actually markers of race and class...According to the data collected by the Texas A&M Forest Service, in Houston’s "medium to high" developed areas, there are an estimated 3.7 trees per person. In similar areas in Austin there are 4 trees per person and in San Antonio there are 7.5."There is disparity here. [Houston has] low tree canopy cover and high heat."This is the mindset of CRT adherents. Seek out disparities between races, attribute those causes to racism that benefits white people, then ignore any alternatives no matter how reasonable they are. Because literally everything is racist. And racist tree planting is just one more reason to tear down our entire economy and give the government more power.
(From this thread, post #63)
Racist trees...
I really wanted to believe this was just another insane conclusion of today's racial agitators. But what was once an insane conclusion is now a huge line item on our proposed federal spending plan. I've seen two things making the rounds on the internet recently reinforcing this:
1.) Kamala Harris asking about NASA tracking the average number of trees in the context of race for the sake of environmental justice (https://youtu.be/qCOxbFquP2s). I haven't seen the full context of this short clip, but I'm not sure what else she could be talking about other than studying racial tree equity with "space activity."
2.) $3 billion for "tree equity" in the new spending bill (https://docs.house.gov/meetings/BU/BU00/20210925/114090/BILLS-117pih-BuildBackBetterAct.pdf, PDF download)
(2) $3,000,000,000 to provide multi-year, programmatic, competitive grants to a State agency, a local governmental entity, an Indian Tribe, or a non-profit organization through the Urban and Community Forestry Assistance program established under section 9(c) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2105(c)) for tree planting and related activities to increase community tree canopy and associated societal and climate co-benefits, with a priority for projects that increase tree equity;
These two things are excellent examples of how the same type of activism being promoted in public schools is having real effects on the level of federal government policy.
- Assume systemic racism is normal and pervasive
- Seek out disparities between racial groups as evidence of systemic racism
- Enact and enforce policies that eliminate those disparities, regardless of whether they discriminate based on skin color
So while people are playing their semantic word games about whether "CRT is being taught in schools," our federal government is proposing to spend billions of taxpayer dollars based on the same radical activist ideology that underlies what public schools are teaching regarding race and racism. Whether or not you agree with this type of spending, there is no question that there are real and significant consequences of trying to find racism in everything.
So what do you think? Should we spend billions of dollars on issues like "tree equity" to fight racial inequities?
Or should we perhaps rethink our radical redefinition of racism?
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Politics
This topic has perhaps already been discussed, but I did not see it upon a quick glance. Here were eight points given as to how Ivermectin can be used as an effective treatment for COVID-19:
- Inhibits binding at ACE2 and TMPRSS2, keeping the virus from entering our cells.
- Blocks alpha/beta importin (the virus cell taxi), keeping it from getting to the nucleus.
- Blocks the viral replicase zipper (RdRp).
- 3-Chimotrypsin protease inhibition (keeps the virus from assembling).
- Ivermectin strengthens our natural antiviral cell activity by increasing our natural interferon production (this counters SARSCOV2 activity, which inhibits cellular interferon).
- Decreases IL-6 and other inflammatory cytokines through NF Kappa Beta downregulation, taking the patient from a cytokine storm to calm.
- Binds NSP14, necessary for viral replication, and blocks it (equals less virus).
- Most important mechanism is inhibiting binding to CD147 receptor on red cells, platelets, lung, and blood cell lining. Ivermectin keeps the virus from binding here and decreases deadly clotting.
The mechanism that I am interested in is that Ivermectin acts as a protease inhibitor that is effective at reducing the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to replicate. Based on this mechanism, as well as the eight points above, is there specific information refuting that Ivermectin reduces the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to reproduce itself as described?
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Science and Nature
We know with absolute and omniscient scientific certainty that, like, the world is going to end in 10 years if we don't address climate change. As with Socialism, past predictions only failed because the methods have yet to be correctly implemented as we are now capable of doing. Paul Ehrlich has made it clear that overpopulation is accelerating this inevitable climate catastrophe.
Mass sterilization must be implemented on a global scale to mitigate the danger of uncontrolled population growth. We can offer financial incentives to encourage compliance. Compulsory sterilization is far from being a burden for those who readily comply. Unhindered participation in a safe society is the just reward for such voluntary acquiescence.
But that will not be enough to avoid the coming catastrophe foretold by the great climate prophet AOC. For those who resist - the unsterilized - compulsion shall act as both a pillory and a noose. The safety of those who make sacrifices for global climate justice must be protected by shaming, ostracizing, and eliminating the unsterilized from society.
Access to goods and services must be restricted for the unsterilized. Public education requires proof of sterilization. Interstate and international travel will no longer be available to those who do not comply. In hospitals, we must also de-prioritize the unsterilized. We cannot waste precious resources on those who fail to see the vision of our collective future.
The unsterilized also pose the threat of impregnating those in the general population. Until we achieve the necessary levels of safe sterilization as determined by the experts to prevent overpopulation, we cannot go back to life as normal with the looming threat of climate change. We must build facilities to house the unsterilized until they are no longer a risk to the greater society.
Every day that we do not mandate sterilization, we are increasing the climate change death toll caused by overpopulation. We can no longer allow the illusion of personal liberty to perpetuate this injustice. Compulsory sterilization must be implemented now.
It is for our safety.
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Politics
This does not have to be a deep philosophical issue or debate. I am just interested to hear people's thoughts. The questions below are just a few examples of ways to approach the topic:
How consistently must a person lie before we stop trusting them completely?
If a person has lost our trust to some degree, how can they earn it back?
How can we discern when a liar is telling the truth?
What biases might we have that make us want to continue trusting the liar, even after he/she has shown no commitment to telling the truth?
How consistently must a person lie before we stop trusting them completely?
If a person has lost our trust to some degree, how can they earn it back?
How can we discern when a liar is telling the truth?
What biases might we have that make us want to continue trusting the liar, even after he/she has shown no commitment to telling the truth?
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Philosophy
I have been hearing that we have never eliminated a respiratory virus as an argument against the constant moving of the goalpost for COVID-19 measures. Since I try not to take statements like these as truth without verifying them, I thought this community would be a good one to present the claim to.
Are you aware of a respiratory virus that has been eliminated?
And as a related question, do you believe it is reasonable and achievable to attempt to eliminate any respiratory virus?
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Science and Nature
"Denial of Evolution is a Form of White Supremacy"
Even as an opinion piece, I hope both evolutionists and creationists can agree that this is just bad argumentation and should never have made it into a publication like this. But this is Critical Race Theory. Whiteness is evil and is to blame for basically everything wrong with society. I hope people can see the logical end of such reasoning.
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Philosophy
"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
-- Acts 17:24-31
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Religion