My blog post that might be controversial and that has nothing to do with movies but I would rather post it here than on RT.

Recently I read a poster that was entitled 10 signs that you are an unquestioning Christian. Well, here is my rebuttal to that list.

#1. You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your god.

Rebuttal: It is true that some people feel "outraged" But that is not all of us. I am an open Christian and as long as people are polite about speaking their beliefs I don't get outraged nor does anyone I know. I only get mad when people like Richard Dawkins treats all non-evolutionists like children or people who are flat out stupid. I know that we don't always paint the best picture of ourselves and that depresses me. But, what no one seems to listen too, both Christians and Atheists, is that we are human too. As for denying the existence of other gods, what do you want us to do about that? Atheists vigorously deny the existence of any gods.

#2. You feel insulted and dehumanized when scientists say we evolved from lesser life forms but you have no problem with the biblical claim that we all were created from dirt.

Rebuttal: It's not so much dirt vs single celled organism, it's god created us vs no god and something as complex as life just appeared out of nothing. Everything that you see created out of one cell at the beginning? Also, God is God, he can create us out of anything he wants. If it was in his plan to create us out of diet soda and alarm clocks he could have. I'm being facetious here, if that's the right word, but yeah.

#3. You laugh at polytheists but have no problem believing in a trinity god.

Rebuttal: The closest that I can come is describing H2O. You have gas, liquid, and ice. It's still all H2O. God is the same way. You have the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's all still God.

#4. Your face turns purple when you hear of all of the atrocities attributed to Allah but you don't even flinch when you hear that God/Jehovah slaughtered all of the firstborn babies in Egypt in Exodus and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in Joshua including Women and Children and Animals.

Rebuttal: First off with the Egypt thing, It's not like God decided, "huh, you know I'm bored today lets slaughter all of the firstborn babies. alright lets spin the globe here...ah Egypt there you go! Boom! All of the firstborns dead. ah that was fun" If you actually read Exodus then you would discover that God gave the Egyptians chance after chance after chance for the Egyptians to release the Israelites from slavery. 10 chances to be exact. First Moses told Pharaoh to let them go or else there would be plagues and sure enough there were 9 plagues each getting steadily worse and still the Israelites were not freed and THEN and ONLY THEN did God do the Firstborn thing.   As for the rest, in that time, it was very kill or be killed. would you rather have the Israelites just sit there naively hoping not to be destroyed? As for slaughtering whole cities, god only slaughtered people who were doing things like human sacrifices and stuff like that. Also, all of the people that God had the Israelites kill were people who repeatedly attacked the Israelites.

#5. You laugh at the Hindus that deify humans and the Greeks about Gods sleeping with women but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary who then gave birth to a Man-God who got killed and came back to life and ascended to the sky.

Rebuttal: Now, the Mary thing is one of the biggest misconceptions in the world. THE HOLY SPIRIT DID NOT I repeat DID NOT have sex with Mary to get her pregnant. That would completely destroy the whole idea of virgin birth. If God can create everything, then why can't he seem to get Mary pregnant without sex? As for the Jesus Man-God thing, we Christians don't believe that man became God, but that God became man. He was a man when he was on Earth. But In the bible it says things like "With the faith of a mustard seed you can move a mountain" and "through Him all things are possible" That's how Jesus performed his miracles (and he did exist by the way. you can find that in any textbook in the world).

#6. You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of the earth (4.45 billion years) but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by pre-historic tribesmen sitting in their tents believing that the Earth is only a few generations old.

Rebuttal: How God sees time and how we see time are very different. I have no problem believing the Earth is billions of years old. I don't believe the whole 'few generations' stuff. Nor do most I know.

#7. You believe that all the population of this planet, with the exception of all of those who share your beliefs-excluding those of rival sects, will spend an infinite time being tortured in Hell, but you claim your religion to be the most tolerate and loving.

Rebuttal: You gotta pay for your sins not that you need to considering the fact that Jesus died for your sins which is the only way into heaven, just accepting that he did that. If you die without accepting that, well, what do you want God to do? No one is perfect. Gods standard is perfection. "for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God" Jesus was perfect and he died for our sins. If someone took a bullet for you and you didn't accept that that would be horrible yes? Well, that's pretty much what Jesus did. as for rival sects, (AKA the whole Protestant/Catholic fight) As long as you truly believe that Jesus was the Messiah, you get into heaven. Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, it doesn't matter because the core belief is Jesus died for our sins. As for being tortured in hell, that's the punishment for sin. And honestly, no one is perfect anyone who says they are is lying. We all deserve hell we all deserve death but God via Jesus gave us that free "get out of hell" card so to speak.

#8. While modern science, physics, biology, history, and geology have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot on the floor rolling around speaking in tongues may be all the proof you need.

Rebuttal: First off, Modern science is a pretty flimsy thing. You look at what has been considered "Modern Science" 100s of years ago and think of what it will be in 100 years and think about how odds are people 100 years from now will look at what we've done as a stepping stone for them, but a lot of it they will laugh at and say "why did they think that?" As for History, that is the flimsiest thing ever. It is written by the victors and it is never all true. As for the "speaking in tongues" thing, It happens. Silly as it may sound to a lot of you people really do get filled with the holy spirit. But, It doesn't happen nearly as much as people might think. A lot of people fake it. Not all, but it is a very easy thing to fake. think about that. Also, it isn't "all the proof we need" people don't always look at that and go "well, now I believe in all of it" Yeah, that would be pretty flimsy.

#9. You define 0.01% success rate as "a high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider it to be evidence that prayer works. However, you attribute the other 99.9% of failed prayers to be "god's plan"

Rebuttal:  It's true that not all prayers are granted. God is not a genie. Prayer isn't a type of 3 wishes thing. As for 0.01% success rate, It is much higher than that. God may be answering the prayer in a way that you don't notice until years later. Also, a lot of prayers may be selfish prayers and yes, some of them go counter to God's plan. He answers prayers much much much more than 0.01%. Like I said, he isn't an instant gratification genie type God.

#10. You actually know a lot less than most Atheists and Agnostics do about the bible, Christianity, and church history, but you still call yourself a Christian.

Rebuttal: Where did you get that fact? It is true that that can be the case, but the way that it is worded makes it sound like almost all of the Christians don't know anything about the bible but Atheists and Agnostics can recite the whole thing. Also, I know that Atheists cruise the bible looking for verses that conflict or that make us look bad, well first off, that goes back to the no one is perfect and sadly no all of us will admit that, but also, Atheists (and I have seen this time and time again) read the verses but they completely ignore the meaning. It's like memorizing the script to the movie Eraserhead word for word. It is impressive but can you tell me the movie means? Same thing. Also, I go back to the where did you get that fact? Did you get it when you were a kid and you and another 14 year old kid got into a debate? Also, take into account that not everyone who says that they are Christians really are. More on that later.

There are a few more things that I would like to discuss.

One is the famous Epicurus (I think) Quote that seems to once and for all disprove God.

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

My rebuttal to that is: he is able he is willing and he will. The only reason he hasn't yet is to give everyone a chance to accept him. He will. Trust me he will. The Antichrist, the apocalypse, yeah it's all gonna happen. Don't know when, don't know exactly how but it is coming. It is easy to choose God when all is going well for you. But when the going gets tough, when something like you lose a family member in a terrorist attack or a hurricane or you are seriously injured or something, That is when your faith is truly tested. Will you curse God or draw closer to him? Will you be humble before Him or will you be proud and curse him? That's what the Job story is about. Not Job as in work but jOb. Yeah anyway, God tested his faith and he stayed true to god and got rewarded him with more than he had before. (no it didn't happen like in South Park where Kyle's parents tell him the story and it ends with "and Job stayed true to God The End")

As for whence Cometh Evil, I have a question for you to mull over, which would you rather have? A puppet existence where God controls your ever move and your life is perfect? Or, would you rather have free will? Imagine if your parents controlled every move you made, you'd hate it! From free will comes evil. God loves us enough to give us free will and we squander it. Hitler CHOSE to commit genocide God didn't make him. The terrorists CHOSE to destroy the World Trade Centers. God doesn't interfere with out free will. He loves us too much. Out of our choosing comes evil it sucks but it is true.

Also, consider this, there are four types of people who call themselves Christians.

1. The people who say it just to fit in but they don't believe it or just don't care.

2. False Prophets: these are people like some TV evangelists or the leaders of cults and stuff who use their knowledge of Christianity to manipulate people for their own personal gains. An excellent movie showing that is the 1955 movie The Night of the Hunter. These people are pretty easy to spot really. I quote from Matthew 7 verses 15-20                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

15. Beware of false Prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves. 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? 17. Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit and a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit 19. Every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit will be hewn down and thrown into the fire 20. And by their fruits, ye shall know them. Basically what that is saying is you will know a false prophet vs a real Christian by what the do as opposed to what they say. 3. The third type is religious people. These people are all the "holier than thou people" These people, sadly, are the stereotypical Christians. Those who if you say " I don't believe in God right now" they respond with "well you're going to Hell!!!" That's wrong for many reasons not the least of which is nothing is set. The apostle Paul (while he was Saul) was a genocidal maniac (targeting Christians) but he found God and well...you see what God did with him. One of the most famous Christians of all time. Now, I know a lot of people see Christianity as a religion. Even a lot of Christians. It isn't it is simply a relationship with God. It is good to go to church to learn about God but it is best to go because you want to, not because you feel obligated to and guilty if you don't. Religious people would see you not going to church as a sure sign of your damnation. For a good example (albeit slightly extreme) example of a religious person, watch how Margaret White (Carrie's mother in the film Carrie) acts. But, this goes back to no one being perfect, even true Christians can wander into this category sometimes. Myself included. I regret it and I will for the rest of my life but it happens. another extreme example of religious people is the KKK. it suck but they claim to be Christians. It is totally wrong and under no circumstances should Christians be associated with that particular "claim to be Christian" terrorist group. It goes back to "and ye shall know them by their fruits". Finally, there are the true Christians. The ones who long to have a deep relationship with God and who truly believe in him. People seem to ignore this category preferring instead to combine the first three and there you go, that is who Christians are. Totally untrue. That is not who real Christians are. Since we are imperfect Even real Christians can deviate into 1 and 3. But at our core, 1 and 3 is not who we are. Another big question is "why do bad things happen to good people" and even vice versa. Well, as for the good people, no one is perfectly good so yeah and there is also evil in the world. It just happens. as for the bad people. They will get theirs. It happens every time. if it doesn't happen in life it happens in death with Hell. People who see deathbed conversions as afterlife insurance don't really believe. Not to say that deathbed conversions don't work but people who say the words on their deathbed and feel "I did whatever I wanted in life but now I'm safe" Doesn't quite work that way. And for all Atheists and Agnostics out there ask yourself this: Why don't you want there to be a God? Think about it. Well, I've ranted long enough, If I think of anything more, I'll add it.