This past weekend, I was feebly confronted by a Canadian creationist, David Buckna, with a list of his objections to evolution. I spent a fair amount of time trying to hammer him with the answers, and the most remarkable thing was that every time we'd start digging into a topic, he'd suddenly change subjects to another item on his list, and then, later, he'd switch back to the original topic at the very beginning of his harangue, as if I'd never said anything. And now he's pestering me in email, sending me more quotes (that's all he's got — no thoughts, just quotes) and rehashing pointlessly the same things I explained to him before.
I thought of him when someone sent me a link to Dare2Share Ministries. It's an evangelical site that supposedly teaches you how to argue with people of different beliefs. I believe I may have run into some of their zombies before.
Take, for instance, the section on how to convert Erin the Evolutionist. The first part is a section describing what Erin believes about evolution, god, the trinity, Jesus, the bible, the afterlife, and salvation — and oh, wondrous world, it actually gets it right. Erin thinks the Bible is a collection of myths, and doesn't believe in any of those other things.
Then the second part is supposed to be about how a good Christian would handle each of those topics in a conversation, and there's where it all goes wrong. Every entry on god, Jesus, etc. simply cites the Bible's claims. That's it. Somehow, they nominally recognize that we don't accept the authority of the Bible, but their bot-like brains can only react with Bible verses. This isn't a tactical guide to openly discussing ideas, it's a regurgitation game that can only produce more mindless Bucknas.
And then they have suggestions for ideas to break through those Evolutionists sciencey minds.
For example, the earth is the perfect distance from the sun. If it were just a few miles closer, we'd all burn up. A few miles further out, and we'd all freeze to death!
They also suggest trying "Paschal's [sic] Wager" on 'em. Or this:
If they ask questions like: "how do you know which God?" — focus on the claims of Christ as being the only way and his proving it by coming back from the dead.
I'm not impressed. Anyone following the suggestions at Dare2Share is simply going to flop there looking dead stupid. Is this a sneaky game by some clever atheist trying to sabotage evangelicals?
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lordshipmayhem said: "Remember, the average atheist knows the Bible better than the average Christian."
PZ Myers - Global Atheist Convention 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfXbnygJirc
(29:42 to 30:08)
Meyers: "Or, if you think evolution would be a little bit too deep for these Iron Age goat herders, God could have at least told them: 'Wash your hands.' Three words. A very basic useful bit of hygienic information. They would have saved many lives."
---
God did tell them about handwashing:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+15&version=NIV
Leviticus 15: 11
11 ââAnyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
---
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i1/hygiene.asp
http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=2024
http://www.livingwaters.com/witnessingtool/scientificfactsintheBible.sh…
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i1/medicine.asp
The earliest evidence we have of public health and sanitary practices is found in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch.
In these writings, the Israelites were instructed to isolate, and if necessary quarantine, those who were sick.1 They were to destroy contaminated objects,2 to burn used dressings,3 and to bury fecal waste outside of the camp.4 The Israelites were prohibited from eating animals which had died of natural causes.5 They were also admonished to practise personal hygiene by hand-washing and keeping clean, and to take certain precautions when touching the infected or deceased.6
Second attempt to post...
lordshipmayhem said: "Remember, the average atheist knows the Bible better than the average Christian."
PZ Myers - Global Atheist Convention 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfXbnygJirc
(29:42 to 30:08)
Meyers: "Or, if you think evolution would be a little bit too deep for these Iron Age goat herders, God could have at least told them: 'Wash your hands.' Three words. A very basic useful bit of hygienic information. They would have saved many lives."
---
God did tell them about handwashing:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+15&version=NIV
Leviticus 15: 11
11 ââAnyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
---
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i1/hygiene.asp
http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=2024
http://www.livingwaters.com/witnessingtool/scientificfactsintheBible.sh…
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i1/medicine.asp
The earliest evidence we have of public health and sanitary practices is found in
the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch.
In these writings, the Israelites were instructed to isolate, and if necessary quarantine, those who were sick.1 They were to destroy contaminated objects,2 to burn used dressings,3 and to bury fecal waste outside of the camp.4 The Israelites were prohibited from eating animals which had died of natural causes.5 They were also admonished to practise personal hygiene by hand-washing and keeping clean, and to take certain precautions when touching the infected or deceased.6