I got a message on the Atheist Network from one of the few theists that I’ve given ” free range ” status to. She asked me the following…

Everyone on the boards talks alot about God, but not Jesus Christ. Is there a difference? The reason that I ask is because in my readings of the Bible, and the faith that I was raised with God was basically in charge in the OT and Jesus Christ basically in charge in the NT.

So I guess my question is what is the difference, is there a difference, or when discussed on the boards are they one in the same? I understand the trinity thing cause I was raised Lutheran, but I seem to be having a bit of a disconnect with myself on the boards.

My reply :

You my friend have stumbled upon an excellent question with a very confusing answer. It really depends on the sect of xianity thats being addressed. Some sects believe that god and Jesus are the same, some believe they were separate, and others believe the Jesus was the god of the old testament and then the savior of the new. It’s been my experience on this board that when we talk of god, it’s in a general sense, an ” over all ” kind of “god”. Does that make sense ?

The real problem is that whenever two people are discussing ” god “, be they believers or not, have no real definition of what it is exactly that they are talking about. The reason is because most have never defined what a god actually IS. They define their god not by what a god is, but by what their god does. In my show last friday I gave an example of what a good definition is and what a bad one is. In it, I used the example of defining a chair as being ” something that you sit on. “. Although a chair is used to be sat on, this is not a good definition of one. If a chair is ” Something that you sit on. ” then anything I put my ass on, be it a can, a small child, a dog, would be considered a chair. However if I were to say that a chair is ” a platform with three or more support legs, a back rest and sometimes an arm rest, made from either plastic, wood, or metal. ” then you would have a clear definition of what a chair is. This would be a good definition.

Since “god” is defined not by who he is, but by what he does, the definition becomes subjective and based more upon each persons ability to anthropomorphisize their ideal. This means that even under the same sect, each person has their own idea of what a ” god ” is. This is why there are over 80,000 sects of xianity in the world, because people eventually realize their god is not the same as the one their sect is preaching and they either go find another one close to what they believe their god is, or they start their own sect.

So imagine being an atheist and having to deal with 80,000 sect of the same thing. Generalizations are all we have to go on.

Religion, as all god belief, is inherently evil because it devalues humanity and stifles diversity. There can be no progression for humanity as long as god belief prevails. Imagine if all the effort that has been put into god belief were instead put into bettering the human condition ? Imagine that on sundays instead of going to church to worship something you wished existed, you took that same time and money and donated yourself to a soup kitchen or to build a home for the poor. Imagine if everyone did good for the sake of improving ourselves rather then the hope of reward from some imaginary sky daddy ? God belief isn’t just bad for who it’s killed, it’s bad for all the reasons I just mentioned and more. If that’s something you can live with associating yourself with, then indeed, you have abandoned reality, and the rest of humanity.

From a post I made here ….
Resignation :: Atheist Network

Last month my desktop pc died out on me. It’s around 5 or 6 years old so it wasn’t a big surprise. Problem is, my finances are tight. I can barely afford to pay my rent. So I’ve started a ChipIn widget on the right hand side bar. I’m trying to raise $1000 by feb 21st. Some of the money will go to helping out the server cost at the Atheist Network, but most will be for a new pc. I’m hopping that between the A.N. and my blog here, that there must be 100 people willing to contribute $10 each.

So if you’ve enjoyed this blog at all over the years, click on the ChipIn button to the right and help a friend out. It’ll be put to good use. I promise.

UPDATE :

Thanks to the great people at the Atheist Network and the Rational Responders, I was able to raise enough money for the server and a new pc ! My most humble gratitude to all those who contributed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.