Did you know that every day 150,000 people die? People just like you and me. Every 24 hours 150,000 people pass from time into eternity. Do you ever think about that? Isn’t there something within you that says, ‘I don’t want to die?’ That’s your god given will to live.
So says one of the floating, talking men of The Way of the Master.
I tried their 10-commandments quiz and am thrilled announce that I’m actually not doing as badly as one might imagine! First, the negatives:
- I certainly take the name of god in vain, though generally only in bed.
- I sometimes work seven-day weeks, thus violating whichever Sabbath you might chose to declare holy.
- I may have dishonored my parents on several occasions as a teenager.
- I have committed adultery. Well, only if you count the sex-before-marriage sort. However, this seems to be a popular sort to count.
- I have lied on occasion (“Yes Suzie, I loooooove your new haircut”).
- I have coveted, among other things, a bagel one of my students was eating in front of me at work last Sunday. What can I say- I was hungry.
So, I’m not entirely biblically pure. However, it’s really not all bad news.
- I can honestly state that I haven’t put any other gods before “god.” I don’t believe in any of ‘em, so there is no need for deity prioritizing.
- I haven’t committed idolatry. This is another benefit of atheism.
- I haven’t stolen.
- I haven’t murdered…. though if thoughts could kill, I might be answering this one a bit differently.
In summary, I have only violated 6 of the 10 commandments, leaving me 40% biblically pure. That’s probably the most chaste I’ve scored on an Internet purity test yet.
Also on this site is a video describing how to convert an atheist. The cool floaty men (though in this video they are sitting rather than floating) oh-so-pretentiously describe their method as “bait and hook.” The bait draws the atheist into the conversation by framing the debate in rational terms. Apparently, logic is to atheists as worms are to fish. Then, once the atheist is happily munching on his or her juicy worm, BOOM, comes the hook, the emotional draw of GUILT in the form of the Ten Commandments. It’s something like this: logic, designer, cars, Ten Commandments, stealing, lying, YOU’RE BAD, guilt, fear, DEATH.
Unfortunately, even the possibly pretend atheists in the video didn’t really seem to reel in perfectly nicely, though they were significantly less eloquent than most real atheists I know (note: a lapsed Christian is not the same as an atheist). Apparently, atheists (even pretend ones) are adept at picking the worms off the hook before swallowing ‘em. Or perhaps they’re just getting their worms from other sources. (shrugs) Something like that. Either way, definitely go check out the videos at The Way of the Master. Just watch for those pesky hooks!
(cross posted at The Atheist Mama)
