A response to a Catholic

Posted At: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/5-catholic-teachings-that-make-sense-to-atheists/

@LAJ Thank you for your reply, this is more interesting discussion than most :)

"intent on misreading the Bible" a very nice general dismissal, but lacking substance. Where did I misrepresent what's in the Bible? Pick one and we will discuss it because I assure you I have read the whole thing at least once and done extensive research on many passages. I'm not some random atheist - I'm a former Christian and I was prepared to thoroughly dedicate my life to God at one point in my life.

I note with sadness that you didn't address the link about the immobility of the Earth. Something that disproved the bible 400 years ago. How do you rectify that in your mind? Most Protestants merely excuse it as Catholic nonsense, but as a Catholic you are kind of stuck with it since you believe in apostolic succession it is irrational to believe that something that was so fiercely held could be so wrong. This since fact alone does in the entire biblical structure for me.

Strong religeous convictions

Found on: http://deepakchopra.com/2011/07/the-american-melting-pot-atheists-keep-out/
"those who had the courage to travel to new lands,mostly didso on the back of strong religeous convictions"

Let's not forget that "strong religious convictions" includes Columbus, Ponce de Leon, Panfilo de Narvaez, Hernan Cortés, Francisco Pizarro... all Christians, all well-known murders and enslavers of uncountable numbers of indigenous people.

Dr. Michael McDonnel wrote in The 'Conquest' of the Americas:
conquistadors regarded plunder, slaves, and tribute as the just desserts for their efforts in forcing pagans to accept Christianity and Spanish rule. After all, the conquistadors did scrupulously adhere to the Spanish law of conquest by reading the requerimiento, which ordered defiant Indians to immediately accept Spanish rule and Christian conversion, or face punishment in a “just war”. The requerimiento announced that “The resultant deaths and damages shall be your fault, and not the monarch’s or mine or the soldiers”. Attending witnesses and a notary usually certified in writing that the requerimiento had been read and ignored by the usually uncomprehending Indians, thus justifying the death and destruction that so often followed.

Google+ suspended

Well, it happened as I feared, Google+ has suspended my profile (for not using my real name I believe).

But I Had A Personal Experience!

Why we cannot rely solely on individual memory to document events.

Remarkable false memories By Daniel Simons

I myself have personally had some pretty amazing experiences and witnessed amazing phenomena as products of meditation (and on occasion, medication). I have SEEN a golden, radiant book with letters of fire burning onto the pages (meditation), I have seen images of the future that have subsequently come to pass (lucid dreaming, meditation), and I have been 'miraculously' saved from physical harm (reality). Be they coincidences, hallucinations, lucky guesses, or who knows, maybe even some quantum process that we don't understand yet. But not a SINGLE one of those experiences is evidence for something supernatural or a soul. The dreaming brain is perfectly capable of generating PROFOUNDLY meaningful and deep, rich experiences that are indistinguishable from reality to the observer. I know this because I practiced at it for many years.