Evolution (of Lies) In Action
they became fools.
—Romans 1.22
Twitter "Tweets" are public.
This will have two examples. First, I was in an altercation with some vicious trolls on Twitter on Christmas the day after Christmas (and I seldom use Twitter these days, as I have said before). Mixed in with those were some who wanted to have a detailed intellectual discussion (a bad idea on Twitter, which is designed to limit you to 140 characters). One made the outlandish statement that "animals are born atheists". Anyone who is capable of rational thought and is not brainwashed by propaganda can easily see the absurdity of that remark. And, it seems, so can the OP, because his comment appears to have been deleted.
But I can show you my response to his remark:
That's right, Buttercup, I called you on it. You made a statement that is nothing but faith — no, it is nothing but wishful thinking for your position, and I didn't let it fly.
Now, here is an example of a failure of logic (this guy was trying to talk it out, eventually):
No, it does not mean that. This is a faulty premise as well as rushing to a conclusion and skipping many steps. I do not want to pick on this Alex, but I think he is showing the faulty reasoning that the others used as an excuse for venomous personal attacks.
Note that they were happy engaged in deriding the Xtian, and yet, they did not have evidence for their claims! I simply said that they cannot prove that animals are born as atheists. See what I mean, that hate stupidifies people? By the way, note that he capitalizes atheist, but refuses to capitalize the names of other religions.
For that matter, this "discussion" came about because of the article I posted asking the question, "Does Atheism Cause Brain Damage?" If you go on Twitter and read the vicious, hateful, profane rants of "theealex" (and possibly "Chaotic Neurons" as well), you will see that they may very well have answered my question in the affirmative.
(Also, their double standard is easily evident. It is perfectly acceptable in their eyes to attack Christians and ridicule our faith, but if someone even dares to question their position, their logic, their mental state — watch out!)
Further research is in order.
Wait, I do have some further research! Remember, I did say that I have two examples. Here is the second one.
I made a statement at Atheist Central (the link is furnished if you want to read everything in its entirely, but I think the highlights cover the matter well enough) that, "I know it infuriates you that many atheists have not only come to Christ, but are experts in defending the faith against the unknowing and poor thinking God haters."
So, Captain Howdy steps up. (By the way, what is it with atheists and military ranks?) Cap'n demands, "Name one Christian on this entire blog that started out on this blog as a professing atheist and has since been converted by Ray's arguments. Just name one, Stormbringer." Edit: This is a Straw Man fallacy, as well as an argument from silence.
My response: "Why should I? You are changing the discussion. Hey, here's an idea: Let people speak for themselves, since I do not know the heart and soul of everyone who has posted here since this Weblog's inception."
Remember, I said that I knew of atheists who became Christians and defenders of the faith. I did not say that I knew of them on Ray Comfort's Weblog.
Some other resident hateful types chimed in, but because they have demonstrated their viciousness as well as irrationality in the past, I ignored them.
This appears out of sequence on the Weblog, but Cap said, "Just what I thought." Edit: Argument from Silence fallacy in its full glory.
So, my refusal to let him change the rules in the middle of the discussion, and not fall for his bait, is proof that I am wrong? Cafone.
Cap also stated, "Well how about because your entire argument was based upon the idea that these people exist. Now you are saying that you don't actually know if any of these people exist, which invalidates your entire argument." Edit: Another Straw Man. He had some other stuff that was not worth quoting.
At the conclusion of my reply to this (I mentioned the first example of bad logic, shown above), I stated, "In both your case and his, putting words in my mouth, then saying that my argument is invalid, is, frankly, a lie. Where do people like you learn logic?"
He has not replied. I am not going to be like these people and conclude that his lack of reply has any meaning, however. He may be replying right this minute, in two weeks (I will not be checking back), or not at all. Not than any excuse for putting words in my mouth will matter, nor will this demonstration of horrible logic lose its merit if he does reply.
So, if someone insists that Christians are inherently stupid (conveniently ignoring the great intellectuals and scientists of the past and present, by the way), it is best to use actual logic. Excuses for hate and ridicule are not logic, capice? See Romans 1.19-22.
If I'm wrong about something, fine. But don't lie about others to build up your own fragile ego.
Alex Botten
