Your Best 10 Minute Case for Your Religion

[Rival]

I'd have a hard time believing a naked drunk who curses grandchildren is a good role model.

Yeah but which grandparent hasn't done it? And to be honest, he just survived a mahousive great flood, c'mon, I think he has the right to go on the **** up

In reality, the Mishnah teaches that Ham actually castrated or sodomised, or both, his father Noach. So you can see why Noach would be angry. Babylonion Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 70a)

"And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.41 [With respect to the last verse] Rab and Samuel [differ,] one maintaining that he castrated him, whilst the other says that he sexually abused him. He who maintains that he castrated him, [reasons thus;] Since he cursed him by his fourth son,42 he must have injured him with respect to a fourth son.43 But he who says that he sexually abused him, draws an analogy between 'and he saw' written twice. Here it is written, And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father; whilst elsewhere it is written, And when Shechem the son of Hamor saw her [he took her and lay with her and defiled her].44 Now, on the view that he emasculated him, it is right that he cursed him by his fourth son; but on the view that he abused him, why did he curse his fourth son; he should have cursed him himself? — Both indignities were perpetrated.45"

 

[Jose Fly]

Make a case for adopting your religion.

We have beer.

 

[Kemosloby]

Christianity: Not so much about rewards in this life but good perks in the afterlife.

 

[Sanzbir]

Communism (with a dash of atheistic LHP).

It is easy to criticise Communists for what they did, but they weren't monsters. they were human like you and me. they were all children once. there isn't some big thick line where good ends and evil begins which we can safely stay on one side of.

Maybe I'm not understanding you, but that seems like a good argument against Communism not for it. If the people in charge of Communist countries were just regular people like you and me, and their governance still resulted in the sort of atrocities that happened under Communist regimes, then why on earth would we want a system that produces such horrendous outcomes even when non-evil, average people are the ones in charge??

Sorry, but it's just the exact opposite of the pitches I usually hear from Communists. Normally I hear how the leaders of failed Communist states were uniquely bad or evil, and that's why the system failed. I've never seen an argument that the leaders of those states were no better or worse than any other person be used in an argument for Communism before.

 

[Sanzbir]

Baha'i.

Even leaving aside the fact that seeking converts is forbidden in my Faith, I would not give any such ten-minute spiel about how this random person should adopt my religion.

People should have a religion not because it is what they want to believe, but because it is what they think is the truth. If anyone can be convinced with a mere ten minutes then they clearly aren't someone who thinks it is truth, because certainly such proofs should offer more in-depth elaboration than ten mere minutes.

And anyone who thinks they can earn a convert in ten minutes is not someone who wants to do it in an honest, rational manner.

 

[Jeremiahcp]

So basically, you're all being very reasonable and restrained whilst I'm the raving nut job at the back of the bus screaming you're all going to die and there's nothing you can do about it?

This bus journey sucks. why did I have to sit next to the emotionally well adjusted? its so boring.

I want off.

It is all a show for furbals they are all also raving nut jobs. Anyone that post on these forums regularly is a raving nut job.

 

[Vinayaka]

I'd probably dialogue a bit. But what I said would depend on what the person said. Listening helps.

 

[Laika]

Maybe I'm not understanding you, but that seems like a good argument against Communism not for it. If the people in charge of Communist countries were just regular people like you and me, and their governance still resulted in the sort of atrocities that happened under Communist regimes, then why on earth would we want a system that produces such horrendous outcomes even when non-evil, average people are the ones in charge??

Sorry, but it's just the exact opposite of the pitches I usually hear from Communists. Normally I hear how the leaders of failed Communist states were uniquely bad or evil, and that's why the system failed. I've never seen an argument that the leaders of those states were no better or worse than any other person be used in an argument for Communism before.

I'm honest. I let off steam and a lot of what I said is tongue in cheek. Its still pretty accurate though.

I've been around communism long enough to know its downsides and the human frailty at work. its an imperfect idea by imperfect people but you have to admire the ambition it took to even try the impossible (even if it came at a horrific cost). there is a narcissism, a pride and an arrogance at work too, in thinking they are the ones who have the right to change the world according to their plan.

all manner of people were attracted to communism for a lot of reasons and it induces religious behaviour without actually being strictly a religion. Its failures are part of a very revealing self-portrait of the human condition and I find I've learned a great deal from it. Some of what I've learned is really good, positive and has made me a better person. It took me several years to get to the bad stuff and research the violence beyond very general phrases. it was mainly due to pride I think. it has put a lot in perspective though and I've tried to make it useful. still pretty painful though and when you start to understand just how brutal and cruel they were it does change you. you can't look at the world the same way again so I'm kind of stuck with it in some ways.

I have tried walking away and the atheistic left hand path has helped, but its still not enough to really offer an alternative path. I'd take one if I could find it but being honest with myself, I can't try to hide from the truth and more often than not communism gives you the intellectual tools to ask the right question even if they get the wrong answer. Even when they get it wrong, on paper its pretty convincing. I haven't found another belief system than can do that in quite the same way and I tell myself maybe I can use it for good. its really confusing though (and pretty lonely too). hence the honesty as its easy to get lost in the maze.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I'm not a salesman. I would just point them to the Wikipedia article on Islam and tell them to read the Qur'an themselves.

 

[Polymath257]

Atheism: Why believe if there is no evidence?

 

[Sanzbir]

but you have to admire the ambition it took to even try the impossible (even if it came at a horrific cost).

Eh, seeing as my grandmother and great uncle were victims of both Stalin's regime and Hitler's regime, I'm going to have to strongly disagree with that statement.

I can't find it within me to admire the ambitions that resulted in the things my family went through, no more than I could find it within me to admire Hitler's ambitions. Those kind of ambitions just don't seem worthy of admiration to me.

 

[bobhikes]

Getting aboard a bus you sit yourself next to a person who informs you (s)he is in a quandary as to which religion (s)he should adopt, and asks for your advice. Believe it or not, (s)he knows nothing of your religion. Taking up the challenge you have 10 minutes to make a case for it.

What do you say? (If you like, put it in dialog format.)

Please identify your religion or lack thereof at the outset, such as:

Eckankar
........... ...... . .................., .............. ............. ......... . ............ ..... ....., .............. .............
.... ....... ............... .

.

It would be a fun trip for sure. I would make inquiries into their life and their thoughts. I would add quip-pits of my life to see how it meshed with them. I would then try to ask questions that would self direct them and maybe if I learned enough offer a few things to try directing them that I am not an expert in any way.

 

[ChristineM]

Easy and quick.

Tell the seeker to find a religion that can prove their beliefs.

 

[DavidFirth]

I'd probably dialogue a bit. But what I said would depend on what the person said. Listening helps.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Ponder This]

the mind that knows what is true is not open to truth

 

[Laika]

Eh, seeing as my grandmother and great uncle were victims of both Stalin's regime and Hitler's regime, I'm going to have to strongly disagree with that statement.

I can't find it within me to admire the ambitions that resulted in the things my family went through, no more than I could find it within me to admire Hitler's ambitions. Those kind of ambitions just don't seem worthy of admiration to me.

That's fine. I really couldn't hold that against you as I know there isn't an easy way to deal with it.

If you want to talk about what happened, I'm open to hearing it. I understand if you don't want to but the offer is there if you want it.

 

[Araceli Cianna]

 

[SalixIncendium]

Proselytizing is not a part of my belief structure. I believe religion (or non-religion) is a personal choice, and I am of the opinion that no one should "make a case" for their beliefs by imposing their beliefs on another with the intent on altering his/her beliefs.

That said, I would be more than happy to ask this person questions about what s/he currently holds as personal truths and point them in a direction to a belief structure that is congruent to their current beliefs.

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

I'm shifting this a bit, as I think the goal is being missed.

Lady sits down, says she's searching for a religion that fits her. Asks me why I believe what I believe, and why I believe it's true. Ten minutes--go:

Heathenry is the cultural worship of the gods of nature and Germanic ancestry. The names are as they are: for example Thor is and means "the Thunderer," and anyone - even those without hearing or sight - can know that thunder is real. We - to varying degrees - worship these gods for what they are and what they evidently do for us; our worship is in large part celebration and observance, rather than groveling and penance. We observe and celebrate the cycle of the years, give thanks in our own fashion, and go about building a better year for tomorrow. Our rewards are a peaceful rest in the grave, and both glory and remembrance so long as our names and deeds are celebrated and remembered.

 

[Aupmanyav]

.. I'm the raving nut job at the back of the bus screaming you're all going to die and there's nothing you can do about it?

What dies? There is nothing that can die.

- Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. Bhagawat Gita 2.12
- Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance and of the eternal there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both. Bhagawat Gita 2.16
- That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable. Bhagawat Gita 2.17
- For it there is neither birth nor death at any time. It has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain. Bhagawat Gita 2.20
- As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, it similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones. Bhagawat Gita 2.22
- It can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind. Bhagawat Gita 2.23
- This is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same. Bhagawat Gita 2.24