In the immortal words of Strong Bad: Wha-hoah, Dan.
You know what else you can do when you're bored? Check out the WordPress.com Stats on your blog. Yes, I know this blog's hosted at rivenwolf.net, but there's a plug-in that interfaces with the statistics backend at WordPress.com and offers quite an array of methods to see who's reading what, when and why. I check it almost every day! And I'm about to show you why this is a fun thing to do.
Meet "Fundies Say the Darndest Things". It appears to be a sort of database where people can post things that we fundamentalist Christians have to say, make fun of it, and rate how fundamental it is. (Of course, to this place, the more fundamental something is rated, the more insane you are, 5 being the most fundamental.) On my statistics page, I noticed that my old post "The Stray 450", made in February 2006 and referenced to in one of my latest posts as being a time where I had just begun to take a step into speaking my mind and telling things like it is when I wasn't prepared for the consequences. Basically, I wasn't expecting everyone to skin me alive for what I said. Nowadays, I think it's the greatest thing in the world! Anyway... Back on track:
I noticed an influx on traffic for that post, so I decided to check out my statistics page. You know what I found? Referrals from FSTDT.com... A particular page on that site, to be exact. Apparently, somebody read my post about what to do when you're bored, saw the link to "The Stray 450" and decided to post it to this site designed to make fun of people like me! Here, check it out for yourself... It's gaining quite a following, if I do say so myself. I even have a current rating of 4.97 out of 5. (Like I said, the higher the score, the more fundamentalist the quote is.) I'm famous! First I was tossed up onto 4chan because I decided to take a shot at Firefox 3 (which, I admit, is far less important than Christian principles) and now I'm being posted on a site meant to make fun of me because I decided to call someone out for being wrong. This is AWESOME!
Now, I'm warning you... Most of the comments are very scathing remarks with no moderation and, as such, are full of very nasty words. Isn't it amazing how those kinds of people simply cannot get their point across without whipping out vulgar language and personal attacks? It's like they have no philosophical counterpoints to what I'm saying, so they just resort to the most basic forms of attack. Pitiful... Pitiful, but entirely expected. One of the comments went out of the way to say that it was a shame that I'm so fundamental, because it seems I'm a fairly articulate and very intelligent person. Well, thank you! In response to this comment, I will now attempt to clarify my standings after 2 years of experience with relaying what I believe.
In these 2 years, I have not changed my stance one iota. I solidly believe in the literal 24-hour day Creation with 6 days of work and 1 day of rest that would be the basis of our long standing traditional 7-day week. Please see my post explaining why I believe in the literal interpretation of Creation, and I would like you to read a comment on that post, as well... The one by one of my good friends Richard Pratt. That belief has not changed, nor will it ever. Now... Here's where evolution is 100% diametrically opposed to Creation:
Death.
To evolve, you have to have death... Survival of the fittest? Your species lives on for millions of years, slowly growing new abilities while old ones get discarded. Right? You know I'm right... That's not in dispute. Now... Evolution is the perfect opposite of Creation for this simple reason: Death. According to scriptures, death was a result of human sins, period. There was no death before... Nothing had to die before humans went against God's specific instructions and the first death was when He Himself killed the animals to make clothing for Adam and Eve. The first sacrifice required for atonement. Something innocent has to die in your place to cover for your sins or you're lost. This was something practiced by righteous humans for thousands of years... Until Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for us all in one final blow to Satan and sin. With that act, he paid for us all, past, present and future... All we have to do is recognize what he did, believe in him, be baptized, and go forth and spread the word. Atonement for our sins is now a gift that we only have to accept.
Now, with that background... What happens when you throw evolution into the mix? Well... Creatures evolve over the millennia. They're born, they die, they progress... If you believe evolution was instrumental in the beginning of life, whether you think it started with the Big Bang or the hand of God, death had to be present. If the planet was being created over the course of millions of years, things had to die. If you want to postulate that things didn't necessarily HAVE to die, then you're just nuts... If you think the Earth is overpopulated now? How overpopulated do you think it would have been if, over the course of millions of years, NOTHING died? Oh my... Yes. Evolution requires death. It's the spur that supposedly pushes creatures to develop new abilities. They don't WANT to die off, so they evolve. Now... If death was present before Adam and Eve sinned, and the Bible says death is a consequence of sin... Erm. I think we have a problem. That's no punishment, especially if Adam and Eve were going to die anyway due to the mechanics of evolution. The first death would not have been the first sacrifice (the one where God killed the animals to clothe them), and justice would not have been served when Jesus Christ offered himself in place of all of us. It simply wouldn't have worked since death was just a natural course of Creation, if you believe evolution was involved.
When you believe evolution was an instrument in Creation, you strip out the very core of Christianity! That humans are sinners, that death and suffering is only in the world because we sinned, and that Jesus Christ died for us to pay for the sins, and that he defeated death due to his perfection and raised Himself from the dead since it had no power over him... After all, if death is the result of sin, then how can a sinless man die? But if evolution, which requires death, had been an instrument of Creation, then Jesus Christ's death would have been for absolutely nothing... It would not have been an atonement for sin. That goes against the very foundation of the entirety of Christianity, and if you believe evolution for even the slightest reasons, you undermine the entire doctrine of the Bible and have absolutely NOTHING to stand on.
That is why I called them heretics. A heretic, according to the Dictionary, is a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church. A little all-encompassing, of course, but the principle is the same. A heretic is someone who says they're a Christian, but believes something that completely negates the entire reason for Jesus Christ's purpose, which, in turn, is the entire reason for the Christian religion. If you get rid of Jesus Christ and what he did, then you HAVE no Christian religion. Evolutionists know this... Unfortunately, some Christians are too poorly educated in the ways of the world to realize this for themselves. They want to fit in and they accept fallacies like evolution when they have no idea just how disastrous it is. They might not be doing it on purpose, but the result is the same: They're heretics. It's not a curse word... It's not something that should be flung around lightly, either. It was a buzzword to the Catholic church when they realized we Protestants were deviating from their doctrine, but it's the perfect word to use for any Christian who believes evolution was a part of Creation.
How's that for articulating my point? I know it probably won't sway the funny folks over at FSTDT, but maybe it'll influence someone who's having doubts. I don't know... I just felt like I should further explain where I was coming from. Plus, if I may address the selfish nature in me, I do very much enjoy it when people point at me and call me names for going against what the world offers as explanations to philosophical issues. I think the greatest thing in the world is being made fun of for standing up, believing in Jesus Christ and Christianity, and then telling the world that what they're doing is WRONG and that they need to understand why it's wrong so they can change. Remember Matthew 5:10 - 16:
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Don't give in... You know you're doing the right thing when you make people angry. In fact, I can't help but feel insulted that I don't have a perfect 5 on their fancy little "Fundamentalist-o-meter", heheh...
