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On Wednesday 20th August, 2014, while spending a trying day on a golf course, a person who identifies himself/herself as Lyndah Dube posted the following comment to an article titled, Thank Goodness for God
Lyndah Dube - August 20, 2014 at 15:12
@ Gordon and Siebert,
Atheitis has sent me a private message on facebook before explaining to me why he is an atheist. Granted I only found the message yesterday in my "other messages" box but he sent it privately. He even said "I will facebook you to avoid a debate from other Christians".
What do you make of that?
The obvious intention of Lyndah Dube was to besmirch me and imply that I am both a coward and a hypocrite. “What do I think of that”? Let me set the record straight.
Firstly, the implication is that this was a fairly recent message. It is not. Way back on 6 September 2013 (nearly a year ago), in the comments to article in which evolution was being debated, Ms/Mr Dube claimed not to understand why I accepted the Theory of Evolution and to explain my godless views. Believing him/her to be genuinely interested, I responded that I could hardly do justice to the issue in the comments section and that I would respond in full via Facebook. Here is the full text of my message:
Ok. Its a bit quieter around here. I am going to take a bit of care and respond comprehensively and I hope meaningfully
As promised:
Theory of Evolution
I think I can start off by pointing out that by far the majority of your fellow Christian believers accept the Theory of Evolution. More specifically the Catholic Church, Anglican, Lutherans, etc which represent the majority of all Christians in the World, find evolution compatible with their beliefs. They have seen the fact presented by science, accept evolution happened, and believe that god created life through evolution. There is some more info here -
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_religions_accept_evolution#page3.
One needs to be clear that theory of evolution does not deal what, who or how life began in the first place. The science of the start of life is called abiogenesis and it should not be confused with evolution which deals with how life developed over millions of years from the earliest primitive life forms.
Obviously Christians believe that God started the process and created the first single cell organisms. Science on the other hand does not know and various hypotheses have been put forward including spontaneous development to life or life developed elsewhere in the universe and being seeded to Earth via an asteroid or comet.
The evidence for evolution is overwhelming and by far the majority of scientists (more than 90%) from every university, laboratory and scientific establishment in the World confirms that the proof that evolution happened, and is still happening. We are privileged right in South Africa that we have a World Heritage Site called the cradle of human kind where fossils have been, and are still being, found of humans earliest ancestors. Places such as Maropeng and the Sterkfontein Caves near Krugersdorp are well worth a visit if you are keen to learn more and to see what discoveries are being made. For more info – http://www.maropeng.co.za/.
If I am ill (I am a cancer survivor by the way) I go and see a trained medical specialist. Not a sangoma or a priest who are totally unqualified to give me advice on medical matters. I know nothing about cancer, how it starts, what needs to be done to remove it and if I need chemotherapy. I rely on the doctor, the surgeon and the oncologist, who have spent years studying medicine, to treat me. They know more than me so don't argue with the experts on subjects about which I am ignorant.
So if a scientist, confirmed by other scientists, states that the Moon is 300000km away and the nearest star is 4 light years away I am not going to listen to some unqualified bozo in a smart suit or silly hat waving a book of scripture who claims all the qualified scientists are wrong and the Moon is made of cheese and is only 10 km away. I am guided and acquire knowledge by reading as widely as I can and if I want to understand something better I will find a credible book or internet site to get that information.
Finally, I point out that the Bible, and the first chapters which deal with the creation stories, were written more that 2000 years ago by people who did not have a telescope, did not know the Earth is round and circles the sun, that the sun is just a small star in a galaxy which contains billions of other stars, in a universe that contains billions of other galaxies. They did not know even know that germs cause disease. So they can not be a credible source of information.
Is there a god? Many believe there is. In fact since the dawn of time man has worshipped many gods. The Hindus worship some 300000 gods and they have there own stories about how life began. I dismiss the Christian Abrahamic god simply because there is no evidence that such a god exists except that same book written by primitive people 2000 years ago. And if god wrote the book, or inspired those that wrote the book, then one would have thought that god would know about the round Earth, the billions of stars, the germs, the dinosaurs and corrected the text.
I don't need a god to get through life. And I don't believe in a Heaven of an afterlife either. We only have this life and when we die we die and will exist in the same state as we existed before we were born. So get out and live this life while you can, never stop asking questions and never ever simply believe what someone else tells you what to believe. Get the facts from the experts.
So there you have it. An attempt to explain something to someone who I honestly believed was interested to know more. If I had been aware that this was a fundamentalist pretending to be something he/she is not I would have ignored the request.
The claim that I sent a message to her stating that, “I will facebook you to avoid a debate from other Christians" is a fabrication and a very dishonest one at that. Which explains why I never debate Christians in private. I cannot convince the god sodden brain with logic and facts but what I can do by making my views public is to expose to others - who still have the ability to question and think - a totally different set of information to that they may have been force fed by a man with bouffant hair in a snappy suit who peddles lies for a living.
It is obvious, as many have established before, that Christian fundamentalists have a very flexible interpretation of , “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”!
