I had begun to receive a ride home every day after school from a friend and his mom. I thought this was very convenient because they live down the street from me. I had also known they were very religious. While in her car, Mrs. Anderson (my friend's mom), had asked Karsten (my friend), if he had invited me to youth group. Karsten had said no, and told her I was an atheist. At first, I was afraid of what she was going to say or do. She said nothing, which I thought to myself, at least she's a nice Xtian and doesn't try to convert me.
Well, a few weeks later when I was at Karsten's house, his mom came down and sat near me. She said she was going to talk to me. She tried the "Watch on a Stump" approach. Below is a dialogue of what had happened:
Me: Well, it was made in a factory.
Mrs. A: How did the factory get there?
Me: By mankind.
Mrs. A: How did mankind get here?
Me: I'm sure you know about the theory of evolution.
Mrs. A: How did the monkeys get here?
Me: By single-celled organisms
Mrs. A: How did they come to be?
Me: They appeared on the Earth, when it began to form.
Mrs. A: How did the Earth come to be?
Me: By natural resources throughout the universe.
Mrs. A: Where'd they come from?
Me: They have always existed.
Mrs. A: They must have had a creator.
Me: If they must, then where'd God come from?
Mrs. A: He has always existed.
I have pointed out contradiction after contradiction. Below are some more contradictions I pointed out, along with her responses. Some of these I did not ask her because it had escaped my mind :(
NOAH
As everyone knows, 2 animals of every kind were taken on the ark, one male and one female. I told Mrs. Anderson that it would be impossible to have 2 of every animal on a boat. She said why. I had said there are at least 30,000 types of birds alone. How is it possible that eight people could provide provisions for billions of animals? How could Noah travel all throughout the world and get every species that existed on Earth? I doubt that when "Noah was alive" he had access to the South Pole just to get some stupid penguins. The Earth is vast, and impossible to cover with just eight people. She had said God helped them.
Size of Ark: 450 feet in length, 45 feet in height, the ark had 3 floors + a basement, each height of floor = 11.5 feet. Height of giraffe > 11.5 ft. Total area of available space = 1800 feet.
Let's say there's 2 billion species on Earth. On an average each species needs about 5 ft. x 5 ft. to live. I know elephants need more space, however rats do not so this should compensate the space. 25 ft. times 2.5 billion does not equal 1800 feet.
DINOSAURS
If you've read the Bible, you'll notice there's no mention of dinosaurs. We have something called evidence (which religion lacks) to prove they did exist.
INCEST
Mrs. Anderson believes incest is unacceptable. I asked her if 5 billion people came from two people then we're all related. Thus, incest happens every second. She said God had outlawed incest when he believed there were enough people on the Earth. When God flooded the Earth, he wanted to restart the human race, and kill the "giants." The giants were actually the Palestinians. So what, they we're a few inches taller. Anyway, to repopulate the Earth, incest would have to be reinstated by God. She had said God did allow incest to occur for a short time once again.
FEAR
Mrs. Anderson had asked me what do I lose or gain when I die. I replied nothing. She said then what is the use living, if you die forever and your soul does not exist. I told her, because I am an atheist I strive for excellence and to try to be successful in life. She explained her version of what hell is, and it seemed she was trying to scare me into becoming religious. She said people have "seen" hell and they become religious when they come back.
POLYTHEISM
I had asked Mrs. Anderson if she believed in Anubis, Zeus, or even Venus. She replied no. Out of the hundreds of gods and goddesses that have existed, what makes God so different? God is not a very creative name also. The reason gods and goddesses have existed is to explain why things happen. Aphrodite was invented to explain why some people were beautiful, the titan Prometheus was invented to explain why we have fire. Science has been able to explain most of these without flaws. Mrs. Anderson had said the gods and goddesses were god in one. In mythology, gods and goddesses were not the only invented people. There were also nymphs, hydras, and thousands of other mythological creatures.
KILLING THE INNOCENT
The Palestinians were in Israel first. Who cares if it the promised land for the Xtians? If the flood was supposed to wipe out the Palestinians, why are they still here? I asked her, since it's all right to kill people and take over their land because God said so. Then I asked, is it ok for me to grab a gun and shoot an innocent family of a different background (be it religion, age, or skin color) as long as I say God says so. She said no, without any explanation on why.
WHAT WAS SACRIFICED?
Say you were God, and you sent your son (Jesus) to the Earth to preach about you. Would you send your own son to hell? Mrs. Anderson had said he went to hell for a year to redeem everyone's sins. People are responsible for themselves. Besides, 1 year out of eternity is very insignificant.
CONCLUSION
This was a lot longer than I had expected it would be. I agreed with everything Mrs. Anderson had said because if I had argued with her, then my friendship with my friend might have come to an end. I also respect Mrs. A for trying to "enlighten" me. Even though, I hate it when people try to convert me. I respect their beliefs; why can't they accept mine?