Atheism

You can't just cherry-pick the quotes you like best

The whole religion is just picking the quotes you like.

Christianity is a lot like a fandom. If I say something like "We were going to Canada for some french fries and gravy," or "I'm gonna pistolwhip the next guy who says shenanigans," anyone who likes Super Troopers will giggle a little and we'll be able to bond a little over that. Evangelicals are like people who only want to quote Farva... but like, aren't in on the joke and think the things he says are funny in the same way.

I find it hilariously astute when intelligent people come back at 'em by quoting the fucked-up parts of the Bible. Makes Christians' do a double-take. (Or not. Cuz of the way they are.)

Reply with fake Bible verses and see if they notice.

https://phrasegenerator.com/bible

I think this kind of thing is partially what drew me to Daoism. The daodejing, as religious/philosophical texts go, has 2 major things going for it. 1) very quotable but almost no outright bad or evil advice, and 2) it's short!

Ah but every religion has negative and positive aspects, every text even, and can be cherry-picked from (and kind of has to be). That's what any quotation is, though I would agree that a well-chosen quote should represent the overall text. With a book as varied and long as the Bible, I think people who even have read it probably construct a throughline that appeals to their existing views and then dismiss the rest as outdated, irrelevant, or perhaps they just allow it to slip past their minds.

For daoism, there's the cult-like immortality stuff, along with a fair bit of mystical healing woo in general. I personally dismiss a lot of latter stuff as not getting it, and focus on just the daodejing.

Ah but then there's the yijing (I-Ching) which is older and has lots to say about lot's of things, haha. And so many people have so many interpretations of it. I suppose it doesn't carry the same fervent degree of "this book is infallible because God wrote it" that the Bible does though, which makes selective reading less of a material issue.

Well, that's enough rambling for now. Tldr, uhhh, I don't think I really had a point to make!

ah yes. and the first comment i see here is someone quoting the bible. i guess nobody understands the bible. because all I see on my feed is people cherry-picking the bible to prove how bad it is. and that's the same BS

My Favorite

"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."

• William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

The devil can cite Shakespeare for his purpose too of course. But there was a funny thing once where someone was attributing Hitler quotes to Taylor Swift and putting it out there as memes.

Why do you need to refrain? Do it!