So recently I published a couple of blogs that brought a bit of attention to my myspace.  As a result I received a lot of hilarious hate mail and an invitation from a 61-year-old lady to participate in a series of debates concerning the Bible and Christianity.

The Cruelty and Violence series is obviously biased, and I never really had any intent for it not to be.  It's just a funny interpretation of certain selections of scripture.  Some of it is serious, and it has caught the attention of some pretty crazy religious people and a few more atheists.  One lady says she's gonna fast for seven days and spend the rest of her time this week in a prayer closet in the hopes of interceding and ultimately saving my soul so that I get to go to Heaven when the world ends next week.

Either way, the debate that this lady has invited me to is going to be a departure from Cruelty and Violence.  I'd like to have a serious, objective analysis of Christianity and the Bible.  I don't want it to turn into a huge flame war.  I'm willing to make valid arguments and not write every reply with the intent of offending people.  The only problem is, well, which aspects of the Bible and/or Christianity are good for debate?

At times GW seems to be a hotbed for religious/political debate.  For those of you who participate in those, which topics did you enjoy discussing the most?  The Bible is a very broad topic, and I'd like some specific examples of sections that make for a good debate and analysis. 

(keep in mind i'm not asking you guys to turn this topic into a debate/flame war...i'm asking for TOPICS, not ARGUMENTS)

Discuss.

On a somewhat related note, I messaged this random chick cause she was vegetarian and her profile said she loved animals I'm like, "Hey that's cool I do also!"  Then she messaged me back basically saying Christ is the truth and tried to convert me.

Yeah, I hate it when that shit happens.  I've got three different Christians on my back right now who are trying to get me to jump on the bandwagon.  It makes for semi-relevant discussion, but it's mostly just annoying.

Well, here are a few topics: Who Created God?
 Creationism v. Evolution
moral subjectivity v. sin
the idea of free will and an omniscient God
 reconciling monotheism with the Trinity
 child discipline: Biblical vs. behavioral perspectives
 nature of the soul and of Heaven (i.e. what do you get as rewards in Heaven, and why do many claim that the rewards are physical in nature)
 infinte punishment for finite sin
 how Satan can rival God's power
 the role of Christianity in legislation today
 indoctrination of children in religion
 concepts of physical demons and the Devil (exorcisms used on the mentally ill....)
 religion v. science (recently learned that some Christians actually are religiously opposed to vaccinations!)
"miracles" (whether miracles are actual divine intervention, or simply improbable occurences misattributed to a god)
God of the gaps (why we use God to explain the unknown)
No historical Jesus
Relationship between the divine and the hallucinogenic
Justifying unfairness and death with an afterlife (and how this devalues life)
God in the image of man (and how this affects treatment of animals)
Misogyny in the Bible; Homophobia, Racism, and Crusades justified by the Bible
How claiming a True Faith affects treatment of others and justifies ignorance
Key to salvation: faith or virtue?
And, of course, killing in the name of God.

Give them this link and walk away victorius. http://www.exitmundi.nl/bible/

I am dead serious.

Ayolark, I think you just singlehandedly solved the problem.  That's enough to keep me up to my eyesockets in debate until, well, Jesus returns. 

Completely off topic here, but lol at the "heathen punkbag" thing.

Yes, that was the highlight of my hatemail. 

You probably can beat them if (unlike me) you don't get dizzied by Bible verses, and you look up a few of the more basic arguments.  Aside from that, all you need to do is have a basic understanding of logic, arm yourself with a few counterarguments and counterexamples to the more popular gems (like the legendary Pascal's Wager....) and you'll be fine.  (You could go here: http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/;_ylt=AqxpwmrMbONDnhEgt3PVipvd7BR.;_ylv=3?link=list&sid=396545163.  It's basically a question and answer format battleground between Atheists and Christians, with the occassional reference to Muslims, Pagans, and Jews.  Though it may be hard to get any good info....)

Also, I have to say,  "The end is nigh, sinner!  I saw it in a dream because I'm a lol prophet!" is the best response to one of those crazies I have ever heard! (or, rather, seen...).  Anyway, I love your site (might bookmark it for further reading), and hope that you delicately tear those religious ladies a new one!  (Beware though...old ladies can be vicious...I don't need to go through Catholic school to know that!)

Well, this isn't some sort of grand dragon quest to defeat Christianity and wipe it from existence.  A lot of people who subscribe to widely held ideas simply will not change their minds no matter how well your present your opinion, and I'm well aware of that.

I'm mostly doing this because people seem to get a kick out of reading my posts and the ridiculous responses some people come up with.  There is a definite comedic value to it.  However, it's also a way for me to sharpen my teeth on some real world issues and provoke intelligent discussion rather than using my blog for "well, went to the doc today and found out i got butt cancer zomfg". 

Rather than disprove the Christians, I'd like to set an example for people who want to debate the issue.  I'd like me and this old lady to be one of the few who prove that controversial topics can be discussed rationally without having to resort to flaming.

I don't know what makes her seem more unstable, being a h4rdc0re christian that randomly tries to convert myspace peoples or being a vegitarian.

Either way, she's prolly not the type to bring home to mommy.

As annoying as it can be at times, I actually do get some degree of amusement out of people who use myspace as a means to convert people.  The whole "I am a prophet, I can see into your wounded soul" thing made me lol many times. 

I have to confess that after I posted Cruelty and Violence:  The Old Testament, I went around and joined 7 or 8 Christian blog groups and invited all of their members to my blog just to see what sort of hilarity I could provoke.  Needless to say, it worked. 

wow dude this site is really interesting!  good call

Yeah, I think it is great. I never knew that the bible actually stole it's stories from religions that were thousands of years older than it until I read that site. That website reminds me of the ormon episode on South Park "Wait, you guys know this story and still believe it?" 

...Is this the woman who claimed to be a prophet?

And you want to try to have a civil debate with her?

EDIT: I wish that site had its sources readily available. If you want to refute something, you can't just blindly agree with the counterargument. You'll have then subject yourself to the same mindset of the crazed christian and perpetuate another thousand-years worth of useless arguments -- ill-grounded.

What do you mean by "readily available"? They DO cite their references and sources.