It clearly represents how the world in general gangs up against Christians and tries to beat us down and subvert our thinking with lies and threats. Lies such as there is no God, or evolution is a proven fact. They try to threaten us by saying our beliefs are intolerant and ignorant and if we don't fall in line with their foolery, well we're just not nice people.
I am very interested in how people's perceptions are affected by their ideologies and past experiences. Would you care to elaborate? Why do you feel that this is what this message is portraying?
I see it as people who believe in one opinion ganging up on someone who chooses to think differently.
That's just how I perceive the vast majority of ppl to be. Herd mentality, conformity, intolerance, and ignorance have no place for individual thinkers. It's not due to any personal experiences, just reflecting on society and human behavior, etc.
Let me put it this way... !, !, !, and ! are all beating up ? because ? is inquisitive and more open minded. The !'s are more numerous in number and like to dictate others and each other around. Not too sure if ? is a Christian. Don't think I'm gonna go down that thought road. No offense to anyone. I LOVE the drawing though. addendum: You should scale the picture a little so it fits more...Unless I'm a poor noob and my 17inch laptop is too small.
The way I interpret the picture is of an individual who questions contemporary or conformist thinking. An individual who is skeptical about absolutist claims, hence it being a question mark. The exclamation points are the ones who feel threatened as the questioner shows an insecurity within their assertions, and so, they attack him. The exclamation points do not value critical thought or inquiry, and so, do not approach the question mark by the same means that the question mark does. They use brutality by physical means to beat the question mark into submission. The fact that there are more "!'s" than "?'s" shows that the world is full of those people who do not question the system, authority, or ideologies. There are the valued few who dare to stand and scrutinize. Society fails to appreciate them.
Never heard of the guy, but I will look into him. I was relating somewhat to a personal story of my own, of the time where I faced a bit of hardship as I questioned religious authority and doctrine. Not only was it a hard time for myself, as I was coming to grips with a reality that had shaken what I had firmly believed before and devoted so much of my life to, but in the process I was also ostracized by my family and close family friends. Sometimes even abused by fits of anger and physical violence. Had many of my rights taken away, which made me feel miserable. The church told my parents to kick me out of the home because I had become an atheist--a church that I had been a part of for 12 years. I felt really abandoned. Abandoned by my God (figuratively) and abandoned by my loved ones, and consequently I had become very depressed to the point where I had almost completely lost hope in life itself. During this time, I had, unknowingly, fostered a deeper empathy with those who have become marginalized and abused by society. My pain has allowed me to an extent see and feel the suffering of other people who have been battered by ruling dogmas. The depravity of hope is immense in this world, and one of my desires in life is to not let these people's stories die along with them. There are so many who have been destroyed by religion's zealous teachings. To let them die without a voice, in vain in some respects, is a tragedy on a colossal scale. My heart goes out deeply to these people. What I had experienced is not even a fraction of what some others have to endure... some to the painful end of their own life. It was a hard experience in my life, but I would never take anything that I said or believed back. It was a moment of resilience that has defined my life and instilled within me a stronger appreciation of skepticism and inquiry. It has brought me closer to those who have been subjected to the tyrannies of religious teaching, spurring me to instill within others a sense of sympathy for the trodden and anguished.
I feel you, comrade. Happened when: -I started taking college classes during HS. -I started independently reading sociology, psychology, and philosophy stuff. -I dropped out of nursing school when I had realized I had no love for it. -I started trying to talk to people about the constructs of society and reality. -I tried to tell my relatives about my interests in entheobotany. I think those are the basic steps that isolated me from most of my peers and made me realize who I was and who the people who love me are. People get scared/angry when the things you say make their brains hurt. For religion, I was never a big fan of the whole thing. I hated being in church. I hated it so much. I just fell out of it. When I think about it, I don't think I ever really bought into that line of belief. My family just dragged me along with it.
I've never read such an ignorant post in my life. You're no better than the people getting in your face about being a Christian when you say stuff like "Lies such as there is no God" when clearly don't know that. The bible isn't proof of God's existent but neither is Science proof of him not existing. And evolution taught as fact? I know with my experience within education this is true, but I am certain this isn't the case for everyone. People like you are the reason why words such as 'ignorance' come to mind when thinking about Christians. Although, in my view it isn't due to your faith that you're ignorant, just your beliefs.
I've met God. I've had the encounter. I know for a fact He exists. There's no room for question as far as I'm concerned. Therefore anything that makes a claim that He does not exist is a lie. No, the Bible doesn't prove God's existence. If that's where someone goes expecting to actually meet God they'll get frustrated. Because you don't meet God in a book. He's not an object of a history lesson. True, there are certain religious schools that teach creation as a fact. Therefore you are correct, not 100% of all students will be told evolution is a fact. But I'd wager you that the vast majority are. What do you think faith is? It's your beliefs, it's how you live your life. Your faith and your beliefs are intricately entwined, entirely inseparable from one another. Having certainty about something is not ignorance. Not continually searching out the things you already know for a fact is not the sign of a closed mind. It's what an adult does when they've been presented with overwhelming, unquestionable evidence. They admit that they have the answer they came for and they stop playing games. I'm not saying those who haven't found the answer shouldn't keep looking. They certainly should.
A question creates a problem in search of a solution. An exclamation is a solution, right or wrong, backed emphatically by the speaker. The former is an intellectual endeavor while the latter is a stamp, a seal, a branding, an excited declaration of truth. The former allows for many possibilities, the latter for one. As the title says, certainty versus uncertainty. It's simple psychology. Look at how we describe exclamatory remarks with energy and life: a fiery, impassioned speech; a searing indictment; an epic win. And how do we describe question-filled conversations? We use phrases like "calm and collected" and "cold logic." Our language reflects how we feel about them.
Ananias, friendo, pal, fellow pot smoker (right?), I think what might illicit such a response to your post was the part where you forgot to put something along the lines, "In my opinion, (insert quoted post)." I do see where you're coming from. As your beliefs are as valid as the others. I guess you could say...Your message sounded a little too certain vs. those that are a little more uncertain.
Online, every post by every person should be taken as "In my opinion". In other words it should always go without saying. I am entirely certain of my beliefs. But the keyword is my beliefs. That others are not as certain of their own, or have no beliefs one way or another must never impact my own certainty. If they did how could I claim to believe anything? And yes, fellow pot smoker. At least when I can get my hands on it which has proven difficult recently