FREETHINKER VS. CHRISTIAN

   I have to say I wasn't impressed by this video. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what Mario was trying to do. We need more dialogue and fewer keyboard commandos slagging each other. However, there are a lot stronger points he could have brought up to counter Samantha.

If I heard correctly, Samantha basically believes in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, akin to Buddhists or Hindus, where one eventually lives a perfect life or one that is near enough to perfection you attain nirvana, break the cycle and go to Heaven.

This belief is so obviously flawed.

First of all, have you ever met, or even heard of anyone of whom you can say they're going to attain nirvana when this life is over? No, you haven't because fallen man is deeply flawed in his body, soul and spirit.

Even if you could live your life in such a way where you got to a place where you attained nirvana upon death despite your early life being full of wrongdoing, how would you account for those wrongs and how they effected other people? It's great that you were a wonderful grandfather, but how do you atone for the fact you were such a horrible father only one of your seven children has kids?

The most obvious reason why this karmatic view is flawed is the simple reason that we can't remember our past lives-or, at least, not in enough detail to help us in this life. I can remember what I did yesterday, the day before that, when I was a child, when I was a teenager, etc. such that I at least would like to think I've learned from the mistakes I made back then. If I can't, however, remember the lives I lived prior to being conceived in the spring of 1983 so that I can then consciously make experiential decisions on how to live this life, then it will be impossible for me or anyone else to actually attain nirvana.

Now, turning to what Samantha said about judgment, namely that, while courts have a right to judge people for speeding, rape, murder, and the like, God does not have the right to because many criminals were warped by childhood trauma. The reason our legal system doesn't have childhood trauma as a defense is there is an expectation that, regardless how bad an environment you grew up in, you still should have grasped enough of the difference between right and wrong to know better.

Likewise, chapter one of the Book of Romans says we are all born knowing God exists. God, by his common grace, has given humanity a moral code they know they ought to live by.

Our laws come from morals and our morals come from God. Therefore, God has every right to judge us for our sins.

Third, on the subject of homosexuality and the standard defense of, "They love each other."

First of all, what is love? I would imagine the love you feel for your son and mother as compared to the love you feel for your husband-to-be are different, or at least have different facets to them.

 Second, just because that couple, gay, straight or otherwise, appears to love each other doesn't mean they actually do, or that there isn't a whole lot going on that's much more selfish and sinister than meets the eye.