Boy Scouts to Atheist: Accept A God or Get Out

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 10/30/02 | Michael L. Betsch

[yendu bwam]

What you say is true, RonF, but I agree with wcf in that every effort should be made to find and recruit male scoutmasters. Boy Scouts is one of the last places where teenage boys can be around men, can learn how to act like men, and can have solid male role models.

[general_re]

If God exists, and I state that "God exists" - then I'm on His good side.
If God exists, and I state that "God doesn't exist" - then I'm going to Hell.
If God doesn't exist, and I say "God exists" - there is nobody to get mad at me when I die.

You forgot a possibility: If God exists, but it's not the God I believe in, and I therefore state that the wrong God exists - then I'm really screwed.

It looks to me like stating that "God exists" has about a 2 in 3 chance of sending you to Hell - or worse - if He does exist.... ;)

[RonF]

I agree with wcf in that every effort should be made to find and recruit male scoutmasters.

I'm in agreement with this statement, but I don't agree that it's preferable to fold a Troop rather than continue with a female SM if you don't find a male SM.

[Future Snake Eater]

However, 19-year-old Darrel Lambert said he's been an atheist since the ninth grade and he's sticking to his convictions.

Heh heh...only in today's society could a belief in absolutely nothing be called "sticking to his convictions." Oh well, at least he's not a pedophile. At least only he is going to hell and not making everyone else's around him a living one as well...

[Prodigal Son]

Actually, a betting man would consider Pascal's Wager and bet on Christianity. But then, it's not really about odds....it's about His grace through faith that folks come to eternal life in heaven and true joy in this life.

Pascal's Wager is flawed. First it assumes there is a hell. Second, it assumes that if there is a Creator, he even cares enough to punish people who deny his existence.

[PokeyJoe]

Hmmm...

But, since there can only be one God (God is that than which there can be no greater), then it matters not. God is still God, therefore this logically precludes the possibility of your postulate.

Besides, maybe God doesn't give a rip what we think, and will give us 72 virgins anyhow. =)

[iconoclast]

Oh, I get it...he is trying to subvert it and control it to his will.

Nnnnno, I'd say he's just out to get his little narcissistic 15 minutes of fame.

[iconoclast]

Why do you believe that eternity depends on something you believe, which cannot be proven with human reasoning/logic, here on earth for 70 or 80 years?

Why would you have any interest in eternity?

[general_re]

But, since there can only be one God (God is that than which there can be no greater), then it matters not. God is still God, therefore this logically precludes the possibility of your postulate.

Yeah, but the versions we're given to choose from contradict each other. Don't eat pork versus pork OK. Love thy neighbor versus kill the infidel. "God said 'let there be light'" "versus "the world was vomited up by a giant raven." This is one of the many problems with Pascal's Wager - there's just so many gods to choose from these days. And this isn't like buying a car - get a lemon in this deal, and you've got an eternity of hurting ahead of you ;)

Besides, maybe God doesn't give a rip what we think, and will give us 72 virgins anyhow. =)

Sold! Allahu Akhbar! ;)

[iconoclast]

I don't associate much with religious following people but rather more with self-leader types

I often think it would be a positive move to require date of birth on each homepage. I'm often curious.

I, myself, an coming up on 67 and I really have no idea of what a "self-leader" would be. A hermit?

[Zon]

Arcane comment about date of birth, but so be it. Not every person grow wiser with age. Bill Gates, Ray Kroc, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison etc. are a few examples you may have heard of before -- there's several magnitudes more little-known self-leaders. You're welcome to think of self-leaders as hermits if that's all your age allows, since apparently according to you, you're limited by your age -- as best as I can decipher.

[anniegetyourgun]

There is a hell and there is a God. Or there isn't either. That's 4 options.

BTW, He doesn't choose hell for people. They want nothing to do with God, and He grants them their hearts desire. He won't force Himself on anyone.

[anniegetyourgun]

Except that little green men have not revealed themselves to mankind.

[anniegetyourgun]

Like I said, it's not really about logic, science, or human reason. It's about faith, which is not a leap into the darkness but a step into the light. Eternity is a given....just depends on where one spends it.

[Devil_Anse]

Stating that there is no God with such conviction would require one to be all-knowing, a God, which in turn negates the original premise.

How beautifully you have stated this. This fits in well with something I've noticed about the atheists (or anti-theists) I've seen: each one worships his Almighty Self.

[WorkingClassFilth]

RonF, All of what you say is great. Well and good and so forth. None of it, however, means scat.

I'll grant you that many men don't care about much but their own pastimes but that is hardly and endorsement for twisting the logic and intent of BSA to fit the 'gender-neutral' PCism of modern, nit-wit America.

Your view is the revisionist view softened by the needs of the 'children.' As you admit, if kids wanted a scouting experience, they could have gotten it several miles away. Too bad. I had kids that travelled over five miles to get to our meetings.

The fallacy that you and others present is that 'some' experience is better than 'no' experience. Therefore, let's accomadate all who want the 'experience' by whatever means are expedient.

You, and those like you, have little regard for the intent, tradition, meaning, ideology and purposes of Scouting. By ignoring the fixed and inseparable gulf of sexual identity from the role of Scoutmaster, you contribute to the direct dilution and perversion of the meaning of 'Boy Scouts.'

Since Baden Powell is not here to illuminate the errors of your ill-conceived thought, I'll direct you to the body of traditional scouting literature. Please refrain from your personal conjecture in responding.

[stuartcr]

Mainly because it lasts forever, and I believe in something after death, just not eternal punishment.

[anniegetyourgun]

Bingo....and their god is too small.

[stuartcr]

Agreed that eternity is a given, and we both seem to agree on an afterlife. I just don't agree with you on the eternal punishment/reward idea. Our faiths are illogically, unreasonably, and unscientifically different. Who is to say which is correct, if either.

[anniegetyourgun]

None of us can say....we can only go by what God has said. The first lie from Satan, of course, was, "Hast God said?" The truth is, He has. "These things are written that you may KNOW that you have eternal life." I John 5