On the Think Humanism (which, by the way, means “atheism” by any other name) website a question/statement was posed, Atheism is a religion???!!!
Sadly, the discourse did not get beyond this statement:
How about baldness as a hairstyle?
or atheism as a 'belief'.
Actually, baldness is a hairstyle. Even if a questionnaire asked for hair color a bald person would write, “Bald.”
Another denotes how, as expected, all such atheism related discussions devolve into that which is atheism: an anti-Christian support group:
The 2nd quotation is surprising, as I expected Christians would be more familiar with the language of their own holy book.
The "rod" mentioned is a measuring rod -- a yardstick.
The passage the quoted had in mind was advocating testing or challenging our children, not beating them. I thought Christians knew this
Let us consider the second statement first. The quotation referred to simply, and generically, referenced, “the rod of correction.” Thus, since no specific Biblical text is quoted or cited let us consider two candidates:
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him chastens him early (Proverbs 13:24)
Do not withhold correction from a boy, for if you beat him with the rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell (Proverbs 23:13-14).
Firstly, note that these come from the book of Proverbs. What is a "proverb"? A proverb is "a pithy maxim, usually of a metaphorical nature; hence a simile (as an adage, poem, discourse): a byword, like, parable, proverb, an aphorism, a similitude."
Consider this proverb with which Proverbs ch. 23 begins:
When you sit down to eat with a ruler, look carefully at what is before you; and put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceitful food (Proverbs 23:1-3).
Yet, there is no indication of Jews wearing knives so that they could hold them to their own throats in case they were called in to dine with a ruler—this too is a proverb. Thus, lesson #1: a proverb is a proverb (it may reflect or prescribe a literal action, but it is a proverb nonetheless).
The commentator asserts “The ‘rod’ mentioned is a measuring rod -- a yardstick.” Yet, there is another rod with which the ancient Middle Eastern culture was well acquainted: the shepherd’s rod. The shepherd’s two main tools were the staff and rod—consider this statement in Psalm 23,
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want…your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
The staff was used to guide the sheep and the rod was used to fight off predators and to break the legs sheep, which had a tendency to stray. The rod was thus used to drive away destructive evils—the predators, and to bring intimacy—while the sheep's leg was healing, the shepherd would carry it on his back and thus build a bond that the sheep would not break again.
In part 2 the floor will be opened for answering whether atheism is a religion.
First dentistry was painless,
then bicycles were chainless,
and carriages were horseless,
and many laws enforceless.
Next cookery was fireless,
telegraphy was wireless,
cigars were nicotineless,
and coffee caffeineless.
Soon oranges were seedless,
the putting green was weedless,
the college boy was hatless,
the proper diet fatless.
New motor roads are dustless,
the latest steel is rustless,
our tennis courts are sodless,
our new religion Godless.
—Arthur Guiterman
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