Conversion, fiction and fear

[Cordelia]

I'm fascinated by investigations into urban legends, how and why they come into being and how they develop. Yesterday and today I've been reading online about a lot of 'Christian' urban legends that are apparently circulated in an effort to bring people to Jesus, often by making them afraid of hell. Most are completely made up. A few well known examples:

* Geologists were drilling a well when they heard people screaming in hell (there's a fake recording of the screams that goes with this).
* Little girl who's parents were murdered sees a picture of Jesus and says "That's the man who held me the night my parents died." (I was led to believe this was true, and now I'm upset, lol)
* J. K. Rowling has declared herself a Satanist.
* A stairway to hell actually exists, and spooky things happen in the area.
* A rapist decided not to attack a girl because of the two men she was walking with. The girl thought she was alone - the men were angels.
* An atheist teacher challenged God to prevent an egg from breaking, before dropping it in front of his class. The egg bounced off the floor.

I was wondering whether or not people consider it ethical to spread stories like this - to try and 'scare' non-believers into repentance or charm them with nice fiction about angels, etc. I say it's wrong, because the stories mostly get laughed at anyway, but when they do work, it's because of deception.

Thoughts?

 

[GrayArea]

LOL Those are.... interesting. I can't say I've heard any of them before. Although, i've heard one about mysterious angel-men in white jump suits and minivans pulling teachers cars out of snowbanks during a blizzard only to vanish.

People say all kinds of crazy things, sometimes because they believe it. You can't blame someone for ignorance or misperception. Yet it's not ethical to make up stories so that you're beliefs seem more credible to others. Although, that sort of behavior isn't restricted to Christians, politicians are pretty good at it too. =p

The end result of deception is bitterness. Those who believe the story and turn to God may be inspired by the message Jesus presents, only to find out the legend was false and turn in anger toward God. It's a tragedy really because they associate one persons lie with God's entire message. To have someone deny God because we silly little sinners with our confusing doctrines create such a horrible representation of Him, is just pathetic. It happens though. What can ya do? Hope that what little truth they did gain validates itself in their hearts? *shrug

 

[Minowa]

The end result of deception is bitterness. Those who believe the story and turn to God may be inspired by the message Jesus presents, only to find out the legend was false and turn in anger toward God. It's a tragedy really because they associate one persons lie with God's entire message. To have someone deny God because we silly little sinners with our confusing doctrines create such a horrible representation of Him, is just pathetic. It happens though. What can ya do? Hope that what little truth they did gain validates itself in their hearts? *shrug

I agree. I think that it isn't very nice to spread rumors about your own faith just to get more members. It seems selfish and it feels almost like a shady business deal for your soul. To many, that is one of the worst things you can do to someone. I also think that false stories told is also a sign that the people who are telling the stories are weak in their faith and need to convince people that they should believe what they themselves aren't sure they believe just so they won't be alone. I think it's pure evil to do such a thing. It's an insult to religion. Religion is supposed to guide and help people, not hurt people!

 

[Kuwanyauma]

Not only is it a bad idea to lie in the first place, but some of those stories (specifically, the ones dealing with angels or other miracles) can cause people to be skeptical when they hear about real miraculous events. "Oh, it must just be another story."

 

[HRE]

You forgot NASA and the missing day.

 

[Cordelia]

You forgot NASA and the missing day.

lol, you're right. That was a good one too!

 

[jon1101]

I suspect that such lying to try and prove the trustworthiness of Christianity is largely why it's so hard for so many to take Christian thought seriously. I think this applies across the board, meaning Christians should stop using old, long-refuted arguments to try and prove their beliefs.

-Jon

 

[ToddNotTodd]

what bothers me the most is when you point out these errors, prove to them they aren't true, and they still use them.

I pointed out to someone on another forum that kept saying "Evolutionists believe we came from monkeys. If that's true there wouldn't be any monkeys". I told him that evolution says that monkeys and humans came from the same ancestor. I pointed him to several websites that explained that. He said he understood and thanked me. I came back to that website a few weeks later and found he was still using that argument. When I called him on it he told me I was going to hell and then ignored everything else I had to say.

 

[Cordelia]

what bothers me the most is when you point out these errors, prove to them they aren't true, and they still use them.

I pointed out to someone on another forum that kept saying "Evolutionists believe we came from monkeys. If that's true there wouldn't be any monkeys". I told him that evolution says that monkeys and humans came from the same ancestor. I pointed him to several websites that explained that. He said he understood and thanked me. I came back to that website a few weeks later and found he was still using that argument. When I called him on it he told me I was going to hell and then ignored everything else I had to say.

That's what disturbs me, too - such ungodly fear in some people.

 

[creep]

somebosy explain the 'missing day' thing to me.

 

[Cordelia]

creep, this is a good summary from religioustolerance.org:

The missing day of Joshua: This urban legend refers to a computer program at NASA which experienced an apparent bug. In some versions of the legend, Mr. Harold Hill, president of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland publicized the event. The NASA computers were running a program that computed the locations of the sun, moon, and planets at any time in the future or past. The purpose of the program was to prevent artificial satellites from colliding with these objects. This allegation is a good indication that the story is an urban legend. Even satellites which are in geosynchronous orbit are only 22,241 miles (35,786 kilometers) above the surface of the earth, whereas the moon is more than ten times further away, and the sun and planets are tens of millions of miles from earth. So there is no possibility of a collision, and thus no need for such a program. The legend maintains that the program allegedly failed consistently at a specific date in the past. Exactly 23 hours and 20 minutes was missing back in the time of Joshua. Someone at NASA allegedly went back to his/her office, read Joshua 10:12-13, (which talks about an interval of missing time approximately one day in duration) and the account of Isaiah's visit to Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:8-11 when God was said to have caused the sun to go backwards by 10 degrees and produce an additional 40 minutes lost time. This information accounted precisely for the entire loss of time. The main problem with this legend is that computer programs couldn't fail in this way, even if a day were missing; the program would continue to subtract dates in times in increments of 24 hours.

NASA's Public Affairs office has stated that "There is no truth to the recurring story that NASA uncovered a lost day in the movement of the Earth." However, Harold Hill publicized the legend in one of his books "How to Live Like a Kings' Kid."

Snopes.com comments that this is a very important urban legend for those who believe in the

inerrancy of the Bible:

[font=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]It shows that the Bible is literally true, even though its description of missing time seems very strange to-day.[/font]

[font=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]It shows that the Bible knows more about science than do the scientists. Scientists and religion collided and the Bible is proven superior.

[/font]

 

[The Bellman]

My favourite is the one about how humans lose a few ounces of weight when they die...it's the soul leaving the body!

The fact is that all mammals lose a few ounces of weight when they die...it's due to cellular deterioiration or something. But if it's the soul in us...then all mammals must be ensouled? And the soul is a spiritual thing...why would it have any wieght?

 

[Minowa]

And the soul is a spiritual thing...why would it have any wieght?

I think that would be similar to asking if ghosts weigh anything.

 

[Norseman]

I think that would be similar to asking if ghosts weigh anything.

Well of course they do. They just have neutral bouyancy.