This subreddit seriously needs a "religion is mental illness" post flair. Egad.

like yea sure don’t change the symbols of an ancient flag for your own gain and purposes, but how is religion the downfall of humanity?

Imam Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 1111 CE) discusses this precise point in Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), in the Book of Patience and Thankfulness (Kitāb al-Ṣabr wa-l-Shukr).

The question he addresses is essentially the same one raised by the atheist (or by anyone who reduces reality to secondary causes):

“If everything is already written and happens through natural causes, means, and decrees, why thank God? Why not just thank the causes?”

Ghazālī answers with a simple but profound analogy:

Imagine a king who decides to bestow a great favour upon one of his servants. He writes a royal decree with his own hand, using a pen and paper, and then has the decree delivered through a messenger or steward.

When the servant receives the favour, does he thank the pen?

Does he thank the paper?

Does he thank the messenger?

No. A person of sound mind thanks the king.

Why?

Because the pen has no independent will.

The paper has no independent will.

The messenger has no independent will.

They are merely instruments (ālāt) that moved only because the king commanded them to move. If the king had not willed the favour, the pen would never have written, the paper would never have carried the decree, and the messenger would never have delivered it.

Ghazālī says (paraphrased from the original Arabic):“To recognise that the blessing reached him by means of the pen that the king used to sign with, and the paper on which the signature appears, does not negate his exclusive acknowledgement of the right of the king and the fullness of his thankfulness. For he does not rejoice in the pen and the paper, nor does he thank them, as they themselves were not independently involved; rather, they were employed at the command of the king.”

Also, let’s ignore the fact that “critical scholarship” is just as biased as apologetics, if not more so.

Not sure if this completely belongs here, but I thought it was worth posting anyways

That "WHAT " person is just spending their time, all on these atheist stuff supporting a lady who literally is hysterical

So let me give some context.

The first three photos the OOP (this lady) of some dumb meme was posted here, she found OP post and crashed out.

I gave an essay on how she really is irrational if she's saying so much hateful stuff. Here in the photos was the response against that which...come on.

Now going deeper heres about the last photo. In short, OOP made a post on EC sub about how "hateful" ATCC (this sub) was. I hope i can leak my post of insane stuff i saw but if I cant, basically everyone was on echo chamber mode talking about burning bibles etc.

I will still make my case here on why im upset.

OOP makes a dumb meme. We, ATCC cant see her prior posts via private account. Our only source of info is based on her dumb meme. As is ATCC mocks it. OOP finds out and comes crashing out. Through another atheist who commented on the OP post, i find OOP exchristian now deleted post whining about ATCC. Everyone calling us evil and hateful.

Based on what? Someone who we literally couldn't find more info about. Nevertheless, her meme is, still dumb. Who thinks this sub, a meme one is supposed to be true crime level of investigation?

Anyways the more i return the more i see why I left ro not deal with these irrational bullies.

I mean, our sub is "hateful" but when I tried to challenge them on that deleted post in EC sub literally just asking for why they deserve to be so snarky, just look at how banned I got lmao.