There is only one true religion. It is to love the Lord above all else and neighbor as self.

(August 18, 2016 at 11:48 am)Crossless1 Wrote:

(August 18, 2016 at 11:40 am)LadyForCamus Wrote: First, Just to be clear:  I am not making the claim, "there is no God."  Theists make the claim, "there IS a god."  My position is I withhold belief that this claim is true, or likely to be true, until sufficient evidence for the claim can be demonstrated.  

A quibble: the theist affirms, "I believe there is a god." They can still be agnostic, i.e., not make a knowledge claim.

Which, honestly, is so fucking easy I can't for the life of me understand why more apologists don't just acknowledge that.  It's an -absolute- defeater for any demand of evidence, or reason - and completely puts the onus on a person making a claim of knowledge. It;s a -valid- way to shift the fucking burden........and as intent as they seem to be to do that, it's a minor miracle that they go about it any other way.

Beliefs need not be evidenced or reasonable to be maintained. It's just not a valid criteria. They obviously -can be- maintained in the absence of either.

You can't even object to it, mechanically, because you're objecting to their statements regarding their own status of belief........just calling them a liar, lol.

Ultimately, it seems as though they require a hell of alot more than belief, they're angling for knowledge, facts, attestable and attributible evidence......effectively putting the lie to their constant claims of faith. Perhaps they should just stop wasting their time here, with us and this...and go find that goddamned mustard seed already?

(August 18, 2016 at 11:52 am)ChadWooters Wrote: There is only one true religion. It is to love the Lord  above all else and neighbor as self.

Chad, just out of curiosity, do you then exclude the atheistic branches of Buddhism from the category of religions? Or are they religions but simply 'false' religions since there is no analogue for "The Lord"? I'm asking you more as a student of philosophy than as a Christian, since the Christian answer is fairly obvious.

(August 18, 2016 at 11:58 am)Crossless1 Wrote:

(August 18, 2016 at 11:52 am)ChadWooters Wrote: There is only one true religion. It is to love the Lord  above all else and neighbor as self.

Chad, just out of curiosity, do you then exclude the atheistic branches of Buddhism from the category of religions?

Atheism is not a religion. Or so I've been told.

(August 18, 2016 at 11:53 am)Rhythm Wrote:

(August 18, 2016 at 11:48 am)Crossless1 Wrote: A quibble: the theist affirms, "I believe there is a god." They can still be agnostic, i.e., not make a knowledge claim.

Which, honestly, is so fucking easy I can't for the life of me understand why more apologists don't just acknowledge that.  It's an -absolute- defeater for any demand of evidence, or reason - and completely puts the onus on a person making a claim of knowledge. It;s a -valid- way to shift the fucking burden........and as intent as they seem to be to do that, it's a minor miracle that they go about it any other way.

But then what would they do with all that hubris? [emoji56]

Min has a suggestion.  

(August 18, 2016 at 12:01 pm)ChadWooters Wrote:

(August 18, 2016 at 11:58 am)Crossless1 Wrote: Chad, just out of curiosity, do you then exclude the atheistic branches of Buddhism from the category of religions?

Atheism is not a religion. Or so I've been told.

Well, atheism really has no content. But if an atheist embraces many of the Buddhist tenets and indulges in Buddhist practice, is that then a religion?

(August 18, 2016 at 11:52 am)ChadWooters Wrote: There is only one true religion. It is to love the Lord  above all else and neighbor as self.

Nah.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

(August 18, 2016 at 11:52 am)ChadWooters Wrote: There is only one true religion. It is to love the Lord  above all else and neighbor as self.

I disagree.

The only true religion is Scientology.

Now go get your thetans removed.

I think eight millions pages of absolutely nothing have pretty much failed to establish Christianity as the "real" anything. We have confirmation bias, placebo effects, attitude shifts and social benefits. All things you can get from a club where you worship a supposedly magic garden gnome.