Resoning for belief in God

[fr0d0]

Tim Keller @ Google

Reasoning behind the belief in God: Why they're important, how they work, and what they are.

This isn't new, but I think it may be of interest to people here. I like Tim's views and would like to see your opinions on them.

[youtube]Kxup3OS5ZhQ[/youtube]

[leo-rcc]

I sat through the whole thing, and he made a good impression up until he utters the words "You need as much faith to disbelieve in God as it does to believe in God". And it only went downhill from there. There were a lot of presuppositions towards Christian faith but he admits in the end that he should have backup those up beforehand in order to build on them.

[fr0d0]

Yeah I find that one doesn't quite hold water. He's said it a few times, possibly the same speech reworked. There needs to be active disbelief in the first place for it to hold true.

It was almost as if he was talking to his own church at times I felt. You'd think with the amount of experience that he must have that this shouldn't happen; or maybe this was his first speech to a large secular audience.

[WWLD]

I don't think i'll be watching a one hour video telling me why I should believe in God.

no thank you

[fr0d0]

That's exactly what it isn't WWLD. Have I ever tried to present anything of the sort?

This went down very well with the secular audience at Google here.

[leo-rcc]

I don't think i'll be watching a one hour video telling me why I should believe in God.

no thank you

To be fair, that isn't what this video is about.

[Tiberius]

I don't think i'll be watching a one hour video telling me why I should believe in God.

no thank you

Just to add to what people have already said. In my opinion if we want to be honest skeptics then we need to be willing to let our beliefs/disbeliefs be challenged. If you don't want to watch something, that is fine, but don't say the reason why you don't want to watch it is because it challenges your beliefs. In my case, I think I watch about twice as much religious stuff on YouTube as atheist stuff. Sometimes I here the same old arguments, but occasionally I hear something new that makes me think.

[WWLD]

I don't think i'll be watching a one hour video telling me why I should believe in God.

no thank you

Just to add to what people have already said. In my opinion if we want to be honest skeptics then we need to be willing to let our beliefs/disbeliefs be challenged. If you don't want to watch something, that is fine, but don't say the reason why you don't want to watch it is because it challenges your beliefs. In my case, I think I watch about twice as much religious stuff on YouTube as atheist stuff. Sometimes I here the same old arguments, but occasionally I hear something new that makes me think.

The reason I don't want to watch it is not because it will challenge my beliefs, it's just because its so long...almost as long as church this morning, which my parents make me go to.

I also watch religious videos on youtube, but I watch them when they are not an hour long, and when I get to choose the video.

[fr0d0]

Blimey you go to church more than I do WWLD! (Well, that wouldn't be hard).

I'm glad Adrian made that point, but of course I respect your view. I'd encourage you to watch anything by Tim Keller if you can find something short enough!

He has some soundbites on Big Think here

[Edwardo Piet]

Adrian, how can I spend time challenging my atheism in regards to its opposition to God when I've got the FSM, Zeus, Russell's Teapot, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, the IPU and much much much much much much MUCH more to deal with too? There's no time!

Maybe for a laugh once in a while.

EvF