(July 21, 2015 at 12:09 pm)Spooky Wrote:(July 21, 2015 at 11:35 am)Pyrrho Wrote: Yes, that was my take on some things when I was a Christian. I did not like the second-place position of women, but not being master of the universe, my opinion counted for little. The most I felt I could do was not push any of that crap, without violating any of it.
I remember talking with one Christian, years after I became an atheist, who flatly said that God was evil. Her reasoning? Just look at the stories in the Bible. That God character is a nasty piece of work. But being nasty does not make something nonexistent. If it did, the world would be a much better place. Anyway, she did not want to burn in hell forever. But she did not like God at all. Although I do not respect her belief in Christianity, I do respect her clear thinking about the morality of the God character.
If you believe things based on whether you like them or not, that is an informal fallacy with a name: Wishful thinking. Even though people are often prone to it, it is a really stupid way of thinking.
How sad, to openly admit that god is an evil fucker, and yet feel powerless to remove yourself from the situation. So I guess the answer, from that perspective at least, is fear.
This saving us from hell shit needs to be met head one.
In order to do that, one needs to convince the person that hell does not exist. A start would be to show that god does not exist, but by taking the position that that woman took, one of the more powerful arguments becomes useless. The problem of evil simply does not work against the existence of an evil being.
Of course, one still has other options, like discussing the lack of evidence that the Bible is reliable at all, and the similarities with other ancient texts, etc. But such things don't usually have the same sort of impact as the problem of evil, so the chances of success may well be reduced. On the other hand, by recognizing that the God character in the Bible is a piece of shit, that shows some functioning brain activity, and so maybe the task will be easier than in some other cases.
Still, Uncle K's point remains, that liking something and believing it are two different things. I don't like the fact that my body is aging, but not liking it does not change anything. Not liking god and not believing in god are two very different things.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
