I saw a lot of people quoting people who were quoting other people who were quoting themselves who were quoting another person. It's very "meta" but I lost track of what was going on. At this point we should probably just see how many quotes within quotes we can get before the system crashes.
Why am I a Christian? Let me see, that's a big story. Actually I started off really legalistic Christian, but it never made a lot of sense to me, and it seemed like the Bible constantly contradicted itself. Also, God seemed like kind of jerk, and going to church was like being shot in the leg in slow motion, over and over. So I deconverted, to being a Christian Disciple (by which I mean just reading the Gospels, and doing what Jesus says to do). To me Christian Discipleship did the best job out of any worldview in making sense out of the world and how to live in it. For me for something to be true it has to hang together on many levels: it has to be logically true, internally consistent, it cannot contradict science, it has to be true on a personal/subjective level, it has to be evident in human history and in my community, and it has to reveal a clear way to live and act accordingly. Now it's true that the legalist/fundamentalist worldview didn't pass these criteria, but finding Christian Discipleship was like suddenly tying together all the loose strands in the world that never made sense to me before. It was consistent with every method I had of perceiving truth and reality, I couldn't deny it. It wasn't just that it made sense either, Discipleship gave my life meaning and helped me overcome many personal struggles. For me Discipleship does nothing but good for the world, and it actually tells us that our mission in life is to make like a superhero and save the world. Well, there's a lot to it, but basically I believe it because it's just true on every level.
(November 12, 2010 at 7:52 pm)Strongbad Wrote: I think that most atheists became atheists over a long period of deep thinking, not all-of-a-sudden or based on some single proof or event. Evidently, a science education also leads to atheism, as the vast majority of all scientists share atheist viewpoints.
I’d like to turn this question back on you – why are you a Christian? Why do you believe that the bible is the word of god? Why don’t you believe that the Quran is the word of god?
I’ll defer the philosophy questions to the philosophers.
Why am I a Christian? Let me see, that's a big story. Actually I started off really legalistic Christian, but it never made a lot of sense to me, and it seemed like the Bible constantly contradicted itself. Also, God seemed like kind of jerk, and going to church was like being shot in the leg in slow motion, over and over. So I deconverted, to being a Christian Disciple (by which I mean just reading the Gospels, and doing what Jesus says to do). To me Christian Discipleship did the best job out of any worldview in making sense out of the world and how to live in it. For me for something to be true it has to hang together on many levels: it has to be logically true, internally consistent, it cannot contradict science, it has to be true on a personal/subjective level, it has to be evident in human history and in my community, and it has to reveal a clear way to live and act accordingly. Now it's true that the legalist/fundamentalist worldview didn't pass these criteria, but finding Christian Discipleship was like suddenly tying together all the loose strands in the world that never made sense to me before. It was consistent with every method I had of perceiving truth and reality, I couldn't deny it. It wasn't just that it made sense either, Discipleship gave my life meaning and helped me overcome many personal struggles. For me Discipleship does nothing but good for the world, and it actually tells us that our mission in life is to make like a superhero and save the world. Well, there's a lot to it, but basically I believe it because it's just true on every level.
