(July 6, 2017 at 3:41 pm)JackRussell Wrote: The growth of any belief is not evidence for the veracity of that belief. [1] If Christianity is on the rise in China, and I am quite happy to accept that this is true, it does nothing to tell you about the reasons why more Chinese people have converted and wether their reasons are good or bad. China is a relatively isolated culture compared to the West: do they have access to the atheist position available to us and what does Chinese culture and history have to say about this phenomenon? [2]
I can add another thing to my my list of reasons for the preferment of secular molarity: wellbeing, personal responsibility and culture. [3]
One can adduce conclusions from either perspective, but the conclusion should be evidence based and I don't think we have that. And it is a truism, but rather evident, that the amount of people that support a claim has no bearing on it's truth. Boring, but probably true, most people used to think the Earth was flat and the Earth was the centre of the universe. The Christians here think that their evidence is more compelling than that of any other religion, or that of the atheistic position. I still ask, why your God couldn't easily demonstrate that all non Christian theist and atheists are wrong? [4]
Please don't just say that I don't want to know, because, if you are right, I would absolutely want to know that. [5]
1. I agree. However, that does not mean the fact is meaningless. It would at least indicate that the belief is compelling to those that have changed their mind.
2. China has been ruled by atheistic communist since 1949. That's two generations that have been told there is no God. It is still not the easiest path to declare oneself a Christian. Yet, we find the growth there unprecedented.
3. First, if your meaning is that religious people are somehow lacking in those things, that's condescending and unwarranted. Secondly, secular morality does not in any way guarantee well-being, personal responsibility, or culture. Exhibit A: Joseph Stalin.
4. What more demonstration can there be that coming to earth, teaching for 3 years, and then dying on a cross to the redemption of mankind? On top of that, talk to some real Christian's whose live have been changed and have witness God working in their lives and of those around them. Why don't you sincerely ask God to show you if he is real?
5. Wouldn't think of saying you don't want to know. My advice is not to drink the atheist coolaid uncritically. Keep an open mind and seek out the best of the best on both sides. New Atheists are not the best atheist thinkers by a long shot. Unfortunately that's the low-brow arguments you most often hear on this site (knowledge a mile wide and an inch deep).
