(September 24, 2017 at 12:51 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote:(September 24, 2017 at 12:26 pm)emjay Wrote: @CL. I see you've unrepped me... that's fine by me. Anyone else who wants to follow suit over this issue, that's also fine by me.
You know I said I've never seen a convincing positive case for Christianity? Well I see them least of all from theists with your type of views. I don't even think of you as a Christian because your beliefs are so wishy-washy. At least fundamentalists are consistent. Your type of Christianity seems like the make-it-up-as-you-go-along type where any uncomfortable thing in the Bible just becomes 'allegory'. You yourself inspire respect, regardless of how you now feel about me, because you are a kind and decent person... but I can't say the same thing at all about your beliefs. I never called you willfully abusive, just as I don't call my parents abusive, but nonetheless I would hope that you, and they, would understand what results from instilling a bias in someone through upbringing. And just because your beliefs are Bible Pick 'n' Mix, doesn't mean that they wouldn't also have an effect on adult bias... and frankly I don't know which would be worse. My own parents fall more into the literalist camp... I never even heard the word 'allegory' in my upbringing... but at least with that there's something consistent to address. With your type of view, that basically says 'You can believe in god but you don't have to believe in anything in the Bible, unless you want to' there isn't even something consistent to address, which I would think would be even harder to undo as an adult.
Let it be known that it never bothered me and still doesn't bother me that you are atheist and that you don't like/agree with Christianity. What upset me on a personal level is that we started off as friends on these forums. We sent each other nice PMs, we had long conversations on skype, played mafia together, and we even video chatted a number of times. You were someone I considered a "forum friend", and I liked you. So to see you giving support to the sentiment that I'm a would be child abuser, and all the other horrible things this person said to me and about my parents, really caught me off guard and gave off the vibe that you don't feel the same way about me anymore. I admit the unrep was childish, but I guess it was my way of saying, "ok, I guess we aren't on the terms I thought we were."
Also, I don't make up my own religion. I'm catholic. And if there is anything in catholic teaching you think I cherry pick or am wishy washy about, then please be the first to point it out by copying and pasting from church document exactly what I am going against.
I wasn't supporting his specific argument against you... just the general argument of this thread. I did not call you an abuser, potential or otherwise, neither did I say the same of my parents. I said that I knew they meant no harm in teaching me about Jesus as I grew up, and the same would be true of you. But regardless of the intentions behind it, the effect on the resulting adult is the same; bias that results from upbringing... bias that acts as a default position moving forward... a default position of emotional bias that has to be constantly fought, that does not stand and cannot be fought on it's own rational merits because it was never acquired rationally in the first place.
As for you making up your own religion, that was just a turn of phrase really... and whether it's you or the whole Catholic church doing it doesn't really matter. What I mean is as soon as any religion starts introducing the notion of 'allegory' it's a slippery slope... where does it end? If the Bible is just true or false, that's at least something consistent to argue against, but if it's just a bit true, then there's nothing consistent to argue with and the goalposts can constantly be shifted.
