RE: The benefits of being christian. Where are there???
December 26, 2017 at 5:29 pm
(This post was last modified: December 26, 2017 at 5:30 pm by Banned.)
(December 26, 2017 at 4:52 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: Have you met Catholic Lady yet?
(December 25, 2017 at 7:08 pm)Starhunter Wrote: That's it - the Bible is the claim.
The Bible has to do it by itself. That is what it claims it can do and more.
You claim that critical thinking is "the great humanistic pill that nearly all will swallow" but critical thinking predates humanism by quite a few centuries. Furthermore it is possible to be a critical thinker without being a humanist (See Friedrich Nietzsche or H.L. Mencken).
One could argue that critical thinking existed before him, but the process was first put into coherent form by Socrates around 400 B.C. and then expounded upon by Plato. These two thinkers assumed a God figure, but (at the same time) they thought it was beneficial to ask others to substantiate claims. They were not humanists either. If critical thinking is some kind of "humanist conspiracy" it has been taking shape for quite a long time and has inspired Christians and atheists alike in their pursuit of the truth. If you are going to relate critical thinking to humanism, would you please explain yourself?
Asking you to substantiate the bible is not a trick question. If you actually managed to substantiate it (even in some small degree) I'm sure that Cyberman would admit that you had a point. His asking you to produce such substantiation is completely fair. You would do the same thing in his position.
If someone approached you with an outrageous claim -- like "You stole my car"-- you would demand that they substantiate it. It would be your right to make such a demand, wouldn't it? (I'm not sure this is where Cyberman was going, but it's my best guess.)
What if a Hindu approached you and said that Krishna is the Lord of the cosmos? Would you just believe him? Neither would I. What if, when you denied his claim and told him you believed the Bible, he said, "Oh, that Christian pill that many more will swallow..."? Would you take him seriously? Think about our perspective in regards to the statements you are making. If a Hindu made the sort of statements YOU are making, except in regards to Hinduism, would you be convinced? What if he pointed to a copy of the Bhagavad Gita and said that it substantiates itself? Would that convince you in the slightest?
You and all atheists have something in common. We completely agree on the credibility of the Bhagavad Gita. Now that we have found some common ground, please explain why we should regard the bible any differently than the Gita? Why do you believe what you believe?
In many (but not all) cases, people believe stuff simply because they were told to. Do you believe the bible simply because you were told to by other people? Or is there another reason? What is that reason?
The snake has many heads, or socks if you like.
In a few forums you are only ever talking to one creep. But I treat the words as if they are coming from different individuals and not the one person or group of people. It won't be long before you are talking with yourself on this forum (panel). But it is essential that all be given their final opportunity to make a decision about the truth, so that their fate may be sealed. The term wicked is more specifially aimed at those who pretend to be ignorant of the truth and war against it. It is not aimed at those who have had the misfortune of never knowing any better, whose lives are influenced for evil through the first.
As far as substantiation is concerned, the Bible can substantiate itself. End of argument.
And as far as humanism is concerned, I am not talking about it as a recognizable fashion, but as a principle. Humanism was taught by Satan in the garden or Eden, "ye shalll be as gods, knowing good and evil." It was a supposition that people had the brains to do without God.
The second demo of humanism came with Cain who murdered his brother Abel.