I was in the science library at university today. I was trying to find a free computer that I could use. I passed a few people on computers already and there were two guys I passed and all I heard from their conversation as I passed was '...Jesus...the cross....'. I was thinking about the Gospels or something at the time so hearing this almost made me freeze, but I kept walking. Then I hesitated.. and turned around to go talk to them. This was the beginning of a series of events... completely unrelated to what I was supposed to go and study on the computer!
One of the guys was a Christian and the other didn't know what he believed. They were discussing what counts as evidence for something in terms of historical documents. So I told them I have been researching this for a while and that I deconverted just recently. The Christian told me to share my 'worst blow' to Christianity because he's after the truth so he was all ears to what I had to say. This was my first time verbally talking about what I usually talk about here on the forums and I felt quite uncomfortable giving him what I thought was the 'worst blow', because I was dealing with a real person face to face. So I began by saying that it was Church tradition that gave the names to the Gospels.. I gave him Matthew 9:9 as an example of why I think it wasn't witnesses that wrote down these things. Anyways, I kept the subject on just the Apostles and the next thing I know the girl next to him (a Muslim) asks us 'so who was this Matthew guy you're talking about?'
Long story short, we got invited to go to her prayer session. So now we have 1 non-believer, 1 Christian and 1 Free Thinker going into a Muslim prayer session. It was pretty awkward sitting there amongst all these Muslims trying to mimic their actions! The preaching was quite interesting and I saw lots of parallels between Christianity and Islam.
After the session the girl and her friend introduced us to a recent former Christian that converted to Islam. 10 minutes later we're at the cafe discussing religion amongst 1 non-believer, 1 Christian, 1 Free Thinker, 1 former Christian whose a Muslim and two other Muslim guys.
The Christian would discuss his points and so would the Muslims. For the first time ever I felt like I wasn't obligated to try and convince my 'opponents' but instead I found myself agreeing with certain things from both sides and questioning others where I felt some justification was needed. It was a very fascinating discussion and I learnt a lot about Islam which I didn't previously know.
I wanted to share with someone this achievement in my life, which is that for the first time I was led by reason in a discussion instead of trying to confirm my beliefs by shooting others' beliefs down. Being lead by reason brought me a lot of joy in the discussion because I was able to explore the different possibilities with what was being discussed instead of having the burden of trying to convert someone. I felt truly free intellectually for the first time but most importantly I was 100% honest with my points because I reacted based on reason instead of dogma. Intellectual freedom feels good =)
One of the guys was a Christian and the other didn't know what he believed. They were discussing what counts as evidence for something in terms of historical documents. So I told them I have been researching this for a while and that I deconverted just recently. The Christian told me to share my 'worst blow' to Christianity because he's after the truth so he was all ears to what I had to say. This was my first time verbally talking about what I usually talk about here on the forums and I felt quite uncomfortable giving him what I thought was the 'worst blow', because I was dealing with a real person face to face. So I began by saying that it was Church tradition that gave the names to the Gospels.. I gave him Matthew 9:9 as an example of why I think it wasn't witnesses that wrote down these things. Anyways, I kept the subject on just the Apostles and the next thing I know the girl next to him (a Muslim) asks us 'so who was this Matthew guy you're talking about?'
Long story short, we got invited to go to her prayer session. So now we have 1 non-believer, 1 Christian and 1 Free Thinker going into a Muslim prayer session. It was pretty awkward sitting there amongst all these Muslims trying to mimic their actions! The preaching was quite interesting and I saw lots of parallels between Christianity and Islam.
After the session the girl and her friend introduced us to a recent former Christian that converted to Islam. 10 minutes later we're at the cafe discussing religion amongst 1 non-believer, 1 Christian, 1 Free Thinker, 1 former Christian whose a Muslim and two other Muslim guys.
The Christian would discuss his points and so would the Muslims. For the first time ever I felt like I wasn't obligated to try and convince my 'opponents' but instead I found myself agreeing with certain things from both sides and questioning others where I felt some justification was needed. It was a very fascinating discussion and I learnt a lot about Islam which I didn't previously know.
I wanted to share with someone this achievement in my life, which is that for the first time I was led by reason in a discussion instead of trying to confirm my beliefs by shooting others' beliefs down. Being lead by reason brought me a lot of joy in the discussion because I was able to explore the different possibilities with what was being discussed instead of having the burden of trying to convert someone. I felt truly free intellectually for the first time but most importantly I was 100% honest with my points because I reacted based on reason instead of dogma. Intellectual freedom feels good =)
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
