Better reasons to quit Christianity

[spockrates]

What are they? Reason for asking: I've been told by thoughtful atheists that looking for logical contradictions in Christian beliefs, or within the pages of the Bible is a waste of time. The explanation given is that there are much better reasons to give up on being Christian. I'm just wondering what the better reasons are so I can try them on and see how they fit.

I read a few pages into this appalling thread, and I'm totally grossed out by your inability to see how dumb this is. What reason do you have for not being a Muslim? If you spend your whole life worshiping this prophet, when you die, you'll lose.

You should give up on being a Christian because it makes you an infidel and a blasphemer. You should give up on being a christian because the Koran says that Islam is the one true religion. Give it up because your mortal soul is at stake!

Maybe you should give it up because the messiah hasn't arrived to earth yet. Yahweh is displeased with your worship of this sinner who falsely professed to be the son of god. You should seek out a temple and talk to a rabbi about how you can convert to the one true religion.

Perhaps you're displeasing Kama, Serapis, Jupiter, Odin, Zeus, Quetzalcoatl, Isis, Krishna, or Ishtar. You could really lose out on the afterlife if you don't start worshiping the right deity. Think about it.

Thanks for the advice, Aleialoura. I read an English version of the Koran (or should I spell it Qu'ran?), some time ago. Great book! There is a passage about the God being as close as the heart that beats within the one who believes in him. Do you know what book I might find that passage in?



Edit: Oops! I thought from your post that you were Muslim. I see after reading your signature I was mistaken and you were being facetious. My mistake. Actually, Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet like Mohammad, but Mohammad was greater, and Jesus' disciples were the lying Jews who deceived the world--not Jesus. But are you saying I should be atheist because there might be a God, but I'll never know what God is the true God, so I might as well throw up my hands and say, "Why try?"

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What are they? Reason for asking: I've been told by thoughtful atheists that looking for logical contradictions in Christian beliefs, or within the pages of the Bible is a waste of time. The explanation given is that there are much better reasons to give up on being Christian. I'm just wondering what the better reasons are so I can try them on and see how they fit.

What did your thoughtful atheist friends say ?

Regards

Grimesy

At this forum, they've said that these are the reasons:

1. Religion is just a way to keep me from doing all the naughty stuff I should be free to do.

2. There is no God.

3. There is no soul, no life after life, no judgment of any kind after death.

Currently, we're considering (2) and how an omnipotent God can also be omniscient, or omnibenevolent.

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I think it will help to consider whether your definition of omnipotence is a viable one before we proceed to applying it to any concept of God: Let's say a guy named Ed becomes omnipotent. He is neither omniscient, nor omnibenevolent. He just has that power we call omnipotence. Now Ed is a dishonest person, which is something he does not like about himself. He decides that now that he has the power to change himself, he is going to use it to make himself 100% honest 100% of the time.

I can't tell if you are trying to avoid my question at this point. I have made it very clear that the God in question isn't an omnipotent one, but one that abides by his own nature and the laws of logic.

I'm sorry, I must have missed your question. Please repeat it.

Omnipotence is logically impossible as an attribute. It is only real in concept. The God we are talking about cannot be omnipotent unless you are willing to concede that he has the ability to do things against his own nature. For example, if I was omnipotent except for things that violate my nature, I would simply have whatever power I normally would have. Flying is against my nature, so I couldn't fly. Things like that.

But I'm not sure your concept of omnipotence actually is real. For you said: "Omnipotence is the capacity to do anything." My question about this premise is this: Is it possible to have the capacity to make a being that is 100% honest 100% of the time and (at the same time) 100% dishonest 100% of the time? I don't see how it is, do you? So how can omnipotence be "the capacity to do anything," since this one thing not even any omnipotent being could do?

My question is this: Once Ed makes himself perfectly and always honest, can he still tell a lie? If he cannot lie, then how can omnipotence be the power to do anything and everything? I'm thinking some choices are mutually exclusive. What are you thinking?

I have already made a point to say that I am not talking about an omnipotent God. If someone is perfectly honest then they are incapable of lying.

Agreed. So don't you agree it is impossible for even an omnipotent being to make a person who lies and who is (at the same time) perfectly honest? It appears that it is not possible for anyone--whether he be God, or omnipotent Ed! Neither one could make little people who were perfectly honest all of the time and perfectly dishonest all of the time. Thus, it seems we need a different concept of omnipotence, since this one is flawed. For I think you might agree that omnipotence cannot possibly be the capacity to do anything when there is one thing impossible for even an omnipotent being to do.

So I have to ask the question again: What is omnipotence?