(November 18, 2012 at 3:34 am)Undeceived Wrote: Common pattern on atheist forums:
Atheist: “The church taught (insert universally-condemned practice).”
Theist: “On the contrary, Jesus taught the opposite. And the church bases its beliefs on Jesus’ words.”
Atheist: “You must first prove Jesus exists.”
Can we stay on topic?
Sounds perfectly reasonable.
Atheist: "The church taught (insert universally-condemned practice). Here's evidence of the church actually teaching that."
Theist: "On the contrary, Jesus taught the opposite. And the church bases its beliefs on Jesus’ words."
Atheist: "Prove that the church bases its beliefs on Jesus' words. For that, you must first prove that he existed. Then establish an independent authority on what his actual words were - the only authority you have now is the church. Then show all of the Church's beliefs can be based on those words. We provided evidence for our claim - you do the same. And currently, you fail at the first step."
