RE: What one thing would disprove Christianity to you?
January 30, 2013 at 5:31 pm
(This post was last modified: January 30, 2013 at 5:39 pm by salty.)
(January 30, 2013 at 2:43 pm)genkaus Wrote:(January 29, 2013 at 7:16 pm)salty Wrote: So true, Stimbo. This also means that it would be extremely hard to convince some people that their religious beliefs are false when that person centers their faith on an amazing experience, perhaps something they may have never even told someone. I know a Muslim man that had an experience like this, but he told me about it, and it's the reason he believes in Islam. I have never experienced anything that has made me want to deny God, I don't think I will in the future either, but if I do, you will all be the first to know, as I will surely stop in and tell you what situation "de-converted" me.
That is precisely your problem. Experiences, by themselves, won't convince you of anything. It is the preconception you use to evaluate and judge those experiences that need to be examined. I've never known an atheist who started disbelieving because he "experienced" god's non-existence.
Just because you have not experienced an atheist thinking this way, doesn't mean it does not happen. There are plenty of people that have desired a "God moment" and it hasn't come, therefore they decided that God was not real (disbelief when God does not show himself). This tends to happen when God doesn't save a family member from death or stop something from happening, like cancer or sexual abuse. The people I spoke to over several years seemed to be victims of something, my mother is a social worker, so I have spoken to some very different people and heard many experiences where God should have saved them, but since he didn't, they no longer wanted to think of him as anything but false. And what can you do in that situation, but understand their pain and hope for a way to show that you have had a very different experience with God, whether your perception is deemed correct or not, it's okay to share, and it's okay for someone to deny God. Everyone chooses for themselves.
In addition, preconceptions are formed at a young age by various things, culture, family, personal opinion and lets not forget, experiences. Changing a preconception is something someone would need to sit down and really work on, they would have to desire to change, that's why there would have to be some kind of life changing experience behind the re-evaluation of someone's preconceived notions.
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6