How to tell a real freethinker

[Esquilax]

Theology is an attempt to put the objective truths of this world into words. There can be human error. But if we modified doctrines for every new culture, trend and movement, there would be nothing left worth talking about.

So in one sentence you admit that theology can be wrong, and then in the very next you say that it shouldn't be altered to reflect the correct position anyway.

Well, at least you're honest.

We'd have one giant ocean of opinions.

You do have one giant ocean of opinions. Even disregarding other religions and their theology, there are thousands of denominations of christianity, each of them with their own opinions. Even theologians within the same denomination have no guarantee that they'll agree.

It's actually remarkable how long Christianity has been preserved, how the Bible hasn't changed, and how every message in scripture is still relevant today.

Every message in scripture? Including the ones that endorse slavery?

Like a pupil and a teacher, theology's quest is to learn what God has to say and change ourselves in response.

I wonder when the teacher will prove that he has a direct line to god? That'd be really useful.

If the pupil spent all his time critiquing his teacher, what would he know by the end of the class?

If the teacher is consistently wrong, then a hell of a lot more than the dopes who swallowed everything teacher had to say without questioning.

A theologian admits he doesn't have all the answers, an atheist believes he does.

So, when the theologian claims to have a direct line to the creator of all things, and hence everything he says is the absolute truth, where's the admission that he doesn't know everything there?

And when I, as an atheist, say that I don't know the answers to many of the big questions, but neither does the theologian despite his claims, where is the belief that I know all the answers?