(October 29, 2013 at 9:21 pm)DeistPaladin Wrote:(October 28, 2013 at 2:34 am)Lion IRC Wrote: Do you find this excessively complex?As I keep trying to explain to the apologists, skepticism is not an agenda.
I think you are the one doing the contortion of scripture.
Methodological skepticism IS an agenda.
Answer me this. Are you skeptical of skepticISM?
Quote:...Let's put the "no, you!" argument to rest right now. You are a Christian, yes? This means you have faith, yes? This means when you read the Bible, you have a preconception that must be satisfied, specifically, your faith.
No. That is circular. What preconception MUST I have before reading the bible? Tons of people of faith read the bible and reach different conclusions and interpretations.
By your reasoning Jehovah's Witnesses have the same preconceptions as Mormons, as SDA, as Roman Catholics....
But they don't. So there goes your theory.
Quote:...The psychology of cognitive dissonance comes into play here. When you find a contradiction, you psychologically will be drawn to finding some rationalization, no matter how complex, instead of reading what's there.
Your theory falls over again by virtue of the fact that people don't need the bible to think God exists.
Need I remind you that the people IN the bible didn't have bibles to read. Abraham didn't had any cognitive dissonance because he didn't have the Torah.
John the Baptist didn't either.
