RE: The most important reason I'm xtian
December 3, 2013 at 7:38 pm
(This post was last modified: December 3, 2013 at 7:42 pm by Simon Moon.)
(December 3, 2013 at 5:24 pm)Jacob(smooth) Wrote: Almost true. It depends on the beliefs.
If its a belief about what the best mortgage is, or whether I should get the flu vaccine or that sort of thing where the outcome is significant and affected by the beleifs then I'll take the "true" belief.
If its a belief over whether Dalwhennie 15 is better than balvennie doublewood, or whether I prefer "dexter" to "lie to me", or whether I decide I love my wife, or whether I decide to follow a moral code from the bible or one I make up myself, and whether I decide there is something ineffable and mysterious in the universe, yeah I go for warm and fuzzy.
There are several problems.
Peoples beliefs inform their actions. Your beliefs do not live in a vacuum.
Christian beliefs have some real world negative outcomes.
When it comes to tastes in music, which single malt tastes better to you, what TV shows or movies you like, etc, these are non-rational decisions that don't effect your worldview.
When it comes to unsupported, irrational beliefs in supernatural beings, with moral edicts he wants you to follow, there is a problem.
Quote:whether I decide to follow a moral code from the bible or one I make up myself
So, how do you know when it is OK with 'God' to not follow his moral edicts, and make up your own? What heuristic do you apply to Biblical morality in order to discern this?
Actually, what I think is really going on, is that you are always using your own morality. When the Bible's morality lines up with yours, you just say you are using Biblical morality. Almost every Christian I've ever met is more moral than the god they believe in.
Quote:whether I decide there is something ineffable and mysterious in the universe
This is not much different from my feelings about the universe.
But, this should be where you say, "we've reached the end of our current understanding, the rest we don't know (yet)". That is the intellectually honest response to unknowns.
Not...
Quote:yeah I go for warm and fuzzy
Especially since you take it even further and apply all sorts of miracle working, supernatural attributes to this god, that you can't possibly have knowledge of.
Quote:What kind of music do you like simon?
My tastes are pretty obscure. I listen to -
Progressive, Prog-metal, Fusion, Technical-metal, contemporary classical. I'll give you examples of each genre is you want.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
