(July 5, 2014 at 1:32 pm)Irrational Wrote: Having been a former apologist myself, it is useless trying to convince a convicted apologist that there are contradictions in the Bible as they always figure out how to explain away the discrepancies.
I used to rely on the "explanation" that Luke's genealogy of Jesus is Mary's as well in order to explain away the difference in names between the two genealogies listed in the NT.
An absurd and unwarranted explanation, but yeah.
Not necessarily. A number of seminary students become atheists by working on apologetics. Matt Dillahunty comes to mind, but there are a number of less prominent ones.
What changed your mind?
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.