Why be good?

[Randy Carson]

Some questions for you:

What do you think about the pope? Do you agree him on everything or don't care? Something in between?                                    


What do you consider yourself politically? Conservative? Liberal?


How do you deal with catholics who disagree with you on some issues?

Would you mind asking those questions in the Ask a Catholic thread?

They seem off-topic here.

Thanks.

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No, so you can be the first! 

If you wish to argue effectively against theism - and Christianity, in particular - then you must know our arguments and our scriptures better than we know them ourselves.

And if you think the scriptures are inaccurate, it will be invaluable to actually know them yourself rather than simply cutting and pasting from a few atheist websites. The reason is that once the Christian asks you something that is NOT covered by those sites, you will have nothing left to fall back on.

Make sense?

Not really.  The point that many of us have said over and over and over in one way or another is that no written or oral eyewitness account alone is sufficient to prove the supernatural.  Full stop, no more is necessary.  

However, some of us for one reason or another have read a lot scripture, not to mention theology.  And it doesn't take much looking to find contradictions, anachronisms, and portions that contradict what we do know about the Biblical period.

Just out of curiosity, what proof of the supernatural WOULD be sufficient, and how would or could it be provided?

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"In the absence of evidence to the contrary" refers to the reliability of the people...not the message or events they testify to.

IOW, if I know you to be a shady character, criminal past, drug use, etc...or you are shown to be lying under oath, etc., then that is evidence to the contrary that you are a reliable person.

OTOH, if I know you to be of sound character and reputable in other matters, I will have a tendency to believe you on the basis of your reliability.

So, if a person exhibits all those negative attributes you mention, but believes the same as you, do you have less tendency to believe them if they claim to have an experience with your god?

Or what about the opposite situation. 

A person has impeccable honesty, and reputable character, yet they claimed to have an experience with a different god than the one you believe in. Do you give their claims any credibility?

I KNOW about Christianity and a good deal about other religions (to varying degrees). Therefore, I would evaluate what these people (the good one and the bad one alike) had to say based on what I already understand. They may or may not be correct. A "good" and otherwise trustworthy person can be completely wrong in their theology (if they've had an "experience" with a "different" god, I would probably suspect that a demon was involved). Conversely, the scum of the Earth may know that Jesus died for them (and be saved). However, if I knew that they were untrustworthy, I might still doubt their story. People CLAIM all sorts of things for any number of reasons.

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Thank you, Julia. Many people find the ethical teaching of Jesus to be very inspiring...what are your thoughts on them?

Some good, some not so good.

Granting as a hypothetical that the attributions of the biblical authors were accurate quotes:

I wasn't too keen on his advice for slaves to obey.  Col 3:22
The deal about hating your family in favor of the cult was pretty heinous. Matt 10:37
As is killing your kids for misbehaving.  Matt 15:4 Mark 7:10
I don't think castrating yourself is a good idea.  Matt 19:12
I'm not sure I can render Caesar Caesar's stuff because I think he's dead.

Some of the other points were pretty progressive for the ancient world.
Don't step on the weak just because you can.
Living in Wisconsin, I really liked "Blessed are the cheesemakers."

He got the untouchables together and created a constituency with staying power.
All with just a few 'you are special' memes.
Respect (makes vague hand motions signifying gang signs without actually knowing what they are.)

Overall, I'd give him a B- with a C+ for style (downgraded for copying from others.)

A couple of those made me chuckle. You were kidding there, right?