Quote:There is no such thing as 'free will' when the options are
1. Do exactly as you are told
2. Suffer forever in fire and misery
It is not 'free will' if any use of it condemns you to eternal suffering.
I don't agree. I think there is a third option. Let's say that you believe that there is a God and that He commands you to have a certain obligation. You have the option of choosing to obey His word, however, you also have the option of choosing not to obey his word. This would be the third option.
God is respecting your view and allows you to do so. Therefore, you do not necessarily have a gun to your head.
It is kind of like Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov in that Ivan decided that he could not love God considering all of the terrible atrocities that the world commits. Even though Ivan realizes that he could choose to follow God, he decides to not do so out of his own spite. Therefore, he has a third option.
Quote:What would motivate you to believe something for which you have no evidence?
I'll make a wager that you don't do this with any other aspect of your life. You probably don't cross a street based on faith, you rely on evidence.
I think that faith is important in other aspects of life. If I get on a plane, I have faith that the pilot will fly me safety to my destination.
Granted, I will use reason throughout my life because God has given me a brain and rationality so that I can cross a street based on evidence. It's just interesting that I have faith in certain situations but not all.
Quote:you believe that you "rationally" believe in a god. This is not rational. It's not even reasoned.
If there was honesty in this quote, then I would say you're on your way to clear thought on the subject. You have to drop the views and unproven claims first, though.
You are right. It is not rational for me to believe in God. I have to abandon reason in order to have faith in God. As Kierkegaard would say, faith is an absurdity, yet I still cling to it.
Yes, I am a Christian on these forums. I am not here to judge or condemn, rather, I am here to debate, learn, and incite discussion. Yes, I think that my avatar is hilarious.
