You guys here talk a lot about intellectual honesty and being truthful with oneself, and it always seems to boil down to what the individual person's view of 'honest' is. What is true to one person is most certainly not always true for another. Perspective is, of course, subjective. It cannot be any other way.
So it is that we are asked to define and explain our own personal world-view by others, so that they may better understand this view and perhaps learn to share in it. This is the nature of learning and expanding as a human being. We seek answers and we search for closure and understanding so we can better progress through life to the best of our abilities.
With that said, of course when an Atheist asks a Christian or any believer for that matter what they believe in and why, we will try to answer to the best of our ability and understanding. It is our very nature to try and understand God as best as we can, of course, and anyone who asks for or seeks answers on what we believe will get the best explanation possible. Or maybe not, depending on the person.
But there is one problem any smart believer will have when faced with attempting to describe and explain God to a non-believer, and it is really a very simple one; the entirity of God cannot be explained.
I fully admit that I do not understand or know everything about God. There is no possible way any one, individual human with our limited subjective perspective could accurately and fully explain something so massive, yet so simple. To do so would require a completely objective stance, a perspective completely free of individual preconception and bias. Essentially, to do so, one would require...well, a complete oneness with God in His entirity. haha
This is how God works. In order to truly understand what a believer is saying, an atheist or non-believer of any sort needs to first experience God for his or herself, and attempt to honestly further their understanding of that experience on their own time. A paradox is created here, you see. A non-believer simply is not going to recognize the experience for what it is, and will likely brush it off with some kind of dismissal or denial of the experience's relation to God.
Thus, a non-believer will turn to a believer for answers that he or she cannot find, and the circle is perpetuated. We can explain, describe, convey, and give examples of God or experiences related to Him all we want, but ultimately it wont make much sense until you recognize your own experiences as part of the same phenomena as what we are describing. A non-believer wants a believer to give him or her all of the answers to all of the questions, and that simply is not going to happen.
So there you have it. You want honesty, you got it. There's a boat-load of honesty about how I feel, about how I believe, about God, how God works, and about how God relats or does not relate to a non-believer. Love it or hate it, discuss it all you want. That's about as honest as I can get, and I am sure you'll all have some nice(or not) counter points to shove in my face as soon as I post this topic. So have at it!
Cheers, friends!
So it is that we are asked to define and explain our own personal world-view by others, so that they may better understand this view and perhaps learn to share in it. This is the nature of learning and expanding as a human being. We seek answers and we search for closure and understanding so we can better progress through life to the best of our abilities.
With that said, of course when an Atheist asks a Christian or any believer for that matter what they believe in and why, we will try to answer to the best of our ability and understanding. It is our very nature to try and understand God as best as we can, of course, and anyone who asks for or seeks answers on what we believe will get the best explanation possible. Or maybe not, depending on the person.
But there is one problem any smart believer will have when faced with attempting to describe and explain God to a non-believer, and it is really a very simple one; the entirity of God cannot be explained.
I fully admit that I do not understand or know everything about God. There is no possible way any one, individual human with our limited subjective perspective could accurately and fully explain something so massive, yet so simple. To do so would require a completely objective stance, a perspective completely free of individual preconception and bias. Essentially, to do so, one would require...well, a complete oneness with God in His entirity. haha
This is how God works. In order to truly understand what a believer is saying, an atheist or non-believer of any sort needs to first experience God for his or herself, and attempt to honestly further their understanding of that experience on their own time. A paradox is created here, you see. A non-believer simply is not going to recognize the experience for what it is, and will likely brush it off with some kind of dismissal or denial of the experience's relation to God.
Thus, a non-believer will turn to a believer for answers that he or she cannot find, and the circle is perpetuated. We can explain, describe, convey, and give examples of God or experiences related to Him all we want, but ultimately it wont make much sense until you recognize your own experiences as part of the same phenomena as what we are describing. A non-believer wants a believer to give him or her all of the answers to all of the questions, and that simply is not going to happen.
So there you have it. You want honesty, you got it. There's a boat-load of honesty about how I feel, about how I believe, about God, how God works, and about how God relats or does not relate to a non-believer. Love it or hate it, discuss it all you want. That's about as honest as I can get, and I am sure you'll all have some nice(or not) counter points to shove in my face as soon as I post this topic. So have at it!
Cheers, friends!
