(June 8, 2015 at 1:31 pm)Esquilax Wrote:(June 8, 2015 at 12:47 pm)SteveII Wrote: I will caution you. If you ask a good question of an intelligent Christian that he/she cannot answer, you may just end up helping them. If they go research the issue, they will learn that the question has been asked and answered before. So, you may be inadvertently and indirectly educating Christians. BTW, several of you on this forum have served me in this way, so...thanks!
Why would you need to caution anybody on this? Education is the goal, not an unintended consequence.
The education may very well be a better understanding of the Christian doctrine you might be trying to poke a hole in. Like I said, there are no new objections that haven't been heard, dissected and answered by Christian apologists. You, as an atheist, might not think the answers are sufficient, but to someone who already believes in God, such answers carry more weight than for those who start from the assumption there is no god.
Some atheist think that Christianity is utterly absurd. If someone starts from a position of naturalism and materialism or was hurt by someone who claimed to be religious, and looks no further than a cursory glance at and what other atheist say about Christianity, that person will have a vastly different perspective than someone who is significantly more familiar with the 1000 different components of Christianity and how they work together into a coherent worldview.
I am speaking from personal experience, if you challenge a thoughtful Christian (with at least a fairly firm Christian worldview) it will not shake him/her--rather prompt further investigation which may alter a particular view but not shake the core beliefs.
