Misconceptions of Christian theology

[jstrodel]

I do not know how I could live without this intense, specific and necessary comfort that I receive from the tangible presence of God.

Here we have a person who, by their own admission was a drug addict who used and abused hard drugs to the point that it was extremely dysfunctional and required treatment.

This suggests several things to me. First, this person's brain is likely no longer operating according to factory specifications.
Second, the person may be unusually vulnerable to addictions and addictive behaviors.
And also, that this person has a prior demonstrated obsession with unusual experiences.

And here we have this person, testifying to having experiences which are not shared by the bulk of his peers (even among Christians, much of his experience is outside the norm).
Moreover, he claims that if he were deprived of the continuing presence of certain of these experiences, he doesn't know "how he could live."

No offense, js, but I'm not sure I need a transcendent creator to explain the facts of your experience.

This looks like a winner to me, advocate that drugs are ok for people to use, no problem, they can be tolerated and drug users can be accepted. Because as soon as you do this, you tolerate drug use, then you can invalidate all religious experience based on your previous toleration of drug use (which, as a matter of fact, the dangers of drug use are greatly exaggerated by government propaganda). I speak to the atheist movement as a whole, which typically tolerates drug use, as opposed to you individually.

You should try and see if you can get all atheists to follow your approach. Maybe through this approach you can win the culture war.

[catfish]

Thanks for being the hypocrite that you are.

What was hypocritical about my comment?

I suppose this lays to rest your claim that I'm not a Christian until tomorrow...

I don't recall claiming that you're not a Christian. Can you quote me?

My bad, I was mistaken you for the likes of fr0d0 and Drich among others...

You're just 100% cotton...
.

[Lion IRC]

Evolutionary theory doesn't disprove Christianity...

Can you let your fellow Christians know?

The age of the earth is not in the Nicene Creed and not a doctrinal matter on which salvation depends.

And ''evolution'' can be discussed, accepted or disputed by any Christian depending on their understanding of what the word evolution actually encompasses.

For me, evolution is such a simple concept and so lacking in explanatory power, that it doesnt even come close to dislodging God. If anything, it just looks like more perfect, fine tuning.

[Ryantology]

For me, evolution is such a simple concept and so lacking in explanatory power, that it doesnt even come close to dislodging God.

The only way in which evolution can't dislodge God is in the race for the bottom with God in terms of explanatory power. If the theory of evolution ends up proving absolutely nothing about life on earth, it will have proven just as much as the Bible ever has about anything, ever.

[Whateverist]

Having good theology is an integral part of assessing the validity of the Christian faith.

Surely you don't mean an agnostic atheist needs to cultivate a competent theology in order to assess the validity of the Christian faith. As someone who is first and foremost agnostic what need do I have for any theological training? A gnostic atheist presumably does need some such basis in order to reach and defend the position he has taken. But as someone who has never been much intrigued by talk of gods I haven't the same need. I have no dog in this fight. I'll leave the assessment of the Christian faith's validity to those who are interested.

[jstrodel]

Having good theology is an integral part of assessing the validity of the Christian faith.

Surely you don't mean an agnostic atheist needs to cultivate a competent theology in order to assess the validity of the Christian faith. As someone who is first and foremost agnostic what need do I have for any theological training? A gnostic atheist presumably does need some such basis in order to reach and defend the position he has taken. But as someone who has never been much intrigued by talk of gods I haven't the same need. I have no dog in this fight. I'll leave the assessment of the Christian faith's validity to those who are interested.

Why learn about what Christianity actually teaches when you can just cut and paste atheist apologetics? Saves time, maybe in the time that you save you can learn enough science to get an upper middle class lifestyle. Then you can know for sure that science has proved that God does not exist, because it got you a good job and you have the atheist apologetics to prove that someone out there already did the hard stuff of struggling with what Christian doctrine actually teaches about the world.

Who needs truth when you can make $100,000?

[Esquilax]

Why learn about what Christianity actually teaches when you can just cut and paste atheist apologetics? Saves time, maybe in the time that you save you can learn enough science to get an upper middle class lifestyle. Then you can know for sure that science has proved that God does not exist, because it got you a good job and you have the atheist apologetics to prove that someone out there already did the hard stuff of struggling with what Christian doctrine actually teaches about the world.

Who needs truth when you can make $100,000?

You know, for someone who's repeatedly shown a near total ignorance of atheism and science, you're sure hot on making sure everyone knows every facet of christianity before they start talking about it...

[EGross]

What is sometimes missed is that there are many athiests and agnostics who, at one time, had speant years or (in my case) decades in learning about one or more dogmas. But after all of that had been discussed, one certainly has the right to do as Paul did and say (paraphrasing and replacing "Christ" with "Athiesm"):

And all of these things, these commandments of God, I needed to treat as dung, in order to accept Athiesm

So the discarding of a myth does not mean that one has no education in it. And, once discardrd, one should not expect such a person to continue to embrace such studies.

And there are those of us who do so, not out of a religious requirement or conviction, but out of intellectual enjoyment. While others find enjoyment elsewhere. But it is a mistake for a believer to automatically hold that a non-bliever knows less. In a recent Pew Poll in the USA, it was shown that Athiests scored higher in understanding Scripture better than Believers. One pastor propsed that it is because they have to respond to believers, so they study harder. I would suggets it is because they DID study hard, they became non-blievers, and that learning showed.

[jstrodel]

You know, for someone who's repeatedly shown a near total ignorance of atheism and science, you're sure hot on making sure everyone knows every facet of christianity before they start talking about it...

Where? Where have I shown ignorance of atheism or science? I don't even think I have made more than one or two posts about science. Where have I been ignorant about it. Point out my ignorance.

When you talk it is like I am hearing a bunch of atheists platitudes that sort of filter out of an uncritical perspective. You speak out these sort of platitudes but you don't really argue for anything. What is so hard about making an argument, providing evidence, defending ideas instead of repeating accusations on every thread?

---

Evolutionary theory doesn't disprove Christianity...

Can you let your fellow Christians know?

Some people that have contributed to related fields have such as Mendel and Collins (both geneticists) have been serious Christians. Some of the evolutionary biologists (kenneth miller at brown, martin novak) are Christians. There are plenty that are aware of it and plenty that still disagree with it, such nobel Laurette Richard Smalley who rejected Darwinism. I personally couldn't say whether evolution is the best way to understand life, there are plenty of Christians in science that accept evolutionary theory and plenty that don't. I really couldn't say whether Darwin's theory is the best explanation or not, perhaps someone will create a better one. I don't think it is foolish to think so.

[Whateverist]

Surely you don't mean an agnostic atheist needs to cultivate a competent theology in order to assess the validity of the Christian faith. As someone who is first and foremost agnostic what need do I have for any theological training? A gnostic atheist presumably does need some such basis in order to reach and defend the position he has taken. But as someone who has never been much intrigued by talk of gods I haven't the same need. I have no dog in this fight. I'll leave the assessment of the Christian faith's validity to those who are interested.

Why learn about what Christianity actually teaches when you can just cut and paste atheist apologetics? Saves time, maybe in the time that you save you can learn enough science to get an upper middle class lifestyle. Then you can know for sure that science has proved that God does not exist, because it got you a good job and you have the atheist apologetics to prove that someone out there already did the hard stuff of struggling with what Christian doctrine actually teaches about the world.

Who needs truth when you can make $100,000?

What you've written is gibberish and has no discernible connection to what I wrote. Could your reading comprehension really be that low? No one will want to converse with you once they see what you do with their pearls. No more for you, swine!

I said it once but I will try it again in capitals just to see if anything gets through. WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT ATHEISTS FROM HAVING BEEN ONE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ATHEISM AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH BEING A LOUSY PERSON. YOU WERE AND STILL ARE AN AWFUL PERSON. WHETHER OR NOT GOD FORGIVES YOU, I DON'T. YOU SUCK.

Since you won't put any effort into understanding what I say I'm not going to waste any more time on you. Just need to set the controls to ignore and then all that crap you spew will just go away.