Why Christianity?

[Randy Carson]

And what would you say to a Jewish friend who was intrigued by some of the arguments made by atheists and beginning to have doubts about G-d?

Have you ever lived outside the south east of the United States?

In the world in which I grew up and was educated, being an atheist was - and is - quite normal but we're all, theists and atheists, a minority in comparison with the can't be bothered.  On the whole, I dislike most those people who really, really know what the answer to everything is, whatever their religion or lack of it.

You also need to get it into your head that other religions do not have the same concept of the divine and don't work in the same way as Christianity, which is one of the reasons why many of your questions are often rather meaningless.  In other words, in order for an answer to have meaning, you'd need to have at least some understanding of the context - something you'll never be bothered to try to get - so answering usually seems rather pointless, especially since it will only be drowned by your copy and pasting or something from your really rather dreadful collection of clip art.

Thus I've kept telling you that Judaism isn't Christianity minus Jesus and Christianity isn't Judaism plus Jesus. God is not as portrayed on the Sistine Chapel roof or a nice young Aryan man with a decorated heart on his chest and an arm around a lamb.  One might describe our understanding of God as an argument that's gone on and on and on and on - on the one hand, while on the other hand, meanwhile on yet another hand . . . . .

So, what would I say to my friend?  I'd start by asking what was wrong with continuing the development of her understanding of how to live a considered/examined life from within the context she'd been brought up in.

Is that the essence of modern European Judaism, Kaninchen? Have G-d's chosen people, the heirs to Moses and the prophets, really been reduced to understanding "how to live a considered/examined life"?

Please tell me that there are still some Jews who take their faith seriously and that you're just speaking from your own apatheistic perspective.

[Randy Carson]

Not really, Steve.

If you ever decide to take off your atheist glasses and look at the evidence objectively, you'll see that it is substantial.

And there you go again. I asked you politely this time; I may even ask politely a second. After that I get to tell you to fuck off with your condescension. Deal?

With that out of the way, what part of what I said is not really?

"So basically arguments from ignorance, with mythology shoehorned in."

Christianity's arguments are far more substantial than that, and you know this. Thus, you mock and dismiss them rather than actually addressing them.

[Cyberman]

I am allergic to red herring. Xtianity's arguments may be, but yours haven't been so far.

[Whateverist]

Please tell me that there are still some Jews who take their faith seriously and that you're just speaking from your own apatheistic perspective.

What a guy. Not just a moral renegade but a real rat-bastard kind of guy. This Christianity must be some really toxic shit.












Oh, my bolding of course.

[Jenny A]

Sorry, you have no right to flaunt the rules of scholarship and copyright because people tune you out.  It is dishonest and a kind of theft.  The right to speak is not the right to make people listen.  You may think your message is of ultimate importance but others don't.

We so often hear the old lament .. how can you be moral without God?  Randy here makes me wonder if anyone who claims to do the lord's work can be moral.  Randy obviously is of the ends justifies the means school.  We should just be thankful if he only applies that ethic to make believe stuff.  But you can't help but wonder how this sort protects their integrity.

There's a reason for that which has been explained and demonstrated to you. If your best response is plagiarism to get people to listen, that's worse than just dishonest. It's morally reprehensible.

Tell you what...I will mull this over. Maybe you're right and I'm wrong.

I appreciate your views, but I'm also conscious of the fact that y'all will say just about anything to get one up on me. You do it to Huggy, to Catholic_Lady...it's how you roll.

However, I've already posted a question at CAF on this topic, and I will be watching for a consensus from the forum members there. You can monitor that here.

If it appears that you're correct and my view is in the minority, I'm man enough to admit it.

I'll keep you posted in the next few days.

Thank you for mulling it over.

I followed your link.  You posed a one on one conversion scenario by email.  It would be wrong to plagiarize in that context but not nearly so wrong as it is to do it in public forum.  Plagiarism is primarily a journalist's, writer's, academic's, or student's crime.  The victim is twofold:  first the person who's ideas are being taken without attribution; and only second those fooled into thinking the ideas are those of the plagiarizer.   Whether the plagiarizer makes money by his actions is not really relevant.  The breadth of the audience is, as is whether the plagiarizer is attempting to falsely obtain credentials such as a degree.

I like to think that the CAF forum will recognize wrong doing when they see it.  However, make no mistake that plagiarism is against the rules of this forum and if you persist here, you will be banned here.

For your own personal information, I would add that if you actually violate copyright law (rather narrower than plagiarism), the writer can sue the pants off you.

[Kaninchen]

Is that the essence of modern European Judaism, Kaninchen? Have G-d's chosen people, the heirs to Moses and the prophets, really been reduced to understanding "how to live a considered/examined life"?

Please tell me that there are still some Jews who take their faith seriously and that you're just speaking from your own apatheistic perspective.

That will teach me to wonder if Randy Carson can really be as bad as I perceive him to be.

As I said, in order for an answer to have meaning, you'd have to understand the context which is something you're incapable of doing - I used to think it was just laziness, by the way, but it isn't.  Of course, it would probably have helped if you'd understood what a 'considered/examined life' meant but, obviously, even that's beyond you.

Judaism, Randy, has never been Christianity minus Jesus - it wasn't 2000 years ago and isn't now.

[Randy Carson]

Is that the essence of modern European Judaism, Kaninchen? Have G-d's chosen people, the heirs to Moses and the prophets, really been reduced to understanding "how to live a considered/examined life"?

Please tell me that there are still some Jews who take their faith seriously and that you're just speaking from your own apatheistic perspective.

That will teach me to wonder if Randy Carson can really be as bad as I perceive him to be.

As I said, in order for an answer to have meaning, you'd have to understand the context which is something you're incapable of doing - I used to think it was just laziness, by the way, but it isn't.  Of course, it would probably have helped if you'd understood what a 'considered/examined life' meant but, obviously, even that's beyond you.

Judaism, Randy, has never been Christianity minus Jesus - it wasn't 2000 years ago and isn't now.

I knew that before you repeated this over and over and over. But thank you for your constant attention to my posts.

Does God exist, Kaninchen?

[rexbeccarox]

How's the thread over at CAF going for you, Randy?

... not that it matters, plagiarism is against the rules as it should be. I just find it funny: the people who have replied are too nice to you to say it, but they think your plagiarism is as intellectually dishonest as we do.

[Whateverist]

How's the thread over at CAF going for you, Randy?

... not that it matters, plagiarism is against the rules as it should be. I just find it funny: the people who have replied are too nice to you to say it, but they think your plagiarism is as intellectually dishonest as we do.

I liked this one:

"Do not email the plagiarized passage.

Think of the damage it will do to your yourself and especially to your friend when your friend does a search and finds that you are being a phoney and lying to them."

[Longhorn]

How's the thread over at CAF going for you, Randy?

Oh crap! Even the suggestive phrasing didn't dupe them enough to take to lying and stealing! Priceless! I bet little baby Jesus is shaking his head now, Randy