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Why do Christians always cut and run when you ask them a question they aren't capable of answering? Can't they at least man up and admit, "You ask a question I can't answer, sorry"?
Some do. I once watched an interview where the priest admitted the problem of evil was a problem for him because he did not have an answer for it.
Others just make ad hoc excuses, for example, God moves in mysterious ways. Some do this deliberately, but many do this instinctively.
The there are those that run or evade. They are fun to play with, until they end up resorting to personal attacks.
Why do Christians always cut and run when you ask them a question they aren't capable of answering? Can't they at least man up and admit, "You ask a question I can't answer, sorry"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Diogenes
Some do. I once watched an interview where the priest admitted the problem of evil was a problem for him because he did not have an answer for it.
Others just make ad hoc excuses, for example, God moves in mysterious ways. Some do this deliberately, but many do this instinctively.
The there are those that run or evade. They are fun to play with, until they end up resorting to personal attacks.
You get the answer...you just don't like it, and it is you all that never address it.
If Christianity is going to be addressed from a "Literal Bible" standpoint (even as a "Devils Advocate" type argument) then the answer has been given.
"Everything is fine, you just don't know it...but don't worry, because God does."
THAT is your answer...you may not like it, but if you are going "According to The Bible" you must acknowledge it.
The Bible informs you:
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths".
BECAUSE:
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts".
So...why are you even asking anything about it?
God can...you can't.
God knows...you don't.
THAT is how it is. According to The Bible you keep citing.
Quit saying it hasn't been answered...The Bible contains the answer...you just refuse to acknowledge that part.
You get the answer...you just don't like it, and it is you all that never address it.
Almost all my posts address these issues. You just fail to understand the logic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GldnRule
If Christianity is going to be addressed from a "Literal Bible" standpoint (even as a "Devils Advocate" type argument) then the answer has been given. ...
We have already addressed the flaw in this argument.
Almost all my posts address these issues. You just fail to understand the logic.
We have already addressed the flaw in this argument.
No you haven't. You just claim you have...but never do.
If you have...let's see it.
The Bible literally says:
**God can...you can't.
**God knows...you don't.
**You are "not to lean on your own understanding"...just defer to God.
**Suffering is a good thing...a "fruit of the Spirit"...right there with peace, joy, and love.
If you are going to hold or argue The Bible as literally true, those things must be true...because The Bible literally says that.
The Bible literally says that you are not to question God to begin with! What do you do about that, if you are presenting or arguing The Bible as literally true?
Let's see your challenge to that. Right here, right now...in detail.
You've got nothing to put against that...because there isn't anything to put against it.
Others just make ad hoc excuses, for example, God moves in mysterious ways. Some do this deliberately, but many do this instinctively.
I think the instinctual part just comes from what was modeled for them by other believers, particularly their parents and spiritual leaders. I never really considered the dishonesty of those evasions because it was basically unthinkable that the people dong it were dishonest people.
And of course when I say "dishonest people" I do not mean totally dishonest in all things. You cannot be honest with me if you can't be honest with yourself. And people are taught to lie to themselves about certain things from the cradle, and aren't even aware that they're doing it. My parents for example were not fundamentally dishonest but could not be honest with themselves and therefore not with me either, on the particular subject of theism and our faith.
I read an interesting essay just yesterday that you can tell that people have been brainwashed when they just keep repeating the same things over and over again, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that it is either wrong or unsupportable. This simply reflects that the human brain finds what is repeated often enough to be believable. The younger you start repeating certain tropes like "Mysterious Ways", the more entrenched it becomes and the more mindlessly it's defended.
What really makes me laugh about your philosophy, AA is that you behave as if humans actually have the power to fix things that are wrong on this earth. How deluded could a person get? We are no more capable of fixing global warming at the advanced state it's in than we are of inventing a slingshot to propel a rocket to the moon. WAKE UP! Only a supernatural being at this late stage possess the power to fix what's wrong on this globe.
Are you addressing AA or me? You quote my comment, so if this comment is addressed to me, I certainly believe we humans can make a difference toward the positive just as we can make a difference toward the negative, but how much we go in either direction is not always so easy to measure or influence as we would like to be able. Still, I'm certainly not one to accept the "throw up our arms" in futility approach to things. That's for losers, and while there are a lot of losers all around us, fortunately there are those who help us to make whatever progress we can.
Either you join them or you are a part of the problem...
What really makes me laugh about your philosophy, AA is that you behave as if humans actually have the power to fix things that are wrong on this earth. How deluded could a person get? We are no more capable of fixing global warming at the advanced state it's in than we are of inventing a slingshot to propel a rocket to the moon. WAKE UP! Only a supernatural being at this late stage possess the power to fix what's wrong on this globe.
While the climate crisis now has something of a life of its own and is causing knock on effects that are exacerbating the unvirtuous cycle that we are in, and while one can make a convincing argument that in many respects it's "too late" -- I cannot accept the notion that there is literally nothing we can do. Of course there is. At this point it will probably only mitigate the worst effects and shorten the time of cataclysm that we now face before things could start to settle down. But every step we take is almost certainly going to save or ease a life here and there. We must not give up like that.
I just took delivery of a couple of solar generators and portable solar panels. I should be able to generate a few hundred watt-hours a day of extra, carbon-free power for my household with these by taking certain systems off-grid -- things like my water heater, land line telephone, internet routers and ethernet switches, my home office itself. As a bonus I can keep these things (or maybe, say, the fridge) up and running in an extended power outage of many hours, which are becoming more commonplace and can be expected to become more common generally.
I already have rooftop solar, but it doesn't work when the grid goes down and I can't afford whole-house battery backup and extra inverter to allow it to function independently of that. So, more redundancy, less carbon footprint, more $ saved. Benefits to us, and to others.
If we give up then we don't even do what little we can.
Because I believe atheism can be expressed by just cutting gods out of your life and living it as though nothing supernatural or spiritual touches it, even if you happen to acknowledge the possibility one may exist. In short I refuse to be bound by your narrow scope of interpretation of the term, "atheist." That's the way I live my life now--I live without any thought or expectation that a God will intervene in my life in any way and I don't make any motions to try to make contact with this entity. That still doesn't dismiss my belief that whatever higher power created this world still owes us at the least some evidence it exists even if it's going to stubbornly refuse to touch us in any way.
It isn't my interpretation of the term. I'm referring to the very common definition found in just about any dictionary...
Atheist: a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods.
It's your interpretation that stretches the bounds a bit, to the point of what seems a want to have it both ways. If you have a belief that "whatever higher power created this world still owes us at the least some evidence it exists even if it's going to stubbornly refuse to touch us in any way," then I'd say you are more in the agnostic camp than atheist. I'd also say you really can't have it both ways unless you just want to continue to confuse matters here.
To be more definitive as I prefer and/or as most atheists might explain, I don't bother with the acknowledgement something exists if there is no evidence or proof that thing exists. I don't acknowledge that you are supernatural or a higher power in exactly the same way. For exactly the same reasons.
Right? I can't even answer my own questions/doubts.
I believe there's a "Dark Side" responsible for evil but that's as far as I "know". Plus, man's propensity for evil (in some).
Why do you believe in a "Dark Side?" Assuming you mean something beyond our natural realm?
Of course man has a propensity for wrong-doing. Call that evil if you prefer. "Profoundly immoral and wicked." Nothing unearthly about any of this, however, is there?
It's a silly premise to start off on. In deism God didn't have anything to do with actually making us individually. HE set natural laws into motion at the start of the universe and then withdrew for participation. That makes God an indirect cause of my birth and my mother and father getting it on one hot summer night as the direct cause of my birth. As to the rest
God is not all evil or all good in my opinion. He displays traits of both. Maybe that's what you blithely refer to as a tweener deity.
I get a real hoot observing two so-called atheists arguing about what God did or did not do! Too funny...
The more I read your comments the more it seems you are both closet believers and simply afraid to admit it!
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Only a supernatural being at this late stage possess the power to fix what's wrong on this globe.
