eating cereal with buttermilk

[Michael G]

But lest we forget the other part of the OP...

I really like buttermilk with cornbread crumbled in it, and salt and pepper. Yum!

Most of the time I just eat cornbread with butter on it. I've never tried it that way.

 

[AureateDawn]

If you find the original topic interesting...

What do you think?

I pretty much agree with everything you've said.

 

[Protoevangel]

Most of the time I just eat cornbread with butter on it. I've never tried it that way.

That is definitely good, too!

All of a sudden, I'm in the mood for cornbread.

 

[Protoevangel]

I pretty much agree with everything you've said.

So you don't think there are alternative reasons as to why someone would not desire to consider alternative religions? It's always because they are afraid that their religion is false?

 

[ArnautDaniel]

So you don't think there are alternative reasons as to why someone would not desire to consider alternative religions? It's always because they are afraid that their religion is false?

Note the gambit here:

1. Take the original proposition P which merely purports to be an explanation but not necessarily the only one

2. Make a slight modification to the effect that P purports to be the only explanation

3. Show that somewhere sometime an alternative explanation existed to account for the same facts

4. Well gosh, if P claims to be the only explanation then gosh, P must be false!

5. Finally conclude that P is never the explanation

 

[Hoankan]

Mod Hat On

Some debating going on. Moved to St. Justin Martyr's Corner.

Mod Hat Off
​

 

[Protoevangel]

Note the gambit here:

1. Take the original proposition P which merely purports to be an explanation but not necessarily the only one

2. Make a slight modification to the effect that P purports to be the only explanation

Untrue. the original proposition P does claim to be the only explanation:

-if you aren't willing to look at and consider alternatives then it is really because you dont think the thing you are talking about is 100% true

Not, "it might be because..."
Not, "one reason might be..."
But "then it is really because"

3. Show that somewhere sometime an alternative explanation existed to account for the same facts

4. Well gosh, if P claims to be the only explanation then gosh, P must be false!

You made the blanket proposal. Not me.

5. Finally conclude that P is never the explanation

This is nothing but a boldfaced lie. The briefest glance at my first reply to your highly imaginative premise shows that conclusively... Here, let me provide it for you, once again.

Like most blanket statements, I can see some truth in what you say, but also like most blanket statements, it fails exactly by being what it is (a blanket statement).

Sometimes refusing to consider alternatives is because one is afraid they are wrong. But sometimes, refusing to consider alternatives is exactly because one has already considered these alternatives, and found them to be lacking. And finally, sometimes refusing to consider alternatives, is because one is so focussed, they have no energy to waste on examining alternatives. There are numerous reasons one may be unwilling to consider alternatives, and to try to claim only one reason for all, is ridiculous.

 

[Protoevangel]

Now that we have that straightened out, I would like to make a proposal.

Perhaps you never meant to suggest that P was the only answer. Perhaps it was a typo, or overstatement, or something. I could see how you might have continued the argument, assuming your real argument, just with your written argument saying something slightly different.

In that case, we have nothing to disagree about.

Just let me know.

 

[Michael G]

That is definitely good, too!

All of a sudden, I'm in the mood for cornbread.

Threads are always more fun when food is involved...

 

[ProScribe]

The other religions worship a false god, and at that a non existent one. The gods of other religions are so different than the one true God it is like night and day

That would be the Creator who created the sun, the stars, and the moon.

 

[ProScribe]

Other religions do not worship Jesus Christ. Jews worship God the Father, but they do not worship Christ. Hindus do not worship Christ, nor do Buddhists. Muslims think he is a prophet, but not God. Only Christians worship Christ as being God.

A critical tenet of true religion is the understanding that God . . .created all human beings (all peoples) in His own image. This includes every human being as an individual in the different societies of the world at large. This includes Jews, Buddhists,Muslims,Atheists, Politicians, the Ice-Cream Man and all human beings in general.

 

[GBTWC]

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.


John 6:66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

 

[rusmeister]

Hate to say this, ProScribe (or should I call you "Knowledge3"?), but our non-Orthodox brother (GB) here has it clearer than you. The other faiths have pieces of the Truth, and do seek God and try to describe what they have learned, but without special revelation from God Himself they have come together on little except that He created the world, and upon encountering the Gospel they have a new responsibility - to accept it above their own man-made attempts to seek and worship Him (and I am speaking of the best and most sincere pagans and non-Christians). It is when that revelation - that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God who came into the world to save us - is made to them that they must then choose to accept it and God's way to eternal life, or reject it, and fall into darkness (from which only God Himself can save them, as He saves us - only they reject that salvation). It is this rejection of the Gospel that is damning.

All of the pieces of truth contained elsewhere are contained more perfectly in Orthodoxy. Learn that, and you will see why, although it is good to understand why other religions are false, there is no special need for us to throw ourselves into extensive studies of other faiths. (Granted a person under special blessing and guidance from a priest might have a special reason for doing so, but there is no general universal need for most of us to do so, and a person doing it without that blessing and guidance falls into danger of heresy and embracing a false "way", "truth" and "life".

 

[Michael G]

A critical tenet of true religion is the understanding that God . . .created all human beings (all peoples) in His own image. This includes every human being as an individual in the different societies of the world at large. This includes Jews, Buddhists,Muslims,Atheists, Politicians, the Ice-Cream Man and all human beings in general.

No. Jews believe in God the Father, but not in Christ or the Holy Spirit. Thus they only have 1/3 of the truth. Buddhists and Muslims might have tiny pieces of truth in what they believe, but compared to the complete truth of Orthodox Christianity they have very little. Atheists have no truth in what they believe because they totally deny the existence of God. Other Christian faiths have pieces of truth in what they believe, but they only have that truth because it came to them from Orthodox Christianity.

 

[Michael G]

That would be the Creator who created the sun, the stars, and the moon.

The last I checked the name for God the Father is GOD, not creator.

 

[ProScribe]

Genesis 1.27
And God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.

. . .

 

[ProScribe]

The last I checked the name for God the Father is GOD, not creator.

Look, I'm not much for debate.

I only debate unless is a critical/crucial/important issue.

As the title of the thread implies, it was meant for mutual discussion in a friendly format.

. . .

 

[Mikeb85]

I'll throw my opinion in. Before Orthodoxy, I was basically agnostic (maybe slightly athiest too), after growing up Baptist (evangelical Christianity to me never really made any sense - their entire basis for believing they're the true faith is irrational). But, due to some experiences I had, still believed there maybe there was a god(s).

So I studied human history, trying to understand why people believed (and still do) in God, and I studied many religions, both ancient and current. I spent a ton of time (literally years) studying ancient Egyptian and Sumerian religions (and all the other religious systems that are based on them), Zoroastrianism, Jainism and Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, etc... And it's true, they all have some truths, those people didn't come to believe what they did by accident, or some acid trip. But all those religions are lacking.

They're all looking for something, but can't achieve it. Most of these ancient religions understood that they can't achieve immortality, the best they can hope for is a gloomy underworld or maybe breaking the cycle of reincarnation... (edit - you look at the spread of early Christianity, and most of the early Christians came from Egyptian, Sumerian/Mesopotamian, Greek/Roman, and some Vedic traditions - as well as Judaism of course)

Another thing I noticed is that all of these religions degenerate... They start out with belief in one or a few gods, and eventually end up with thousands. They start out with firm beliefs, then become syncretic and confusing. In the end, you get a mess of ancestor and idol worship, endless mythologies, and whatever truth they did contain gets buried under their lies...

Anyhow, eventually, through much research, I ended up at Orthodox Christianity (which I researched for half a year before even stepping foot in a church). In my mind, it really is the only religion that offers any hope for mankind. And in my mind, is the truth. As someone else said, there's no such thing as relative truth.

___________________________________________________________


As for the topic of whether or not it's good to study other religions, I think it depends on the person. Some people are too easily influenced every time they learn something new, so for them it's counter productive, and leads to confusion. In my case, I definitely am glad to have researched so many religions, gave me a better understanding of human history in general, and now there's really no doubt in my mind of the truthfullness of Orthodox Christianity. Knowing how Christianity fits into human history, knowing how and why pagan religions developped as they did, in my opinion, is worthwhile knowledge.

 

[ProScribe]

I'll throw my opinion in. Before Orthodoxy, I was basically agnostic (maybe slightly athiest too), after growing up Baptist (evangelical Christianity to me never really made any sense - their entire basis for believing they're the true faith is irrational). But, due to some experiences I had, still believed there maybe there was a god(s).

So I studied human history, trying to understand why people believed (and still do) in God, and I studied many religions, both ancient and current. I spent a ton of time (literally years) studying ancient Egyptian and Sumerian religions (and all the other religious systems that are based on them), Zoroastrianism, Jainism and Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, etc... And it's true, they all have some truths, those people didn't come to believe what they did by accident, or some acid trip. But all those religions are lacking.

They're all looking for something, but can't achieve it. Most of these ancient religions understood that they can't achieve immortality, the best they can hope for is a gloomy underworld or maybe breaking the cycle of reincarnation... (edit - you look at the spread of early Christianity, and most of the early Christians came from Egyptian, Sumerian/Mesopotamian, Greek/Roman, and some Vedic traditions - as well as Judaism of course)

Another thing I noticed is that all of these religions degenerate... They start out with belief in one or a few gods, and eventually end up with thousands. They start out with firm beliefs, then become syncretic and confusing. In the end, you get a mess of ancestor and idol worship, endless mythologies, and whatever truth they did contain gets buried under their lies...

Anyhow, eventually, through much research, I ended up at Orthodox Christianity (which I researched for half a year before even stepping foot in a church). In my mind, it really is the only religion that offers any hope for mankind. And in my mind, is the truth. As someone else said, there's no such thing as relative truth.

___________________________________________________________


As for the topic of whether or not it's good to study other religions, I think it depends on the person. Some people are too easily influenced every time they learn something new, so for them it's counter productive, and leads to confusion. In my case, I definitely am glad to have researched so many religions, gave me a better understanding of human history in general, and now there's really no doubt in my mind of the truthfullness of Orthodox Christianity. Knowing how Christianity fits into human history, knowing how and why pagan religions developped as they did, in my opinion, is worthwhile knowledge.

Reps for a quality post. (a post with meaningful & coherent content)

 

[rusmeister]

Reps for a quality post. (a post with meaningful & coherent content)

I concur!