On the contrary, I died, and was born again a new spiritual me that will never die.And aside from a case of the warm fuzzies, what have you gained?
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On the contrary, I died, and was born again a new spiritual me that will never die.And aside from a case of the warm fuzzies, what have you gained?
Really now? That's a strange thought.
Who gets to decide what is truly "unoriginal?"
That's all you've got?
Good arguments.![]()
On the contrary, I died, and was born again a new spiritual me that will never die.
The people who've heard the same thing over and over.... what do you think "unoriginal" means?
Against unsubstantiated opinion, what more does one need?
Speaking of good arguments (or lack there of), I'm still waiting for you to address my question.That's all you've got?
Good arguments.![]()
Well, in that case Darwinian Evolution is "unoriginal" as well.
Everything is, actually. There is "nothing new under the sun" after all.
Oh the irony!That's all you've got?
Good arguments.![]()
Perhaps you haven't been reading carefully what has been presented here.
Oh well.
Speaking of good arguments (or lack there of), I'm still waiting for you to address my question.
Is that going to be your excuse for not answering the question, again?Ha ha, as a former Christian, you know the answer.
As a matter of fact, yes. The concept of evolution had been around for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, before Darwin -- but the problem was that nobody could quite figure out how it happened.
All Darwin really did was propose a mechanism -- natural selection -- which explained why certain traits were preserved, and some were eliminated.
That's all "Darwinian evolution" means, really -- speciation through natural selection.
Again, that is somewhat true -- and if quoting the Bible makes you feel better about your own banality, who am I to deny you?
As I said earlier:Well, in actuality, you can't deny anyone their choice of beliefs. No one can, we all choose for ourselves.
We may be able to choose what we do in response to the evidence for a particular claim, but we cannot choose whether a claim is justified by the evidence. Perhaps an example would help. Years of research established that lead was a toxin whose environmental levels were increasing in tandem with its industrial and commercial uses. Since this clearly poses a public health problem, politicians must choose what to do in response. They can impose regulations banning the use of lead in certain products; they can create laws concerning the safe use of industrial lead and its disposal; they can replace existing lead-based products, and so on. But whether the conclusions regarding lead's toxicity are warranted is determined by the research evidence on that topic, and not by whatever they may wish to be true.
As I said earlier:
It seems to me that, when you get to a point of "I don't know," the only intellectually honest thing to do would be to admit that you don't know, not to pretend to know.And yet, how does that claim apply to something scientists cannot study or verify through repeated experimentation and observation?
When that happens we do indeed have a choice, but it requires faith.
Because, the truth is, we do not have all the answers in life.
Is that going to be your excuse for not answering the question, again?
Because the question wasn't rhetorical. You never indicated what that something else was, leaving the question open. And I suspect you don't want to answer it now because it would force you to admit that there are dogmas you should not question, contrary to what you implied earlier in our conversation.A rhetorical question isn't posed with the need for an answer. It presupposes an answer, because the answer is obvious. A rhetorical question is asked simply to make a point.
So, how is refusing to answer a question that is not really a question, an excuse?
You missed the point. You're assuming that 1: a book or other story has one and only one "true" meaning, and 2: Becoming a Christian will automatically clue you in to the "true" meaning of the Bible.
It's adorable, it really is -- if a touch naive.
Overlooking the whole "God wrote the Bible" nonsense you're heavily implying, doesn't the fact that the Bible is a primarily Jewish book, written almost entirely by Jewish authors involving famous Jewish characters, mean that in order to do more than scratch the surface, one should know Jewish history, language, culture, and customs?
It would make sense, and yet 99% of the people I've met who "know the author" wouldn't know a midrash from a hole in the ground, and still insist that Jesus wasn't a Jew. Funny, ain't it?
Except you didn't make a point -- you conflated the effort involved in learning a new language with the gift of God to instantly and effortlessly understnad the "true" meaning of the Bible.
You sound disappointed... don't.
Which is kind of funny, since I matter nothing to their agenda... or yours.
But not the last one, right? That's one's going to be special, you betcha.
You may be right -- but then again, one of the defining traits of humanity is the ability to keep moving forward -- sometimes in spite of itself.
They do -- and would happily see me under their heel, "for my own good," of course.
Simple people tend to stop at simple answers. Reality is not so simple, however.
Well, seeing as how we're all humans, that presents a conundrum, doesn't it?
Meaning that nobody in human history has ever done it right -- and there is precious little reason to believe anyone who says they already have.
Because it's the writing about a creator -- written by real people just like you and me. That seems to be the part you're stuck on.
It seems to me that, when you get to a point of "I don't know," the only intellectually honest thing to do would be to admit that you don't know, not to pretend to know.