How else would anyone learn the truth?
The trouble is that we have a whole bunch of people who HAVEN'T experienced it claiming it is real anyway.
You want to use it to change society, then you must demonstrate that it works. And those who have demonstrated that it works are not in a position to use it to change society.
So you would consider it reliable, despite the fact that I have never been to New York? And the whole book was just made up by me? It's as much a work of fiction as M*A*S*H is a work of fiction about the Korean War, and you are claiming it counts as a primary source? Wow. Is M*A*S*H a primary source about the Korean War?
Evidence that scripture is correct.
So you think the thing that makes the claims is evidence that the thing that makes the claim is correct? How does that work?
If I have a piece of paper with Jodie Foster's name on it, does that mean it's an autograph? By your logic, I can consider the writing itself to be evidence that it is an autograph, despite the fact that anyone with a pen can write Jodie Foster's name.
Because your behaviour is not enough to avoid punishment, according to what the Bible says.
Then you are closed minded. Is there any point in debating this with you? Is there anything that could change your mind?
So you admit to a double standard?
ZGood question. Have you got an answer?
But that's not a "change your entire way of life here and now" thing, is it? It's a "change your way of life gradually over a long period of time" thing.
I once asked my husband if he thought I was going to hell. He said yes, because I don't believe. I then asked him if he thought he was going to heaven. He said he would, because he does believe. Then I asked him what heaven was. He said is was complete happiness and contentment. I asked him how he could be happy and content in Heaven for all eternity if he knew that I was suffering for all time in Hell. He didn't have an answer. I told him that he would either have to stop caring (which he viewed as barbaric, that God would wipe out his feelings for me), or that he would have to become completely ignorant of anything but his own happiness, which he also didn't like. He disagreed, so I asked him to tell me how it would work. He couldn't, and he now longer believes that I am going to hell.
There are divine acts of Allah that convince Muslims that Islam is correct just as much as you with Christianity.
Do you think that belief that a divine act of a deity has lead you to the correct religion is a reasonable explanation?
Rubbish. If you wanted to, you could go and look at all the other non-book evidence for the claims made in those books. Those books do not exist in a vaccuum.
Yeah, that's why he sent Jesus and even appeared in the Bible, making miracles and all that. Coz he doesn't want to be easily discovered.
Must be.
And yet he doesn't.
So maybe he doesn't exist. So why believe?
Or maybe he does exist, but he doesn't want people to know. So by believing, aren't you going against what he wants?
But when you try to explain it away, it never really sounds plausible, does it?
I hide in the basement all day, because I don't want my daughter to know for sure that I exist. I want her to believe it without evidence, because that way her love for me is more pure, or something.
Sounds crazy when I say that, doesn't it?
That's why we look at what happened to other people. That's why we study and test things. So we know how things react in certain situations. Things like hearts, and situations like sticking metal into power points.
Dishonesty makes it sound like intentional maliciousness on your part, and I don't believe that. I'd perhaps phrase it as mistaken.
Why should I think that Aesop's Fables is a mere collection of stories not meant to be taken as true? Is it because science tells us that gods doesn't exist and animals don't talk? Is it because only non-Aesopians are truly objective when it comes to interpreting the fables?
I am asking what God got from it when people sacrificed animals as burnt offerings. Really, it sounds rather bloodthirsty to me.
I'm actually asking what God gets from it. What benefit is there?
According to the Bible, they are instructions from God. So it seems that they are required, at least according to the Bible.
But you don't really believe that, do you?
I am pointing it out as a far more plausible explanation.
We know for a fact that there are people who are perfectly happy to lie in order to manipulate others.
I'd say yes, it is wrong for you to discard a rational argument solely on the basis that you don't like what it says.
Really? All that bit about women being subject to men, beating slaves, women having to marry their rapist... That doesn't seem morally wrong to you?
Reality.
It seems that your personal beliefs require you to believe EVERYTHING that has not been totally ruled out. Your world must be a very crowded place. Why haven't you bumped into a superhero yet? There must be lots of them in your world.
No, I'd like for you to consider the evidence for BOTH SIDES in a rational and objective manner, without biasing towards the side you want to believe in.
I'm not calling them worthless, I'm calling them inaccurate, since you have no way to verify them. And I'm asking how you think it is reasonable to believe in something which you can not even test to the slightest degree.
Of course you could. That is a perfectly reasonable explanation and I will be more than happy to consider it.
Show me evidence that such memory training was a thing back then, and I shall change my beliefs accordingly. Until then, however, you are just guessing.
So you have few records back then, and you can't do it.
They had few records, yet they could.
Why the difference?
Sounds like a self supporting argument to me. It's like believing you can fly by sitting on a chair, putting your hands underneath it and pulling it upwards. It's not really supported by anything, so it doesn't work.
I can say there were many eyewitnesses that saw me turn into a jumbo jet yesterday. But that doesn't mean anything. Same thing with the claims of many eyewitnesses for Jesus.
Do you have a rational reason for doubting this?
Given that you are intelligent enough to know that believing something doesn't make it true, I'd say you probably don't have a mental illness.
You do, however, seem to have a lack of motivation to look into your beliefs.
But of course, you discount such far fetched explanations. Well, most of them, anyway...
You have just as much reason to believe them as anything else you believe.
Again, I wouldn't call it brainwashing. I'd say it's more case of people needing to explain the things in reality that contradict their beliefs, so they have to come up with something.
Do you think your bias is a good thing or a bad thing?
Would the non-existence of God be amazing to you?
So it's a hypothetical.
