Two Cabins

[Chesterton]

This is inspired by Tree Of Life's "Persuasiveness of the Christian Community" thread. I didn't want to hijack that one.

It's a hypothetical scenario I think I read in a book a long time ago - you're traveling to a town, but you're having to walk a long way through the woods to get there. It's snowing, temperature's below freezing, and you have to stop for the night. A man you came across earlier told you there are two cabins up ahead with warm fire and food. You asked him about who lived in them, and he replied that he didn't know either of the occupants, except it was known that one man was an atheist (cabin A), and the other man was a Christian (cabin B). That's all you know. Another thing, you're carrying a bag with your life savings in gold coins, so if you're going to sleep you'd like to be able to trust the person who's offering you hospitality not to murder you and/or steal your money. Which cabin would you go to?

 

[jacknife]

This is inspired by Tree Of Life's "Persuasiveness of the Christian Community" thread. I didn't want to hijack that one.

It's a hypothetical scenario I think I read in a book a long time ago - you're traveling to a town, but you're having to walk a long way through the woods to get there. It's snowing, temperature's below freezing, and you have to stop for the night. A man you came across earlier told you there are two cabins up ahead with warm fire and food. You asked him about who lived in them, and he replied that he didn't know either of the occupants, except it was known that one man was an atheist (cabin A), and the other man was a Christian (cabin B). That's all you know. Another thing, you're carrying a bag with your life savings in gold coins, so if you're going to sleep you'd like to be able to trust the person who's offering you hospitality not to murder you and/or steal your money. Which cabin would you go to?

flip a coin, heads go to A. tails go to B. edit: there's not enough information to determine which house would be better.

 

[Chesterton]

flip a coin, heads go to A. tails go to B. edit: there's not enough information to determine which house would be better.

Haven't you heard that Christians are scared of a big man in the sky who might punish them for doing bad things?

 

[jacknife]

Haven't you heard that Christians are scared of a big man in the sky who might punish them for doing bad things?

Haven't you noticed they do bad things anyways? he could be a pretty chill dude or a complete nutcase in your scenario. no way to tell.

 

[Chesterton]

Haven't you noticed they do bad things anyways? he could be a pretty chill dude or a complete nutcase in your scenario. no way to tell.

If you gotta gamble, you gotta play the probabilities. But fair enough.

 

[Davian]

This is inspired by Tree Of Life's "Persuasiveness of the Christian Community" thread. I didn't want to hijack that one.

It's a hypothetical scenario I think I read in a book a long time ago - you're traveling to a town, but you're having to walk a long way through the woods to get there. It's snowing, temperature's below freezing, and you have to stop for the night. A man you came across earlier told you there are two cabins up ahead with warm fire and food. You asked him about who lived in them, and he replied that he didn't know either of the occupants, except it was known that one man was an atheist (cabin A), and the other man was a Christian (cabin B). That's all you know. Another thing, you're carrying a bag with your life savings in gold coins, so if you're going to sleep you'd like to be able to trust the person who's offering you hospitality not to murder you and/or steal your money. Which cabin would you go to?

Insufficient information. One lacks belief in gods, the other adheres to a religion that, as I understand it, anything goes, as long as you believe.

Flip a coin. They could be good people either way.

 

[Tree of Life]

Everyone would choose the Christian and they know it. No one will admit this, though.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

This is inspired by Tree Of Life's "Persuasiveness of the Christian Community" thread. I didn't want to hijack that one.

It's a hypothetical scenario I think I read in a book a long time ago - you're traveling to a town, but you're having to walk a long way through the woods to get there. It's snowing, temperature's below freezing, and you have to stop for the night. A man you came across earlier told you there are two cabins up ahead with warm fire and food. You asked him about who lived in them, and he replied that he didn't know either of the occupants, except it was known that one man was an atheist (cabin A), and the other man was a Christian (cabin B). That's all you know. Another thing, you're carrying a bag with your life savings in gold coins, so if you're going to sleep you'd like to be able to trust the person who's offering you hospitality not to murder you and/or steal your money. Which cabin would you go to?

The atheist.

Odds are I'll have at least a little more in common with him and thus more to talk about through the night.

As it stands, the OP doesn't provide me with any additional information that would show who is more trustworthy. Both are human beings and so, both are about equally trustworthy (which unfortunately, isn't very much no matter who it is).

The atheist doesn't have any death threats against him but the Christian only needs to repent for any sin he does so..... 50/50.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Everyone would choose the Christian and they know it. No one will admit this, though.

Why? We don't even know if he's a True Christian™

 

[juvenissun]

This is inspired by Tree Of Life's "Persuasiveness of the Christian Community" thread. I didn't want to hijack that one.

It's a hypothetical scenario I think I read in a book a long time ago - you're traveling to a town, but you're having to walk a long way through the woods to get there. It's snowing, temperature's below freezing, and you have to stop for the night. A man you came across earlier told you there are two cabins up ahead with warm fire and food. You asked him about who lived in them, and he replied that he didn't know either of the occupants, except it was known that one man was an atheist (cabin A), and the other man was a Christian (cabin B). That's all you know. Another thing, you're carrying a bag with your life savings in gold coins, so if you're going to sleep you'd like to be able to trust the person who's offering you hospitality not to murder you and/or steal your money. Which cabin would you go to?

I guess it means the atheist have changed his mind and is probably a theist or a Christian NOW.

I would stay with the person who was atheist but is now not. He might still rob me, but my choice is made based on other positive criteria.

 

[Tree of Life]

Why? We don't even know if he's a True Christian™

Just going on the information that you have, "atheist" tells you almost nothing and "Christian" tells you a great deal. All you know about the atheist is that he doesn't believe in God. You have no idea about his character, moral values, etc...

But if you know that someone is a Christian you know that they aspire to emulate Jesus and to obey the 10 commandments. They may not do this perfectly, but it's much less probable to suffer at the hands of a Christian than it is an atheist.

What if the scenario were a bit different? In one cabin you've got an atheist. In another cabin you've got Jesus. Which would you choose to stay with and why?

 

[Davian]

Everyone would choose the Christian and they know it. No one will admit this, though.

You are doing very poorly at telling others what they think.

 

[Davian]

Just going on the information that you have, "atheist" tells you almost nothing and "Christian" tells you a great deal. All you know about the atheist is that he doesn't believe in God. You have no idea about his character, moral values, etc...

But if you know that someone is a Christian you know that they aspire to emulate Jesus and to obey the 10 commandments. They may not do this perfectly, but it's much less probable to suffer at the hands of a Christian than it is an atheist.

What if the scenario were a bit different? In one cabin you've got an atheist. In another cabin you've got Jesus. Which would you choose to stay with and why?

Choose between an atheist and an apocalyptic preacher?

Cabin A very time.

Now another scenario: In one cabin you've got an atheist. In another cabin you've got Santa. Which would you choose to stay with and why?

 

[JGG]

Just going on the information that you have, "atheist" tells you almost nothing and "Christian" tells you a great deal. All you know about the atheist is that he doesn't believe in God. You have no idea about his character, moral values, etc...

But if you know that someone is a Christian you know that they aspire to emulate Jesus and to obey the 10 commandments. They may not do this perfectly, but it's much less probable to suffer at the hands of a Christian than it is an atheist.

Your claim is that morally speaking, Christians are superior?

What if the scenario were a bit different? In one cabin you've got an atheist. In another cabin you've got Jesus. Which would you choose to stay with and why?

Jesus was a Jew. I would choose a cabin with a Jew in an instant.

 

[True Scotsman]

This is inspired by Tree Of Life's "Persuasiveness of the Christian Community" thread. I didn't want to hijack that one.

It's a hypothetical scenario I think I read in a book a long time ago - you're traveling to a town, but you're having to walk a long way through the woods to get there. It's snowing, temperature's below freezing, and you have to stop for the night. A man you came across earlier told you there are two cabins up ahead with warm fire and food. You asked him about who lived in them, and he replied that he didn't know either of the occupants, except it was known that one man was an atheist (cabin A), and the other man was a Christian (cabin B). That's all you know. Another thing, you're carrying a bag with your life savings in gold coins, so if you're going to sleep you'd like to be able to trust the person who's offering you hospitality not to murder you and/or steal your money. Which cabin would you go to?

I would definitely choose the atheist's cabin, even if it was a little further away. Then maybe I'd get a hot bowl of soup without having to listen to a sermon and be talked down to.

Someone asked why we atheists care about religion if we don't believe. It's because of stereotypical, judgmental garbage like this hypothetical. That is what we are fighting.

 

[Ana the Ist]

This is inspired by Tree Of Life's "Persuasiveness of the Christian Community" thread. I didn't want to hijack that one.

It's a hypothetical scenario I think I read in a book a long time ago - you're traveling to a town, but you're having to walk a long way through the woods to get there. It's snowing, temperature's below freezing, and you have to stop for the night. A man you came across earlier told you there are two cabins up ahead with warm fire and food. You asked him about who lived in them, and he replied that he didn't know either of the occupants, except it was known that one man was an atheist (cabin A), and the other man was a Christian (cabin B). That's all you know. Another thing, you're carrying a bag with your life savings in gold coins, so if you're going to sleep you'd like to be able to trust the person who's offering you hospitality not to murder you and/or steal your money. Which cabin would you go to?

Is this a serious question?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Haven't you heard that Christians are scared of a big man in the sky who might punish them for doing bad things?

Haven't you heard that Christians can murder people, and Jesus will wash it all away?

 

[JGG]

By the way, the answer to the question is that an atheist should go to the atheist cabin, and a Christian should go to the Christian cabin.

The Christian believes that a moraless atheist will rob him, so they should go to the Christian house. The Christian inhabitant of the Christian cabin will turn away the atheist because the Christian believes the moralless atheist will rob him.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I think I've got a better hypothetical scenario...one that doesn't involve having a leprechaun launder your life savings...

Suppose you're home one night while your wife is out of state for work. You get a call really late saying she's been in an accident and you need to get there quickly! You call the airport and there's one flight leaving soon...but only one available seat! That means you'll have to leave your attractive, quiet, and slightly effeminate 5yo boy with one of the only two neighbors who are home! Your choices are...

The 45yo atheist who's been married for the past twenty years and has two children of his own...or the 45yo (priest, father, deacon, etc etc...you get the point, he leads a christian church of some sort) who lives alone! Don't ask why you don't know more about them...you're just a bad neighbor! It's just for the next 48 hours until you can make other arrangements...who do you trust your boy's cornhole to!?!? Choose wisely....

Edit. I can't believe I can type cornhole on this site...gotta remember that one ...

 

[True Scotsman]

I think I've got a better hypothetical scenario...one that doesn't involve having a leprechaun launder your life savings...

Suppose you're home one night while your wife is out of state for work. You get a call really late saying she's been in an accident and you need to get there quickly! You call the airport and there's one flight leaving soon...but only one available seat! That means you'll have to leave your attractive, quiet, and slightly effeminate 5yo boy with one of the only two neighbors who are home! Your choices are...

The 45yo atheist who's been married for the past twenty years and has two children of his own...or the 45yo (priest, father, deacon, etc etc...you get the point, he leads a christian church of some sort) who lives alone! Don't ask why you don't know more about them...you're just a bad neighbor! It's just for the next 48 hours until you can make other arrangements...who do you trust your boy's cornhole to!?!? Choose wisely....

Edit. I can't believe I can type cornhole on this site...gotta remember that one ...

Outstanding!