Often, Christians suspect non-Christians of asking insincere or intellectually dishonest questions. By "intellectually dishonest", I mean they would say, "Are you looking for the truth or trying to prove a point?" Although I have never been accused of being intellectually dishonest or insincere myself, I have witnessed certain individuals who have, which makes me wonder what Christians do not like about those set of questions or what is it about those set of questions are "intellectually dishonest" or "insincere". I personally find those so-called "intellectually dishonest" or "insincere" questions helpful, because there are times when I completely feel like I am at a loss of words or opinion, as if the Christian worldview is more correct than mine. By hearing the side of other secularists, I get to hear the other side and don't feel like I'm being totally brainwashed as in the Asch conformity experiments.
I can't speak for others, but I have found that there are indeed some who come here not looking for answers, but looking to debate or simply expound on how much they think Christianity is bunk. I understand that many times the simple answer does not satisfy; but: 1) on this particular forum debate is prohibited (for better or worse), and 2) not many on this site have the training to debate, and don't know how to argue the details in any depth. I try not to pre-judge where individual posters are coming from simply based upon the similarity of their questions to those who are looking to argue, but it is sometimes difficult to get a good read on attitudes and may make the mistake of misinterpreting genuine interest from a desire to debate/belittle my faith. If any here make that mistake, I hope you can forgive us.
A set of questions for you:
1. What is "truth"?
2. How do you determine "truth"?
3. How do you know the Bible is "truthful" without resorting to quotations from the Bible?
4. What do you consider to be an intellectually dishonest or insincere question, and why? Can you give an example?
1) Truth is that which corresponds to reality as it exists. I believe truth is absolute and that it is knowable within the limitations of human logic and reason.
2) Some truth can be known empirically, and in those cases I believe science to be very helpful. Some truth cannot be empirically known, and in those cases, if I believe it is important to reach a conclusion, I take what can be known, and in faith I make a decision on what is true.
3) In this case, it is a matter of faith based upon evidences. There are many statements the Bible makes that correspond to what we can know of ancient history. There are many fulfilled prophecies that we can use as evidence. The Bible speaks to my heart in ways that cannot be quantified. Finally, when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, something new and powerful happened in my life... something that was dead in me came to life. This is what the Bible promised would happen. I cannot empirically know if everything the Bible tells me is true, but what I can verify to be true has lead me to accept in faith that which I cannot know empirically, as well as a few things that seem to contradict what we think we know.
4) A dishonest or insincere question is one that does not have any desire for an honest and sincere answer, but one that seeks to engender an anticipated response that can be ridiculed and/or debated for the purposes of the questioner. Another type of insincere question is one in which the questioner has no desire to change his/her position on... A good example would be the recent thread that claimed that God was evil, and then proceded to ask questions that the questioner believed supported this conclusion. The tone of the statement and questions was very accusative and abusive, and it appeared that the questioner had no desire to have his position opposed, but simply wanted to vent his beliefs in a ridiculing and abusive way. I admit that it is usually not so clear where the questions are coming from, and we sometimes mistake honest seeking of understanding for this type of poster... all I can say is that we are human.
Hope this helps;
Mike