Why are you here?

akaDaScribe · Sep 27, 2018

ananda said:
I was a Christian on this board before I converted.

How long ago did you convert?

akaDaScribe · Sep 27, 2018

Eight Foot Manchild said:
Why am I here?

1. I don't want to live in an echo chamber. Almost everyone I know and interact with regularly is an atheist, or at least irreligious. The internet is the most convenient resource for exposure to opposing viewpoints. I consume conservative religious radio, podcasts and youtube videos, and talk to street preachers, for the same reason.

2. It's interesting.

3. I consider the public scrutiny of ideas and the reasoning behind them to be a civic duty.

In that order.

It is good not to enclose yourself with only like minded people. I agree with you. Though I must admit, at least from a Christian perspective, one has to spend more time learning more about the faith than time spent battling over it.

In that regard, I think this is a dangerous place for new Christians and Christians who haven't put their time in to more fully understanding the complete religion. I admit that the church does a terrible job of full disclosure about some things and when people don't know about them, it blindsides them and rocks them to the core. When you add skill debaters to that mix, it's a recipe for disaster for noobs.

ananda · Sep 27, 2018

akaDaScribe said:
How long ago did you convert?

It was a gradual process. I first adopted Buddhism as a practical philosophy of life, probably 5 years ago or so, and fully & formally accepted it about 2 years ago.

akaDaScribe · Sep 27, 2018

ananda said:
It was a gradual process. I first adopted Buddhism as a practical philosophy of life, probably 5 years ago or so, and fully & formally accepted it about 2 years ago.

Happy with it so far?

holo · Sep 28, 2018

I also joined CF when I was a believer. I was gone for a few years but came back because it's a good place to talk about faith, theology, morality etc. Discussions are mostly friendly, and people often make solid arguments. I like to see if my thoughts and arguments hold up.

jayem · Sep 28, 2018

I've been here more than 10 years now. I enjoy an intellectual discussion. It's a good thing to have your opinions challenged. And to formulate arguments in support of your ideas, and to express them with lucidity and conciseness. It's great brain exercise which improves both your cognitive abilities and your writing skills. And it's fun.

I was originally attracted to the E & M forum. My career was in health care, and I've always been interested in biomedical ethics. I served on my hospital's ethics committee for 10 years. One of our co-chairmen was an ordained Methodist minister, and the head of pastoral services. He knew about CF, and recommended it as a good on-line forum to discuss ethical and other issues. Art was a really good guy. Sadly, he passed away about 5 years ago. Even though he was a minister, and I was a non-believer, we got along famously. And we almost always saw eye-to-eye on the cases in which our committee was involved. Proof that people can have major religious differences, but still be buddies and collaborators.

ananda · Sep 28, 2018

akaDaScribe said:
Happy with it so far?

Very much so, thank you.

zippy2006 · Sep 28, 2018

ananda said:
I was a Christian on this board before I converted.

What was your name back then?

cvanwey · Sep 29, 2018

akaDaScribe said:
I know some people are here to forward their political agendas. Beyond that, I am just wondering why non-Christians join a Christian forum. Is it to troll? Is it to pull people closer to your world view? Are you looking for answers? Do you enjoy debating? Do you enjoy hearing different perspectives? Are you working for the company and generating new content? Is there something you hope to achieve?

I’m not asking as if I have a problem with you being here. I’m just trying to understand the mindset for better perspective.

I find religion taps into many topics. I find belief a very fascinating thing. I also find it odd, that many will run their entire lives, as if they do not think, or even care if a God exists, until you instead ask them. Meaning, they live their lives one way, but then voice another. Not that these individuals are hypocrites. But instead, that many humans acts do not appear to line up with what they claim to be true.

For me, I was a believer for decades. After I finally read the Bible, I had many questions. Many in which I felt I was not getting very satisfying answers about. I first came here to ask a small sampling of these questions, to gain a wide and global perspective. And since then, CF has sucked me in

I just wish I did not only get answers from the same few people over and over again Not that I don't enjoy their responses. It's just that many of these posts receive thousands of hits, and yet very few seem to reply in comparison.

akaDaScribe · Sep 29, 2018

jayem said:
I've been here more than 10 years now. I enjoy an intellectual discussion. It's a good thing to have your opinions challenged. And to formulate arguments in support of your ideas, and to express them with lucidity and conciseness. It's great brain exercise which improves both your cognitive abilities and your writing skills. And it's fun.

I was originally attracted to the E & M forum. My career was in health care, and I've always been interested in biomedical ethics. I served on my hospital's ethics committee for 10 years. One of our co-chairmen was an ordained Methodist minister, and the head of pastoral services. He knew about CF, and recommended it as a good on-line forum to discuss ethical and other issues. Art was a really good guy. Sadly, he passed away about 5 years ago. Even though he was a minister, and I was a non-believer, we got along famously. And we almost always saw eye-to-eye on the cases in which our committee was involved. Proof that people can have major religious differences, but still be buddies and collaborators.

Yeah, I think honest discussions among people with different beliefs does not inherently create hostility. Sometimes I feel like debate does because it's more about winning "the argument" than it is about gaining perspective and giving perspective.

I've had conversations with people from all kinds of world views and with the right environment/tone of discussions it actually gives me new perspective in what I already believe.

By default, I don't consider people with different views my "enemy." Sometimes people make it hard though when they attack with hostility.

akaDaScribe · Sep 29, 2018

holo said:
I also joined CF when I was a believer. I was gone for a few years but came back because it's a good place to talk about faith, theology, morality etc. Discussions are mostly friendly, and people often make solid arguments. I like to see if my thoughts and arguments hold up.

Happy to see you are still with us.

akaDaScribe · Sep 29, 2018

cvanwey said:
I find religion taps into many topics. I find belief a very fascinating thing. I also find it odd, that many will run their entire lives, as if they do not think, or even care if a God exists, until you instead ask them. Meaning, they live their lives one way, but then voice another. Not that these individuals are hypocrites. But instead, that many humans acts do not appear to line up with what they claim to be true.

For me, I was a believer for decades. After I finally read the Bible, I had many questions. Many in which I felt I was not getting very satisfying answers about. I first came here to ask a small sampling of these questions, to gain a wide and global perspective. And since then, CF has sucked me in

I just wish I did not only get answers from the same few people over and over again Not that I don't enjoy their responses. It's just that many of these posts receive thousands of hits, and yet very few seem to reply in comparison.

I enjoy reading many of your posts because I feel like your concerns are sincerely thought out.

I think we all have ideals that are hard to live up to. Humanity has always been brilliant at designing systems, but always has a hard time executing them when people are involved.

I look forward to future discussions.

cvanwey · Sep 29, 2018

akaDaScribe said:
I enjoy reading many of your posts because I feel like your concerns are sincerely thought out.

I think we all have ideals that are hard to live up to. Humanity has always been brilliant at designing systems, but always has a hard time executing them when people are involved.

I look forward to future discussions.

I thank you! I too enjoy many topics here. They appear to strike to the hearts of many, to their absolute core

MehGuy · Sep 29, 2018

I joined this forum as a Christian, lost my faith about a year later and left this forum for about a year but came back because I missed having a Christian atmosphere.

I'm not sure I really enjoy talking about atheism and challenging theists. More awkward than anything. I am more interested in discussing spiritual concepts with others. Ironically though I think I converse with pagans and people of non-Christian religions more than Christians here, lol.

holo · Sep 30, 2018

akaDaScribe said:
Happy to see you are still with us.

You can take me out of Christian Forums, but you can't take Christian Forums out of me.

Nihilist Virus · Oct 1, 2018

akaDaScribe said:
I know some people are here to forward their political agendas. Beyond that, I am just wondering why non-Christians join a Christian forum. Is it to troll? Is it to pull people closer to your world view? Are you looking for answers? Do you enjoy debating? Do you enjoy hearing different perspectives? Are you working for the company and generating new content? Is there something you hope to achieve?

I’m not asking as if I have a problem with you being here. I’m just trying to understand the mindset for better perspective.

I think that Christianity is a false religion, and on top of that, its leaders have been committing grave harm upon the world for centuries. While I remain open to the miniscule possibility that someone can reasonably defend Christianity's core claims, and while it is not the worst evil in the world (it remains second to Islam), I'm still doing good deeds if I present facts, evidence, reason and logic while exposing lies.

When I first came here my goal was to push people to be either hot or cold, but I have learned that all Christians are lukewarm and that's just not the right approach.

Dave RP · Oct 1, 2018

akaDaScribe said:
I know some people are here to forward their political agendas. Beyond that, I am just wondering why non-Christians join a Christian forum. Is it to troll? Is it to pull people closer to your world view? Are you looking for answers? Do you enjoy debating? Do you enjoy hearing different perspectives? Are you working for the company and generating new content? Is there something you hope to achieve?

I’m not asking as if I have a problem with you being here. I’m just trying to understand the mindset for better perspective.

I come on here because I am intrigued by religious faith.

My partner is a committed Christian, she says she has a personal relationship with God, she says she feels his presence when she's in church. She reads the bible every day, goes to a house group etc. I respect her faith, I believe she is sincere but I just don't get it.

I go to church with her and listen to the talks and for me they are just a series of stories, some more believable than others and some so ludicrous as to be beyond belief, but for her it's all ok as it's in the Bible.

So I thought I'd join a Christian forum to see if there is any logical arguments or anything else I am missing which would make me understand how any rational human being can believe all that Christianity tells them.

I do find the discussions interesting, but there has been nothing (yet?) to make me think that the Bible is anything more than fiction.

I have also asked occasionally on here for clarification of some issues in the Christian church, or subjects I have heard in her church - does God have a plan for everyone, why doesn't god make himself known to non believers, is the devil real, did Adam and Eve exist, where is hell, what are angels and where do they hang around - those type of questions and the answers have often been brilliantly contradictory.

akaDaScribe · Oct 2, 2018

MehGuy said:
I joined this forum as a Christian, lost my faith about a year later and left this forum for about a year but came back because I missed having a Christian atmosphere.

I'm not sure I really enjoy talking about atheism and challenging theists. More awkward than anything. I am more interested in discussing spiritual concepts with others. Ironically though I think I converse with pagans and people of non-Christian religions more than Christians here, lol.

I wonder why that is. Is it because you don't feel any pressure to change when you talk to them?

akaDaScribe · Oct 2, 2018

Nihilist Virus said:
I think that Christianity is a false religion, and on top of that, its leaders have been committing grave harm upon the world for centuries. While I remain open to the miniscule possibility that someone can reasonably defend Christianity's core claims, and while it is not the worst evil in the world (it remains second to Islam), I'm still doing good deeds if I present facts, evidence, reason and logic while exposing lies.

When I first came here my goal was to push people to be either hot or cold, but I have learned that all Christians are lukewarm and that's just not the right approach.

How you feel about Christianity is pretty much how I feel about people in power in general. Anyone looking for a cause to leverage for ambition can be very destructive. Christianity doesn't even remotely have a monopoly on that. I'm not sure any one group does. Unfortunately, Christianity isn't immune to it either.

Theo102 · Oct 2, 2018

akaDaScribe said:
I am just wondering why non-Christians join a Christian forum.

To share my perspective, to learn, and to find holes in my argument.

Why are you here?

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