It's been quite some time. I didn't know this forum was still around. I'm not an intellectual, as most of the people who remember me know, so please bear with me.
Anyway, something has really been bothering me. I had a friend who was a born again Christian at one time (yes, I capitalize the word Christian, but it's mostly so spell check doesn't correct me,) and he must have sent me youtube clips of Christian testimony stories, and them arguing with people on the street they see who disagree with them. They debate atheists in some of these videos and try to convert them. Their logic is flawed, and very simplistic. "Well, how do you think that plane or car exists. It was made by somebody, right? You wouldn't say it just appeared, or that you didn't know where it came from. The same can be said for us, the universe, everything."
Of course I could talk to somebody who built a plane or a car. I can see them. I can't see God. "Well, I talk to God all the time! Something can't come from nothing, now can it?" Is their counter argument. Of course if you asked Stephen Hawking he would give you a quantum equation that would show you something could come from nothing, but I'm over simplifying this theory to say the least. But even if the "something can't come from nothing" argument had validity, I can still say "How do you jump to the conclusion then that a Christian God is the creator? Why not a Muslim God, or the Flying Spaghetti monster?" Then the friendly Australian man would say "Look at all this creation around you. Now if you died tomorrow in this rebellious phase of your life and haven't accepted Christ you'll go to hell."
It really all comes down to this, doesn't it? They do know they could be wrong it seems, but they never say it, and are just hedging their bets. It can never be about an actual experience they had, or some groundbreaking historical evidence that what the bible said is "The Truth."
But Pascal's Wager is a powerful motivator. It even hooks me in sometimes, and my agnostic mind goes "oh, well..they have got a point there. there's a possibility they're right, even though it's a very slim one."
But I bring this up here, because many of you have a very strong self belief, and aren't swayed by these arguments. And also I may be missing something. Anyway, thanks for listening.
(apologies for grammatical errors. I should have capitalized Pascal in the title. D'oh!)
Anyway, something has really been bothering me. I had a friend who was a born again Christian at one time (yes, I capitalize the word Christian, but it's mostly so spell check doesn't correct me,) and he must have sent me youtube clips of Christian testimony stories, and them arguing with people on the street they see who disagree with them. They debate atheists in some of these videos and try to convert them. Their logic is flawed, and very simplistic. "Well, how do you think that plane or car exists. It was made by somebody, right? You wouldn't say it just appeared, or that you didn't know where it came from. The same can be said for us, the universe, everything."
Of course I could talk to somebody who built a plane or a car. I can see them. I can't see God. "Well, I talk to God all the time! Something can't come from nothing, now can it?" Is their counter argument. Of course if you asked Stephen Hawking he would give you a quantum equation that would show you something could come from nothing, but I'm over simplifying this theory to say the least. But even if the "something can't come from nothing" argument had validity, I can still say "How do you jump to the conclusion then that a Christian God is the creator? Why not a Muslim God, or the Flying Spaghetti monster?" Then the friendly Australian man would say "Look at all this creation around you. Now if you died tomorrow in this rebellious phase of your life and haven't accepted Christ you'll go to hell."
It really all comes down to this, doesn't it? They do know they could be wrong it seems, but they never say it, and are just hedging their bets. It can never be about an actual experience they had, or some groundbreaking historical evidence that what the bible said is "The Truth."
But Pascal's Wager is a powerful motivator. It even hooks me in sometimes, and my agnostic mind goes "oh, well..they have got a point there. there's a possibility they're right, even though it's a very slim one."
But I bring this up here, because many of you have a very strong self belief, and aren't swayed by these arguments. And also I may be missing something. Anyway, thanks for listening.
(apologies for grammatical errors. I should have capitalized Pascal in the title. D'oh!)
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3aCLGJE
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