funinspace

Wow, that would be only about 350 million getting the famous E-ticket, and a 6.7 billion hell bound. Well, thanks for saying, even if I find your theology/dogma rather eerie.

Well, to be fair, by your own statement these “heretics” are the vast majority and are the face of Christianity in the US. They are the people we are generally confronted with in everyday life. Whether or not they are True Christians, is another matter…

As one who describes at least 80% of the “Christian” world as heretics, fakes, or misguided, the windmill is an interesting metaphor…

Anywho, I will not derail the thread further with my curiosity.

sotto voce

That seems reasonable, humanity having killed over 100 million of its own kind through warfare in the 20th century.

Sarcasm may be unacceptable to a deity, also.

Those of the 95% do. Eerie, or worse.

That's not my usage, is it.

It's very easy to put 'heretics' in quote marks and thereby make out that they are genuine believers. Is this not the preference of skeptics already mentioned? In any case, it's very curious that so many millions of people who call each other heretical can all be assumed to be orthodox! Where is free thought, rationality and legitimate argument? Where is scholarship? Or should we just have a disgraceful bunfight, like schoolchildren having "fun"?

Oh, dear. Would you rather have real Christians?

There seems to be just a little sensitivity here.

No Robots

Judging from things said by mythicists, including James, they wouldn't mind seeing Ehrman turfed. Even if mythicists really are happy that Ehrman has tenure, it is still hypocritical for them to say so after the attacks they have launched against him.

No, but I'm sure that they would like to be able to say that academic jobs should only go to people who subscribe their views. They see their own view as being the only scientifically valid one, and hence the only one eligible for scholarly status.

There is nothing wrong with statements of principle. Even Plato's Academy had one: "Let no one untrained in geometry enter." If you don't like the principle, don't enter.

Juststeve

Robots:

What I am referring to are those statements of faith in which a faculty member is required to pledge that their research will not reach conclusions contrary to the institutions dogma. When you sign that you are no longer doing research at all, just assuming the role of the apologist.

Steve

Toto

Most of the mythicists I know are also First Amendment absolutists, who were raised to defend anyone's right to disagree.

After all, the fun is in the debate. If no one disagrees, how can we have a good debate?

I think you are projecting. Or hallucinating.

Showing that you are projecting?

No Robots

I dunno, Toto. It seems to me that most evolutionists would not countenance having an anti-evolutionist in the biology department. I'm guessing that, if mythicists had the upper hand, they would similarly marginalize their opponents. And, yes, I do think that I might be guilty of the same kind of thing if I had the upper hand. That is why I think that each institution should have its own credo.

Roger Pearse

Isn't that functionally equivalent to an unwritten but equally binding statement of anti-faith?

funinspace

No sarcasm was intended, I was expressing appreciation for you being forthright. And I was a little surprised, as not too many Christians take this kind of theological position.

I find any theology, which includes eternal torment for the masses (whether it is 95% of humanity or 10% of humanity), to be rather obscene; that is just my personal opinion and not a point I’m trying to debate.

Ok, but that is how I read your statement. I have no idea what other usage you might have intended, and you offer no clarification.

I put heretics in quote marks, as every group has its own set of defined heretics, and few agree with the other groups groupings; and your categorization is on the rather extreme end of those that say they are Christian (regardless if it is right or wrong). I consider you, Roman Catholics, Methodists, Eastern Orthodox people, SBC people, et.al. to all be Christian; or say anyone who claims to believe that the Nicene Creed is true. As a counter example, I would generally agree that Mormon theology is not compatible with Christian theology. But I would not make statements about individual members of the Mormon sect, as people are more than just members of a particular church. I don’t buy into Christian orthodoxy, as if one, five, or nine groups are true Christian faiths and the rest aren’t true. I consider all sects of Christianity false, and I find some theology/dogma are more strange than others.

That is your dogma and opinion. There is no trademark on the word “Christian”, and you don’t get to control the definition. I was speaking of the real world, where the vast majority of people interact and have generally used and accepted labels. At least in the US, even the vast majority of Protestant Christians and Roman Catholic Christians no longer hurl the word heretic at each other in derision. Which I find to be a positive thing.

Not really, I just found your comment ironic.

I tried to be non-hostile, and was just trying to understand a bit more about your theology, while expressing a little of my reaction…C’est la vie

Dave31

LOL, and where exactly is this "binding statement of anti-faith," Roger? Oh right, it's "unwritten," of course probably due to the fact that there exists no such thing except in the minds of looney theists. Some Christians will say anything to shore up their faith at all costs even if it means being dishonest. It's difficult for the rest of us non-believers not to get that eerie Inquisition and Dark Ages vibe from some Christians these days. It's as if they'd love a new modern day dark age to rid the world of non-believers and mythicists.

At least mythicists are interested in credible evidence and facts that actually exist while many Christian Universities obviously are not.

The Mythicist Position thread

sotto voce

Oh. Apologies. I took 'Wow, that would be only about 350 million getting the famous E-ticket' as mocking tone. But mockery of course would seem inappropriate when over 100 million humans have been slaughtered by their 'fellows'.

So is it that Christians are illiterate? Is it that Christians are literate, but don't bother to read the Bible? Or is it that Christians are liars?

Or it is just damn near impossible to find an honest American? In Britain, educated people of any belief don't ask for estimates of the elect and get upset to learn that it isn't so many. In fact, they'll tell you that the Bible says, 'Many are called, few are chosen'. What a great gulf there seems to be between shores.

Who gives a damn what you think?

Then attributed it falsely.