Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Amaleq13 · 03-01-2006, 08:27 AM

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Originally Posted by Tigers!

If you or I were to come to the stage of deciding to change our belief system (viz atheistic to theist or vice-versa) we would reach a stage of deciding to change, it wouldn't just happen. It would be an act of will.

No, the number of variables is irrelevant. The only "act of will" is a deliberate choice to make a conscious effort to consider the evidence without regard to prior-held conclusions or personal preferences. The outcome of a change in conclusion is then dictated by the evidence.

I did not "decide" to become an atheist. I was forced to accept that my consideration of the evidence had, with no conscious effort on my part, eliminated any faith I had once had in the existence of a god.

aChristian · 03-01-2006, 10:06 PM

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Originally Posted by Diogenes the Cynic

aChristian, Muslims, Jews and Christians all worship the same Abrahamic God. Allah is not a different God from the God of Moses. Allah just means "God" n Arabic. Do you know what Arab Christians call God? They call him "Allah."

No, Allah actually was the moon god that Mohammed gave preeminence to. Salman Rushdie got himself in hot water with the Muslims for telling part of that story. If you compare the ideas about Allah and Yahweh, you will see that they are two different gods. There is only one true God, Yahweh.
As far as Christians using Allah to translate God, it is a translation that needs careful consideration. It may be wise to translate Yahweh as Allah and correct the misconceptions about God that are associated with Allah, however, it may also be so corrupted by the false ideas that it is not useful in communicating truths about the true God, Yahweh. In any case, Osama doesn't worship the true God, he worships the false God whom Muslims call Allah.

aChristian · 03-01-2006, 10:16 PM

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Originally Posted by Bertsura

Moses committed God-sanctioned genocide, by the way. You would know this if you read the Bible as you claim.

Think about what you're saying. You're saying that kids dying probably worked out for the best. You're saying that entire civilizations, all those people, deserved death. You're saying that all this is "not a big deal". Think.

Our sin has awful consequences because it is an awful thing. I didn't say that those people dying was not a big deal, I said it was not a bad deal when comparing the options of 1) eternity in hell with a long life here to 2) eternity in heaven with a short life here. By the way, if you read the previous posts, you will see that we were already discussing Moses (actually Joshua was the one carrying out most of it) carrying out God-sanctioned genocide.
You are saying that those people did not deserve death. God knows more about those people than you do.

aChristian · 03-01-2006, 10:27 PM

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Originally Posted by mightyjoemoon

Good grief... why do I even venture onto this board? Same old fundie xxxxxxxx I've had to deprogram myself from spit back up in all the predictable ways. A world where hacking babies to death = good, and "my god is true because I say so, Osama's is false because I say so."

Actually, Christianity is true not because I say so, but because it is true and any honest examination of the evidence from history and science bears this out. I would consider your position to be one of blind faith.

Sven · 03-02-2006, 02:29 AM

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