Johnny Skeptic

From another thread:

Please answer the topic question. In addition, are you a member of the "faith only" crowd? If so, I will tell you that if God is evil, and if he is omnipotent and omnipresent, he could easily deceive you.

hatsoff

Wow, a thread just for me! Have I made such a deep impression in my short time here?

So, do apologetics help determine the nature of God? No. The purpose of apologetics (as I understand it) is to defend Christianity against slander and heresy.

Johnny Skeptic

Apologists frequently argue with skeptics about what they (apologists) believe are historical facts, for example, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, but my point is that even if their historical claims are true, that doesn't help them determine whether or not they will go to heaven.

In my previous post, I said "Are you a member of the 'faith only' crowd? If so, I will tell you that if God is evil, and if he is omnipotent and omnipresent, he could easily deceive you." Please answer my question.

hatsoff

I see three questions in this thread, and I've answered two already. I suppose I can elaborate...

"Is Bible apologetics of any value regarding determining the nature of God?"
No. As I said, that's not what apologetics is about. That is reserved for defending Christianity against slander, heresy, etc. Apologetics does not (or at least it usually does not ) involve proving Christianity.

"If God is evil, wouldn't it be easy for him to masquerade as a good God by means of healing some people, raising some people from the dead, and accurately predicting the future?"
Who knows? Does God exist? Is he omnipotent? Evil? What is "evil," anyway? These questions are impossible to answer, because we don't have sufficient data.

"Are you a member of the 'faith only' crowd?"
No.

Johnny Skeptic

You are not a member of the 'faith only' crowd? You need to explain the following from another thread:

I said:

You replied:

Will you please clarify your position? You now say that you are not a member of the 'faith only' crowd, but you previously said "Christians have faith. They don't need to deal with data, evidence and odds."

Do you believe that the odds are better than 50/50 that God is good and will send you to heaven, and if so, based upon what evidence?

hatsoff

No.

I'm not Christian.

Since it's impossible to determine those odds, I can't subscribe to any such belief.

Johnny Skeptic

I wasn't aware of that. I just checked your viewer profile and it says atheist aka agnostic. Why do you make posts at this forum? What is your best evidence against Christianity?

Toto

This is a very Christian understanding of apologetics - that any criticism must be slander or heresy. In fact, Christian apologists do defend the historical "truth" of Christianity and various other Christian doctrines, including the nature of God.

Is this an example of your difficulty in communicating?

hatsoff

I have no difficulty communicating, and I take exception to your rude remark. By "slander" I mean a myriad of venomous and dispassionate attacks alike--including "historical truth" and the like.

hatsoff

The sheer absurdity of it all, coupled with a lack of convincing evidence, leaves me unable to accept any religious claims, be they Christian, Hindu, Muslim, etc.