Deke

Regarding the idea of God, Disciple wrote: This idea....it is the defining and most important question in all of history.

Actually, I would argue the most important question in all of history is the one we ask ourselves continually, "How will I treat other people?"

After all, what one goes to bed at night believing in their mind matters considerably less than the actions they take the next day.

MHO,

Deke

theophilus

I know that you mean well, but these types of posts are not helpful from an apologetic perspective (and they contribute to the misperception that Christians are just mindless boobs).

Christianity is not about feelings - however real they may be to you. Feelings cannot be communicated and, as the unbelievers here will be quick to point out, people from all sorts of religions have good feelings about their faith.

Christianity is propositional, i.e., it consists of statements about historical events and their significance as part of God's redemptive purpose.

No one can challenge the sincerity of your feelings, but they cannot serve as the basis for the truth of Christianity and, I hope, they do not serve as the basis of your faith.

Blessings.

theophilus

Your question only has meaning if there is something ultimate about life, yours and "other people's."

"Matters" only matters if you have something to measure it by.

Starseyer

Very good point. The emotional argument is easy to shoot down indeed. When I was a believer, I had serious misgiving when I found out that I experienced much the same emotions from singing with secular songs on the radio that I felt when the "Spirit" came down during the song services at Church . . . maybe this is where my path to agnosticism began . . .

Jobar

And, I presume, you would have us measure by some undetectable and completely unevidenced being, who you yet claim is perfect, all powerful, all loving, et c.

Why, you even claim that this being is immaterial- outside time and space, matter and energy.

And this is the standard for what 'matters'?

I agree that we measure what matters, but our yardstick is not some ancient myth, it's *us*. What is good, is good for the vast majority of the race; what is evil, is evil for the race.

We need no ultimate rulers, theophilus. In either sense of the word.

And it amuses me a bit that *you* are the one who called Disciple a 'boob'. Except for one outburst by an atheist, which was quickly deleted by Philo, all the unbelievers here have treated Disciple with respect. We all understand that it's possible to feel something so strongly that we think it *must* be truth; unfortunately, we skeptics have learned (often quite painfully) that our feelings can be wrong.

It's my own opinion that all theists remain theists not because of reason, but because of emotion. Some just won't admit this.

Nowhere357

This atheist finds Disciple's argument far more compelling for the validity of Christianity, then nit-picking over a collection of ancient myths and legends.

Thor Q. Mada

I don't think it is funny. It is sentimental and hormonal, both of these are chemical processes.

Disciple

Hmmm...

My post was a personal post and not necessarily aimed at helping the Apologetic position. I have reasons for this...

To suggest that I am seen as mindless, because I offered my experience as a discussion point, could also be seen as mindless!

Deke

Previously I wrote: I would argue the most important question in all of history is the one we ask ourselves continually, "How will I treat other people?"

After all, what one goes to bed at night believing in their mind matters considerably less than the actions they take the next day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Theophilus replied:Your question only has meaning if there is something ultimate about life, yours and "other people's."

"Matters" only matters if you have something to measure it by.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Right. How people treat me “matters” to me. And I can measure how they treat me by the actions they take/don’t take with regard to me. I’m assuming how people treat you matters to you, and I would guess you measure this by assessing the actions others take/don’t take with regard to you.

MHO,

Deke

Mageth

To suggest that I am seen as mindless, because I offered my experience as a discussion point, could also be seen as mindless!

You'll have to forgive theophilus. He's been posessed, or at least that's how I interpret his position. He claims all knowledge is unknowable outside of revelation from God. I view his position, that knowledge is not possible without revelation, to basically mean that we are all mindless, including Christians; whatever mind christians have isn't really theirs. So it's a bit ironic to me for him to claim that your type of post will "contribute to the misperception that Christians are just mindless boobs".