markstake

In another thread, the idea that one of the issues with becoming a Christian is that you need to suspend critical thinking in order to accept Christianity, and this may lead to other lapses in the ability to reason.

My question is this: Does Christianity cause a lapse in critical thinking, or can a lapse in critical thinking lead to Christianity?

In other words, will an acceptance of Christianity lead to further lapses in critical thinking, or was the Christian impaired to begin with? Can a person lapse in only this one regard, while otherwise being a critical thinker?

(Those who believe that Christianity in itself isn't a lapse in critical thinking need not state your case here, since that is off topic for this discussion. You are always free to create your own thread if you wish to discuss it or state your position one way or the other.)

HelenM

Imo, it's not off-topic to consider whether the assumption underlying your post is valid or not.

If it's not valid then everything you wrote is based on a misconception.

It seems ironic to me that someone who is calling what others believe a 'lapse in critical thinking' is not willing to have anyone critically think about his own presuppositions on his thread. I'd say that's hardly being open to critical thinking on your part.

Helen

beastmaster

Markstake, I don't see how enforcing a false dichotomy advances the cause of critical thinking skills.

trillian

Most of the Xians I know are not stupid, which has been very confusing to me.. How can they be smart, and STILL believe all that stuff?


I think for some Xians its simply biology.
There were several studies on "the spiritual brain" where researchers tried to find how god experiences manifest in the brain.

They found that religious persons had activation in a part of the brain that non-believers did not. They were able to duplicate it in the lab where a test subject was able to have an amazing "spiritual" experience.

So people who truly believe do so because they "feel" it. They know it because their brains are wired that way. The sensation is one of "something bigger than myself" or a "powerful presence". No evidence can change it it seems.

I wish I could find the study but alas...no luck.

For other Xians it may be a willingness to accept the word of authority, just as a physicist doesn't question their mechanic. People tend to trust the word of people they think are experts.

Bumble Bee Tuna

Helen, this is NO different from a post arguing about the nature of God that starts with 'Assume God exists'. Should every argument over the exact nature of God have the entire 'Existence of God' forums crammed into it before it starts? No, because you will never reach an answer on whether God exists or not. Therefore, to have a discussion, you just make the assumption for the sake of argument.

Regardless, he was perfectly willing to have people criticize the assumption, he just stated that said criticism should take place in a new, separate thread so that this particular thread doesn't get derailed.

-B

markstake

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
Helen,

You can think of this as an exercise to understand the mentality of people who think that a lapse of critical thinking is an essential ingredient to Christianity.

Nowhere in my post did I state that Christians necessarily have this lapse, which is a perfectly worthy topic for discussion.

I wanted to keep the thread from being polluted with irrelevant conversations, but, congratulations, you've polluted it to the point where it is almost exclusively irrelevant to the topic I wanted to discuss. (Thanks for sticking to it, trillian1).

Thus, you put yourself in the position you accused me of:
Again, I would like to say ":banghead: :banghead: :banghead:"

I wonder if it's possible to get back to the topic now?

beastmaster

No, a thread that starts with "Assume God exists" is in the nature of a logical proof. You can make a valid logical proof even if the assumptions are false.

This thread, in contrast, seeks an explanation for a fact that has been presumed a priori. How can you *validly* explain something that is not true?

Yes, Xns suffer lapses in critical thinking. But so does everybody, including atheists. Are lapses in critical thinking essential to atheism?

markstake

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
It just gets worse
This thread does not seek an explanation for why Christians lack critical thinking skills.

This thread seeks an opinion from people who think Christians lack critical thinking skills.

Do I need to explain the difference?

I probably will not respond to this line of discussion again. This thread is already so far off topic into a subject that I expressly did not care to discuss that it's probably not possible to salvage it.

HelenM

Not everyone here is content to make such sweeping generalizations, but maybe you'll find some who are happy to do so.

Helen

beastmaster

Sure it does. It asks whether Xns lack critical thinking skills because they are Xns, or if Xns are Xns because they lack critical thinking skills.

Fair enough. It's your thread. But I don't see how that demonstrates the critical thinking skills you find lacking in others. /shrug