HelenM

On another thread, Gregg wrote: "I don't think very many people on this board would say that they are 100% sure that Christianity is not true. 99% sure, perhaps, but not 100%"

To those who believe Christianity is not true - are you 100% sure?

Helen

Perchance

I think it depends on your definition of "true."

If true means "will work for me," then I know it's not true. I don't understand or like the doctrines or stories, and that would be essential for it to work for me. I am 100% sure on this at the moment. It would take a powerful experience of some kind, or coming to emotional understanding of it, to change my mind.

If true means "historically true," then I am 99% sure. I don't think that the miracles happened, because I don't think that natural laws can be violated, because I don't accept the existence of the supernatural. The parts that fit in with natural history might be acceptable, but have not yet been proven to have happened.

If true means "spiritually true," then I am 100% sure. I am an atheist to the concept of the Christian God, because it self-destructs, and to the idea that humanity needs a savior for sins. Besides, I don't believe in a spiritual plane.

What other definitions of true are there? I'm sure I'm missing some.

-Perchance.

[ October 25, 2002: Message edited by: Perchance ]</p>

Not Prince Hamlet

Before you force the bivalence, let me say this: I am 100% certain that Christianity is no more likely to be true than any other theistic religion.

Again, we need to make it clear: atheists aren't selectively against the Christian beliefs. No, atheists don't believe in any gods. It's an "either you're an atheist or you believe in the Christian God" kind of situation.

Jeff

HelenM

Ok, I understand you aren't selectively against Christianity being true, as opposed to any other theistic religion.

Now, back to the original question - are you 100% sure Christianity isn't true (which based on what you wrote, means you're 100% sure the other theistic religion aren't true, also - but for this purpose I wasn't asking about them)?

Helen

K

Helen:

I'm somewhere greater than 99% and less than 100% sure.

I'm as sure that the Christian God doesn't exist as I am that Allah, Thor, Aphrodite, Brahma, Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, vampires, or leprechans don't exist.

How sure are you that Thor doesn't exist, 99% sure or 100% sure?

sensate

Prove to me that 100% of it is 100% true.

Jack the Bodiless

It also depends on your definition of "Christianity".

Christianity is obviously based on the Bible. But "true Christians" who advocate Biblical inerrancy will come unstuck due to Biblical contradictions and suchlike.

So a workable version of Christianity would have to be based loosely on the Bible.

The most obvious improvement to Christianity's plausibility would be to make God non-omnipotent. Evil and suffering exist because God is having difficulty clearing them up. As there is basically zero support for the omnimax doctrine within the Bible itself, I don't understand why so many Christians cling to it.

Without the omnimax God, and with an inaccurate Bible: sure, that's a religion which might be true. But how far can you go in that direction without being Christian anymore?

I would give this rather fuzzy version of theism a reasonable possibility of being true. Not a high one, however: it's odd that this "nice guy" God is still hiding from the world.

(Edit: kant spel)

[ October 25, 2002: Message edited by: Jack the Bodiless ]</p>

Talulah

I am 100% sure that Christianity is false.

I am sure enough about the falseness of other religions to not believe in them, but it doesn't reach 100%, maybe in the high 90's

As far as belief in God, I am atheistic as far as belief in the Xtain God but ambivilant/agnostic about any other 'gods.'

Philosoft

I'm not sure how to assign a percentage to my beliefs. I do not find "supernatural" to be a meaningful concept, hence all of the important parts of Christianity fail by association. I can't really say I know supernatural events don't exist, because I don't know what they are. I can picture, for example, Jesus walking on water, but I can't make sense out of the idea that there is no physical force that is causing his acquatic ambulation. Can I say the topic question doesn't apply to me?

Not Prince Hamlet

I'd say I'm about 100% certain that not every single thing in the Bible is true.

As for whether I believe in Christianity, let's say I reserve about .0000001% for the possibility that any religion is true, and that Christianity has to share this allocation with all the other religions.

For instance, let's say there were 10,000 religions that exist or have existed (including Greek mythology). My chance of believing in any one of these religions is .0000001% / 10,000, or .00000000001%, or .0000000000001, or 1 in 10,000,000,000,000.

Could Christianity be true? Yes, it's possible. But it's a lot more likely that the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus is real.

Jeff