Posted on 05/13/2007 6:15:45 PM PDT by Clemenza
Edited on 05/13/2007 6:29:30 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Wednesday night on ABC-TV, two televangelists took on nonbelievers from the Rational Response Squad in a bid to prove the existence of God (see "Nightline Face Off" on ABCNews.com).
The TV polemics come in the wake of a rash of bestselling books by atheists challenging religion.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
To kinoxi, your comment is easily sorted into the supposition of inevitable progress pile. The middle ages did not differ materially from our day in one very important sense: only the names of those in charge of the hegemony have changed. Astronomers once believed heavenly bodies resided in Ptolemaic spheres, that the sun revolved around the earth. Gallileo, as you know, was confined by the Roman Catholic Church to house arrest.
Today, little has changed - at least in regard to our origins. Alternative theories - like then - are not permitted and scientists who promote them are censured and ostracized. Free thought and inquiry using the scientific method - observability, measurability, repeatability - is not guiding dogma. No, dogma guides research; findings contrary to dogma are discarded - a perfect example being salt concentration in the Red Sea. The reason for this, I believe, is to reinforce a worldview preferable to the leading thinkers of the age. Most (i.e. the masses in the scientific community) go along for the ride, and many do not see the inconsistencies between any faith in a Creator and modern dogma - nor wish to because it is their livelihood on the line. Most are decent people, I would add, with no particular agenda other than performing a job - like geological research for oil companies, which does not require the underlying explanations of their field be true, only the end result.
So please, don't get smug about our supposed superiority to those in the Middle Ages. A little humility among today's clergy in modern university classrooms would go a very long way.
That’s an interesting statement.
Not speaking for those that use Christianity as a crutch of course. I can't stand the type and there are far too many of them.
Well, night all. The monumental questions of the universe will have to wait until tomorrow for me. Great discussion.
Yes, one who does not have forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ will pay for those sins eternally, because the sins are committed against an infinite God. Either way, the sins are paid. But we cannot say Clemenza, or librlH84, or Lexinom is eternally damned because we cannot lay claim on future events that may change hearts. We can only affirm that those with, by God's grace alone, a true and living faith in Christ that guides their lives and frees them from the concupiscence of the natural heart is a true child of God, and will never perish.
In the spirit of II Corinthians 5 I would add that many who take the label "Christian" conduct their lives practically as though they were atheists. To my shame I am guilty of this at times, and I would venture that most of us are. Seeing this probably only adds to the agnostic's confusion. But even this is under Divine control. All those He will save He will provide the right circumstances to bring them into His heavenly fold.
Wishing you all a good evening.
What do you see them using it as a crutch for?
Why would we waste our time?
NIV 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
14. Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15. What harmony is there between Christ and Belial ? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
Oh... I don't know....
See there; you are NOT an atheist!
You believe THIS!
Why not?
Do you have some kind of proof to show this is not true?
See tagline...
Then just WHY are all of us just wasting our time on this thread?
Why?
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Everything we see, touch and hear. It is all around us.
I used to be a Mormon (and most of my family and friends still are) and it makes me angry when I see all the anti-Mormon (A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for Satan) threads. So when the long knives come out, I endeavor to show them the error of their ways. Most of the time the thread ends with them cursing me ^^ They don't seem to have any scripts for how to deal with an atheist defending Mormonism. Generally it is fun but it gets tiresome when they can't seem to defend themselves or at least come up with some original material to argue about.
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