Moderate Christians. How is it I love and despair of them at the same time?

by nicolaou 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  nicolaou

  Recent exchanges with Mouthy and Renee on the forum and via PM have only reinforced my view that the majority of sincere Christians are good, kind and loving human beings. It's because I'm drawn to compassionate people that I also want to share with them the powerful and refreshing atheist outlook I've discovered over the past few years. (Goodness! I sound like an atheist/evangelist!)

  I have no problem with religious people sharing their faith with me, even trying to proslytise me so long as they do it with good humour. I only wish that my own efforts would be so easily listened to. I think it's the kind of dead-headed belligerence shown by posters like BA and Greendawn that spoil what could otherwise be an open and informative debate between people of various perspectives.

  Can Christians and Atheists debate without resorting to verbal slanging matches? Dunno, I may be as guilty as anyone else I guess but it's hard to be humble when you know your right!

  .
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  Brother Apostate

  I think it's the kind of dead-headed belligerence shown by posters like BA and Greendawn that spoil what could otherwise be an open and informative debate between people of various perspectives.

  Can Christians and Atheists debate without resorting to verbal slanging matches? Dunno, I may be as guilty as anyone else I guess but it's hard to be humble when you know your right!

  Who's slinging mud? Look in the mirror.

  BA
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  nicolaou

  Hands up if you saw that coming.

  
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  jaguarbass

  Can Christians and Atheists debate without resorting to verbal slanging matches? Dunno, I may be as guilty as anyone else I guess but it's hard to be humble when you know your right!

  It's kind of hard because once you are motivated, fired up to expound your beliefs, your rather convinced of them and cant immagine how someone else could see it the other way.

  Also, If you started out as a christian and became an atheist you have already gone through the christian experience, and thought process and rejected it.

  The Christian faith is based on a wobbly house of cards.

  Christians could say the same about atheist, but there is no incentive or penalty to be an atheist or not from an atheist point of view. Atheism is just cold hard reality.

  But if your a Christian and you encounter an atheist you have a stone in your shoe that says I have to save him or he will go to my immaginary hell that I bought into.

  So you can see christianity is a religion designed by a maniplative priest class to extract 10% from its parishoners to provide a comfortable non manual labor lifestyle for the priest class.

  Atheism does not have such a business model at this time.
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  Sad emo

  Can Christians and Atheists debate without resorting to verbal slanging matches?

  Yeah course its possible.

  now all you have to do is repent or be damned!
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  nicolaou

  The thing is BA, you don't come across as a 'moderate' christian at all (and I was of course making a clumsy attempt to lampoon your posting attitude). It's the dogmatic, won't entertain an alternative hypothesis approach that marks the fundamentalist out from the moderate.

  Just my thoughts.
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  Sad emo

  Serious reply now!

  Sometimes there have been great dialogues (I refrain from using the word debate) between moderate Christians and atheists. I wish there could be more - if only for the sake of still-in lurkers who are trying to find a way out but aren't ready to see the basic Christian tenets of their faith being openly trashed - by both sides of the debate! There is a time later down the road for that challenge. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

  Also from my POV, there are equally belligerent atheists on this board, I won't call them out here - but I know who they are and I rarely enter into any dialogue about Christianity with them - to be honest, its a waste of time, they don't want to read or understand what I have to say, they just seem to either use their limited vision to tar all Christians with the same brush or are intent on bait 'n' bashing.

  emo waits...

  "Blessed are the pessimists for they shall never be disappointed"
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  LouBelle

  Yes. As long as each respects the other - it's that simple. Even politics could be discussed in a civial manner.
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  lovelylil

  Yes I think you can debate without mud slinging. When that happens I tend to back off. I like a good debate and most know I can be fierce when defending the Christian view but I never resort to name calling or mud slinging. Also, I don't feel I have to convert anyone to my view which may be the difference between me and fellow Christians. My goal when debating is usually to clear up a false veiw an athiest may have about Christianity in general or the Bible. But not to convert. I don't feel anyone can be converted to Christianity by another person anyway. I feel it is a "calling", for lack of a better term.

  Also, I've been told I am much harder on fellow Christians than atheists and I think that is true.

  As far as being the "right" view, well that is in the eye of the beholder. Both sides think they are equally right so they debate it equally as fierce. But for Christians, their debates should be "seasoned with salt" and delivered with love. That is if they truly are what they claim to be.

  Peace be with you, Lilly
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  hillary_step

  lovely lil,

  Yes I think you can debate without mud slinging. When that happens I tend to back off. I like a good debate and most know I can be fierce when defending the Christian view but I never resort to name calling or mud slinging.

  You mean like "hypocrites", "offspring of vipers" and "that fox Herod"?

  HS