http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ilzaaami.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uazdcs-rmf4.
What does a person stand to gain by tearing down another's hope?
They get to try and make themselves feel better. Just because some may wish that God didn't exist, doesn't make it true. And it doesn't make those who choose to pray foolish or childlike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ilzaaami.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uazdcs-rmf4.
It is definitely very hard to give up a habit which makes us feel warm and yummy in times of stress.
Unless there is a transcendent God who exists outside of the material universe and actually does care about us.
Jeremiah 29: 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
i enjoyed this essay by psychologist valerie tarico.
the born again experience.
i prayed harder and just then i felt like everything i was saying was being sucked into a vacuum.
Is it absolutely true that the born again experience is borne out of "group dynamics", etc? I personally haven't had a euphoric born-again experience, but I tend to agree that the overly emotional ones come out of churches that foster and encourage that sort of 'behaviour'.
Does wishful thinking mean that the thing we think about wishfully doesn't exist or can't actually be real?
Finally, as a Christian, here's how the transformation that comes through being born again takes place;
Romans 5: 5 and h hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love i has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Gal 5: 22 But e the fruit of the Spirit is f love, joy, peace, patience, g kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ilzaaami.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uazdcs-rmf4.
Phil 4: 4 p Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. q The Lord is at hand; 6 r do not be anxious about anything, s but in everything by prayer and supplication t with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And u the peace of God, v which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
my own faith did not survive an 'outside test for faith'.
below, the author gives an example of how outsiders to most religions examine those religions critically, and dimiss them.
turning a critical eye towards my beliefs was a bit scary, but i decided it was the only proper thing to do, for me.
I had a read at David Galloway's power-point, I was imagining how intensely frustrating it would have been to sit through that presentation without the opportunity to challenge the numerous fallacies. Preaching to the choir is easy.
You read the slides but you didn't listen to the talk? And you're getting frustrated by what you imagined he said? I should add that he wasn't preaching to the choir; this was at the Alpha Course.
Why don't you challenge Galloway on his numerous fallacies; he's in Scotland and can be contacted via his website. It may be helpful to post your challenges and his responses on this thread (or create a new one) to help everyone establish the reasonable logic of atheism over faith. I'll then post the conversation to our church website where the audio and PowerPoint slides are. That way a balanced, reasoned conclusion can be reached.
my own faith did not survive an 'outside test for faith'.
below, the author gives an example of how outsiders to most religions examine those religions critically, and dimiss them.
turning a critical eye towards my beliefs was a bit scary, but i decided it was the only proper thing to do, for me.
@ Farkel, well have a wee listen to what David Galloway says (see previous link).
my own faith did not survive an 'outside test for faith'.
below, the author gives an example of how outsiders to most religions examine those religions critically, and dimiss them.
turning a critical eye towards my beliefs was a bit scary, but i decided it was the only proper thing to do, for me.
The word "atheist" was first used by the Romans....to describe Christians who rejected all the dozens of gods the Romans believed in!
Very interesting.
those were the words of an elder during my judicial committee.
it's weird that they suddenly came to me, weeks later.
i can't help recalling the disappointment i felt when i heard that.
As I later told my wife, out of everything that I was put through--with her, the elders, my brother the theocratic bulldozer, my mom--not one of them sat down with me, opened the Bible, and showed me thoroughly where I was wrong.
Ditto. I pointed this out to a few JWs; not one of them had tried to show me how they had the truth and I was wrong.
my own faith did not survive an 'outside test for faith'.
below, the author gives an example of how outsiders to most religions examine those religions critically, and dimiss them.
turning a critical eye towards my beliefs was a bit scary, but i decided it was the only proper thing to do, for me.
I personally think I have the "God-gene". Faith is difficult at times but I can't image not believing in God and having a relationship with him.
my own faith did not survive an 'outside test for faith'.
below, the author gives an example of how outsiders to most religions examine those religions critically, and dimiss them.
turning a critical eye towards my beliefs was a bit scary, but i decided it was the only proper thing to do, for me.
This guys is a scientist (consultant surgeon) and a Christian. He refuses to have faith without some form of evidence. He spoke at our church a couple of weeks ago;
http://media.libsyn.com/media/tartanpodcast/alpha_2010_week3.mp3
Here's the PDF of a his PowerPoint presentation;
http://media.libsyn.com/media/tartanpodcast/Christianity_Reasons_Alpha_Riverside.pdf
Here is his website;
Note for Farkle:
You may find this massively offensive;
Second, unlike the new atheists, I take scholarship seriously. I have written that The God Delusionmade me ashamed to be an atheist and I meant it. Trying to understand how God could need no cause, Christians claim that God exists necessarily. I have taken the effort to try to understand what that means. Dawkins and company are ignorant of such claims and positively contemptuous of those who even try to understand them, let alone believe them. Thus, like a first-year undergraduate, he can happily go around asking loudly, "What caused God?" as though he had made some momentous philosophical discovery. Dawkins was indignant when, on the grounds that inanimate objects cannot have emotions, philosophers like Mary Midgley criticised his metaphorical notionof a selfish gene. Sauce for the biological goose is sauce for the atheist gander. There are a lot of very bright and well informed Christian theologians. We atheists should demand no less.
Third, how dare we be so condescending? I don't have faith. I really don't. Rowan Williams does as do many of my fellow philosophers like Alvin Plantinga(a Protestant) and Ernan McMullin(a Catholic). I think they are wrong; they think I am wrong. But they are not stupid or bad or whatever. If I needed advice about everyday matters, I would turn without hesitation to these men. We are caught in opposing Kuhnianparadigms. I can explain their faith claims in terms of psychology; they can explain my lack of faith claims also probably partly through psychology and probably theology also. (Plantinga, a Calvinist, would refer to original sin.) I just keep hearing Cromwell to the Scots. "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken." I don't think I am wrong, but the worth and integrity of so many believers makes me modest in my unbelief.
By Michael Ruse.
