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Author | Topic: Choosing a faith | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PaulK Member Posts: 17828 Joined: Member Rating: 2.5 |
quote: Which is a complete irrelevance to the fact that you told falsehoods, that you should have known to be false.
quote: Another irrelevance.
quote: All? I don’t think Papias said any such thing, and the early church fathers are generally silent on the authorship of the Gospels, Papias being the exception. So I think this is an invention or in need of substantial caveats. The implied message you are sending is that you do not care about the truth, that you think it is just fine to make false claims, that there is no need to do even basic checks. And you are saying that very clearly.
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PaulK Member Posts: 17828 Joined: Member Rating: 2.5 |
quote: It’s hardly the first time you’ve used the phrase. It’s just a false equivalence used to dismiss a perfectly rational position.
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Phat Member Posts: 18353 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.0 |
ringo addressing GDR writes: I seriously doubt that your description in any way resembles GDR's "God". The god that you make up is all sunshine and lollipops; he loves everybody and wants to make their lives all snuggly and warm. I will admit that you people here at EvC make me think outside my usual box. I will try and return the favor.
ringo writes: Silly ringo! It was you who made up this whole attractive nuisance On the other hand, the god that Phat makes up can't decide whether he loves us or hates us; he gleefully sets traps to "train" us and doesn't care if we are maimed or killed.rabbit trail. If I am to make up a God, I need to do more research than simply listening to ringo and jar all the time. jar wants me to throw God away for crying out loud. ringo writes:
Some goober named Mark Mittelberg wrote a good book called The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask: (With Answers) which will annoy ringo since he never got the opportunity to contribute to those answers. We can discuss the questions in the book specifically. But what does any of that have to do with reality?"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." ~Mark Twain " *** “…far from science having buried God, not only do the results of science point towards his existence, but the scientific enterprise itself is validated by his existence.”- Dr.John Lennox “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.” “The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him.” — Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4
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GDR writes: I am kinda behind as it is hard to keep up. Yeah, me too, but being behind is not a bad thing. You shouldn't be feeling any pressure to respond in a timely fashion. There are no rules about how fast you have to respond. The longer you take to respond the slower the discussion will proceed. People will quickly get used to the slower pace. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
GDR writes: I guess then it is me that is the problem so I'll try again. I only brought it up to make the point that it was evidence, not to try and say that it makes it strong evidence. Hopefully that is clear enough. This doesn't answer the question. Why do you think the number of people who believe something is evidence? My earlier example was that most of the western world believed the world flat a few hundred years ago. Presumably you agree those great numbers were not evidence of a flat world, so why do you think the number of people who believe the Bible true is evidence, however weak, that the Bible is true. The cause of many of your baseless claims is your belief that there are other ways of knowing than through observations of the natural world. You are wrong. No such "other ways of knowing" exist in any real-world way. If you want to believe they exist as a matter of faith then that's fine. If you think there is evidence for these other ways of knowing then present it. About eyewitnesses, as the constant flow of freed former felons convicted on eyewitness testimony illustrates, eyewitnesses are horribly unreliable anyway. A hundred Popes swearing on a Bible that they've witnessed God (not together but as individual personal experiences) is zero evidence.
I do take exception to being told I am lying. Being told I am wrong is very often a true statement. What label should we give someone who once informed they are wrong fails to discuss it and keeps repeating the error?
I don't know how many times I have to say this. I was not trying to make the case about the quality of evidence in the Bible, but simply that it was evidence to be considered. Religious books are notoriously unreliable when it comes to the foundational stories of their religious beliefs. Sure, the Bible is evidence, but not of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Noah, Abraham or Jesus. It certainly contains historical information of kings like Sennacherib and Hezekiah and of places and regions like Jerusalem and Galilee, but other parts of the Bible completely abandon any connection to real world observational evidence, such as in the story of Job or the Book of Revelation.
I don't know how many times I have to say this. I was not trying to make the case about the quality of evidence in the Bible, but simply that it was evidence to be considered. You keep repeating this but never get specific. Name an observation using one or more of the five senses that is recorded in the Bible and that can be shown reliable. Why can't your belief be based upon faith? Why does your faith require evidence? --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
GDR writes: It goes back to the question of "why". What is behind those chemical reactions in the brain? Is it just a series of previous chemical reactions or are the chemical reactions all the result of an external intelligence. We are free to form our own conclusions. What evidence leads you to believe there is anything "behind those chemical reactions in the brain"? Is your speculation about an "external intelligence" based upon evidence? If so, what is it? Arguing that the presence of good and evil and of our ability to choose between them is evidence of an "external intelligence" has a big hole because the conclusion doesn't seem to follow. Evil is even relative. A man fires his gun and kills an innocent person. That is evil. A man fires his gun and kills an enemy soldier. That is good. So much for "Thou shalt not kill." --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4
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GDR writes: Percy writes:
To you both a beautiful flower and a good samaritan helping a little old lady across the street are evidence of God. But what are an ugly weed or beating up a little old lady evidence of?An ugly weed is just an ugly weed and even that depends on who is looking at it. You're making arguments that have self-evident answers. If whether a weed is ugly depends upon who is looking at it, then whether a flower is beautiful also depends upon who is looking at it. You must have realized this already. I don't understand why you made an argument containing an obvious fallacy. Hopefully you're not arguing that everything is beautiful and nothing is ugly, so I'll ignore that possibility. If both beauty and ugliness exist in the world, just as good and evil exist in the world, then if one is evidence of God, isn't its opposite evidence of the opposite of God, or at lease evidence of something other than God? If not then your argument reduces to, "That there is something rather than nothing is evidence of God." Your argument that the ability to choose between beauty and ugliness or between good and evil is evidence of God has not made sense to anyone. To everyone but you you seem to be claiming a deductive relationship between two unrelated things. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
gdr writes: Percy writes: I agree, but that doesn't mean that it is an irrational faith. You can only believe in a "cosmic intelligence" as an article of faith. If I implied it was irrational at any point that was unintended. I have no objections to belief in anything as an article of faith. Percy writes:
Yes and no. Certainly if what you mean is that lightning happens, (as an example), without any interference from God then I agree. However, it doesn't mean that a cosmic intelligence didn't put the system in place that allows for lightning in the first place. But it does reduce the number of natural phenomena that can be attributed to God. Again, no objection to anyone accepting this as an article of faith. --Percy
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ringo Member (Idle past 443 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Phat writes:
Feel free to correct me where you think I'm wrong.
I seriously doubt that your description in any way resembles GDR's "God". Phat writes:
NO it was NOT. YOU are the one who tried to defend the attractive nuisance. YOU are the one who tried to turn it into a "training dojo" (that kills its students).
It was you who made up this whole attractive nuisancerabbit trail. Phat writes:
But you DON'T listen to a word I say. I have to repeat myself ad nauseam.
If I am to make up a God, I need to do more research than simply listening to ringo and jar all the time. Phat writes:
Don't come whining to me about that. OF COURSE you should throw away the god you made up. It has no basis but your fevered imagination. jar wants me to throw God away for crying out loud. And you should also throw away your pathetic need for a god that doesn't exist.
Phat writes:
Never heard of him.
Some goober named Mark Mittelberg.... paht writes:
No doubt you call it 'good" because it has "the Asners" that you want to hear. (And that goober is pretty arrogant to think he has "the answers".)
... wrote a good book called The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask: (With Answers) Phat writes:
I couldn't care less about the 'answers" that some goober thinks he has.
... which will annoy ringo since he never got the opportunity to contribute to those answers. Phat writes:
By all means, lets do that. But i predict that you'll do what you always do: when your first "stumper" is soundly refuted, you'll run away. We can discuss the questions in the book specifically. ABE: I looked up the goober's website. All of the "links" to books on his site just poijnt back to themselves. So I did a broader search for his books and came up with "the questions":
quote:Do you seriously think we don't know what "the answers" to those questions will be? And do you seriously think we don't know what's wrong with the rote answers? "Oh no, They've gone and named my home St. Petersburg. What's going on? Where are all the friends I had? It's all wrong, I'm feeling lost like I just don't belong. Give me back, give me back my Leningrad." -- Leningrad Cowboys
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GDR Member Posts: 6202 From: Sidney, BC, Canada Joined: Member Rating: 2.3 |
Tangle writes: No, emotions are part of having a brain and nervous system. Many organisms - mice for example have been extensively studied - exhibit the same responses to stimuli as humans do using the same brain chemicals - like cortisol, serotonin, noradrenalin, corticosterone, dopamine etc. We are not in control of these hormones, they are released into our brains and make us feel frightened, stressed, happy, depressed etc. They are evolved response:stimuli reactions. Good argument. Maybe I should be drawing a distinction between emotions that are instinctive, as compared to thoughts involving empathy, love, morality etc.
Tangle writes: Again I think that might well be the case.
Now you're confusing consciousness with emotions. They are inter-related but different. Tangle writes: I am now of the belief that I was wrong and you were right. I surrender. All our emotions are different and have different causes. Mental awareness arrives after the fact, the chemicals are released before we are aware of them. It's pure reflex. You know this yourself when someone shouts 'boo' we react, then think. He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
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GDR Member Posts: 6202 From: Sidney, BC, Canada Joined: Member Rating: 2.3 |
Tangle writes:
Good question, off topic, but I'll try and answer. Just as a by-the-by, why do you think it necessary to worship anything? First off though, the question is too general. What do you mean as necessary? Necessary for what? Also what do you understand as worship. I'd like to get an answer to those questions before going further.He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
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GDR Member Posts: 6202 From: Sidney, BC, Canada Joined: Member Rating: 2.3 |
GDR writes: What in your mind would be a realistic god?ringo writes: For one thing, "a" god doesn't make much sense. If you must postulate a "superior intelligence", an advanced alien civilization would be more likely. What makes that more likely? There is no evidence for that. For that matter, let's say you are correct. Does that AAC give meaning and purpose to our lives. Does it have an ultimate goal?
ringo writes: I was told that I was making up my god, and I am simply saying that my beliefs are based on the teachings of Jesus. So it is relevant but it isn't His death but HIs resurrection that is relevant. The death of Jesus is hardly relevant. The CURRENT behaviour of your god is all forgivey. Also, yes I believe in a god of forgiveness but I also believe in a god of justice. What that looks like ultimately is above my pay grade but I pretty much go along with the thinking of CS Lewis. He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
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GDR Member Posts: 6202 From: Sidney, BC, Canada Joined: Member Rating: 2.3 |
PaulK writes: Which is a complete irrelevance to the fact that you told falsehoods, that you should have known to be false. I have no idea what you are referring to.
GDR writes: You claimed that Matthean priority didn't do away with the need for "Q". I clearly showed you that it did and this is your reply.
Now we can look at the Griesbach hypotheses which presupposes Matthean priority. There is no need of "Q". Essentially Matthew fills that function. Two Gospel HypothesesPaulK writes:
So, the times when you are wrong are just irrelevances.
Another irrelevance. PaulK writes: All? I don’t think Papias said any such thing, and the early church fathers are generally silent on the authorship of the Gospels, Papias being the exception. So I think this is an invention or in need of substantial caveats. Here is a quote from Eusebius quoting Clement. quote: PaulK writes: The implied message you are sending is that you do not care about the truth, that you think it is just fine to make false claims, that there is no need to do even basic checks. And you are saying that very clearly. Because I care so much for the truth, I have whole books on the study and have done considerable internet research. Just how much time have you put into the subject or do you just enjoy being contrary, without doing the research.He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
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ringo Member (Idle past 443 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
GDR writes:
Real things don't come in ones. There isn't one mammoth or one T. Rex. AND an advanced civilization doesn't require anything supernatural. AND even if there WAS evidence of a god, it wouldn't be evidence of only ONE god.
What makes that more likely? There is no evidence for that. GDR writes:
Why would we need an alien overlord to give meaning to our lives? Why would there have to be an ultimate goal?
Does that AAC give meaning and purpose to our lives. Does it have an ultimate goal? GDR writes:
That's another question we never get an answer for: What possible relevance could Jesus' resurrection have? If God is going to forgive us, why on earth would He send His son to die, only to be resurrected again right away? Where is there an ounce if sense in that story? What could be less relevant? ... it isn't His death but HIs resurrection that is relevant. "Oh no, They've gone and named my home St. Petersburg. What's going on? Where are all the friends I had? It's all wrong, I'm feeling lost like I just don't belong. Give me back, give me back my Leningrad." -- Leningrad Cowboys
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PaulK Member Posts: 17828 Joined: Member Rating: 2.5
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quote: To start with the laughably false assertion that Matthean priority would make the arguments for Q “go away”. You couldn’t make even one of Streeter’s five arguments go away - Message 622. You can’t even justifiably claim ignorance of those arguments.
quote: You did no such thing. In fact when you tried to answer Streeter’s five arguments Matthean priority played no role whatsoever. So my claim was already proven - by you. Anyway let us look again at your claimed demonstration.
quote: As we can see all that you show is that there is a hypothesis assuming Matthean priority without Q. That does nothing to answer any of the arguments for Q. Nor does the linked page have any answers to he arguments for Q based on Matthean priority. Indeed it says:
Many generic arguments in favor of Markan Priority and/or Two-source hypothesis also work as arguments against the two-gospel hypothesis.
It cannot be true that generic arguments for the Two Source hypothesis would work against the Griesbach hypothesis if simply assuming Matthean Priority made them “go away”. So your assertion is indeed, irrelevant. It does not address the point I made and it does nothing to support your assertion - which it implicitly denies, So again we have you telling the most blatant falsehood, and one which looks very like an outright lie.
quote: But I am not wrong and I told the truth. It WAS irrelevant.
quote: So, Eusebius says that Clement said that Luke and Matthew preceded Mark - but he does not say that Mark was derived from Luke and Matthew. That is rather thin pickings and according to the Wikipedia page cited above:
The Church Fathers settled on Matthaean priority themselves, but kept to the order seen in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, then John.
One second-hand quote hardly shows that the early Church Fathers in general held such a view, and it seems that other views prevailed.
quote: That only means that you cannot claim ignorance as a defence. If you knew of the arguments for Q and knew that the assumption of Matthean priority did not make them “go away” how could you honestly claim otherwise? And if you had really done the research it seems impossible that you could not know that.
quote: I do enough to avoid telling blatant falsehoods. Obviously you do not.
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