None of the above, of course, would ever be persuasive to believers. Some points are the very ones I've made here and elsewhere. They are, after all, pretty obvious. (I'd not have made all of the above arguments, because some are a little circular in their own right. Which in no way diminishes the rest.) Most importantly, you simply can't reconcile the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful, and loving god with what we observe of the world. The claims made can only be rejoined by repeating the faith that's being questioned. So the circle remains unbroken, beliefs unquestioned.
Still, it's challenging -- or it ought to be -- to hear such things said eloquently and to realize that to the central arguments -- the suffering, the immorality of eternal punishment and the associated world-views, the fact that Jesus didn't die for our sins and he knew it -- there is no logical disproof. I get that belief is not about logic; it is, in fact, an antidote to it. But you'd think that after all this time, people would have found a way at least to be internally consistent in their beliefs. When immorality is central to the appeal of a particular religion, why does it continue to exist? When what you believe is overtly at odds with everything we can see with our eyes, what's the point?
That the same is the case with teabaggerism is not at all coincidental, by the bye.
We get it Sid,
ReplyDeleteIn Atlanta you've got a much better chance of gettin struck down by Hey-Zeuss in a jacked up 67' Impala than a lightning bolt from the Hey-Zeuss up in Heaven...
Which is why I haven't been to Sunday School/Synogogue since 1972(OK, I make a Cameo at Mrs. Drackman's "Reform" Synogogue once in a while but thats just to keep the Martial peace)
But can you give me a succint airtight explanation of how/why Curve Balls Curve??
Cause my Dad doesn't believe they do, even after years of me plunkin him in the ribs with my particular version of the Hook...
And you can't use Physics or the Bernoolie effect, cause he's an Engineer and former Air Force Pilot, and he thinks he's Jehovah's gift to Aerodymamics.. if he believed in Jehovah...
And I'd like it by wednesday cause We'll be throwin the Old Horsehide around Thanksgiving afternoon. Its a Drackman family tradition, he'll say "Curve Balls are an optical allusion" and I'll drill him in the ribs, and say"Why are you mad, that was just an Optical Allusion"...
Frank