Don't despair Nicolau!
I started a thread on the very subject! ;-)
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/148682/1.ashx
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BurnTheShips
JoinedPosts by BurnTheShips
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Moderate Christians. How is it I love and despair of them at the same time?
by nicolaou inrecent 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!
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BurnTheShips
Great essay from a great book.
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Moderate Christians. How is it I love and despair of them at the same time?
by nicolaou inrecent 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!
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BurnTheShips
Sorry, but faith - religious faith - is clearly harmful. Not just to wider society but to the individual as well.
Sorry but I disagree with that. If you want a robust explanation, I recommend "What's so great about Christianity" by Dinesh D'Souza.
http://www.amazon.com/Whats-So-Great-About-Christianity/dp/1596985178
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Real Proof that Zeus exists!
by B_Deserter ini am sick and tired of everyone calling the ancient tales of the great gods "myths.
" what a ridiculous notion!
this world is so complex that it had to have been the result of the great blackbird, nyx.
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BurnTheShips
Zeus is the Father.
I believe in Zeus. Seriously.
Zeus, and the Latin form Jupiter, means "Sky-Shine-Father", and seems to be an Indo-European evocation of the Fatherhood of God. And since the Father is part of the Christian Trinity, Zeus can be seen as reflective of the ancient Greek understanding (albeit "imperfect" when seen from a Christian Trinitarian perspective) of the First Person of the Christian Trinity.
Zeus, poetically referred to by the vocativeZeu pater ("O, father Zeus"), is a continuation of *Di?eus, the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called * Dyeus ph 2 ter ("Sky Father"). [1] The god is known under this name in Sanskrit (cf. Dyaus/Dyaus Pita), Latin (cf. Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving from the PIE vocative * dyeu-ph 2 ter [2] ), deriving from the basic form *dyeu- ("to shine", and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god"). [1] And in Germanic and Norse mythology (cf. *Tiwaz > OHGZiu, ONTýr), together with Latin deus, divus and Dis(a variation of dives [3] ), from the related noun *deiwos. [3] To the Greeks and Romans, the god of the sky was also the supreme god, whereas this function was filled out by Odin among the Germanic tribes. Accordingly, they did not identify Zeus/Jupiter with either Tyr or Odin, but with Thor ( Þórr ). Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology. [4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus
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Self Deceit and Faith.
by hillary_step inthis thread is inspired by a comment made on another thread, but i thought it would make an interesting discussion.. self deceit is described as a "misconception that is favorable to the person who holds it".
my premise is that faith is a form of self-deceit - lying to oneself.. so, i would ask of the "faithful" the following questions and would request that they be read carefully to ensure no that there is no misunderstanding of purpose.. 1) in what way is faith not self-deception?.
2) is a person who has faith in a god that you do not believe in, say for example siva, practicing a form of self-deception?.
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BurnTheShips
I've seen Bigfoot. (Just kidding)
Around here he is called the "Florida Skunk Ape".
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Moderate Christians. How is it I love and despair of them at the same time?
by nicolaou inrecent 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!
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BurnTheShips
You mean like "hypocrites", "offspring of vipers" and "that fox Herod"?
It isn't slinging mud when you're God. ;-)
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Self Deceit and Faith.
by hillary_step inthis thread is inspired by a comment made on another thread, but i thought it would make an interesting discussion.. self deceit is described as a "misconception that is favorable to the person who holds it".
my premise is that faith is a form of self-deceit - lying to oneself.. so, i would ask of the "faithful" the following questions and would request that they be read carefully to ensure no that there is no misunderstanding of purpose.. 1) in what way is faith not self-deception?.
2) is a person who has faith in a god that you do not believe in, say for example siva, practicing a form of self-deception?.
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BurnTheShips
So it's not a matter of faith, any more than finding the footprint of a shoe in the mud and wondering if a shoe made it.
So you believe in Bigfoot?
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Self Deceit and Faith.
by hillary_step inthis thread is inspired by a comment made on another thread, but i thought it would make an interesting discussion.. self deceit is described as a "misconception that is favorable to the person who holds it".
my premise is that faith is a form of self-deceit - lying to oneself.. so, i would ask of the "faithful" the following questions and would request that they be read carefully to ensure no that there is no misunderstanding of purpose.. 1) in what way is faith not self-deception?.
2) is a person who has faith in a god that you do not believe in, say for example siva, practicing a form of self-deception?.
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Moderate Christians. How is it I love and despair of them at the same time?
by nicolaou inrecent 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!
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BurnTheShips
Why would you despair of me Nicolau? My faith is harmless. I think it is helpful.
I actually despair of you. Pascal's wager and all that. ;-)
Can Christians and Atheists debate without resorting to verbal slanging matches?
It's fun to debate. It sharpens the mind. And a sincere person can learn from the other side.
As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.Burn
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Self Deceit and Faith.
by hillary_step inthis thread is inspired by a comment made on another thread, but i thought it would make an interesting discussion.. self deceit is described as a "misconception that is favorable to the person who holds it".
my premise is that faith is a form of self-deceit - lying to oneself.. so, i would ask of the "faithful" the following questions and would request that they be read carefully to ensure no that there is no misunderstanding of purpose.. 1) in what way is faith not self-deception?.
2) is a person who has faith in a god that you do not believe in, say for example siva, practicing a form of self-deception?.
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BurnTheShips
faith allows me to drive to work, assuming other drivers will stay on their side of the road. Faith assures me that adhesion and cohesion will continue tomorrow and that phototaxis will be around too. Faith inculcates in me the confidence that water will continue to seek its own level, that grease will lubricate, that heat will coagulate protein. Faith is a part of all my reasoning processes. Faith it the foundation of deductive and inductive analysis. Faith is the balance that meters emotion with reason. I have faith this will engender. carmel of the "faithful"
Yes! Life is full of assumptions, as Leo pointed out. Burn
