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And yet you guys keep ignoring and keep going around that it's based on personal experience. Those of us who have experienced it have all the proof we need. We can't give it to you or force you to see. If you don't want to try, that's your issue, not ours. You complain as though we're supposed to do something for you. It's for you to find and experience, but you don't want to try.
And you keep ignoring that personal experience is one of the worse forms of evidence possible, especially because the emotional brain is subject to cognitive bias.
And you keep ignoring that personal experience is one of the worse forms of evidence possible, especially because the emotional brain is subject to cognitive bias.
That is true of ALL experiences interpreted by our brain. So?
But, don't many christians still believe that it is their responsibility to spread the christian message throughout the world. And it was only a couple of years ago that I went to a Methodist church and one of the hymns they sang was "Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Onward then, ye people, Join our happy throng. Blend with ours your voices, In our triumph song.
Christ the royal master, Leads against the foe. Forward into battle...Crowns and Thrones may perish,
Kingdoms rise and wane. But the cross of Jesus Constant will remain." And that Methodist church was on a push to support missions in Africa.
But yes, opinions about the bible are clearly changing. According to Gallup Polling last year: "Fewer than one in four Americans (24%) now believe the Bible is "the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word," similar to the 26% who view it as "a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man." This is the first time in Gallup's four-decade trend that biblical literalism has not surpassed biblical skepticism."
But perhaps the most interesting article I have read on the topic is here: https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018...le-poll-shows/ ... which outlines that many Americans believe in a higher power, but not the god of the bible.
Interesting.
Good article, and on the money, I think.
I always hated Onward Christian Soldiers, even as a kid. (I grew up in the Reformed Church, a sin/death/hell Calvinistic denomination.)
Yes, many Christians believe they are obligated to literally take on the "Great Commission" in the form of warning people that they will roast in hell if they don't believe what they are told they have to believe to be "saved", and even among those there are varying degrees of aggression. Where I live, fundamentalist Christians do not tend to walk around knocking on doors, but in some parts of the country, that's a thing, at least according to some CD posters. In NYC you will get the odd street-corner preacher shouting end-of-the-world threats into the air and the occasional subway preacher, as well.
Others believe they are doing so by the way they live, such as in the phrase, "I'd rather see a sermon than hear one", or the words of Francis of Assisi, "Preach the gospel wherever you go, and if necessary, use words." Still others focus on the "Love your neighbors" commandment and see that in and of itself as the path to demonstrating the Christian way.
And you keep ignoring that personal experience is one of the worse forms of evidence possible, especially because the emotional brain is subject to cognitive bias.
Its all you can have.
You keep insisting on proof.
You know there cannot be proof.
So there's the lie.
Yeah, it's stupid to keep coming to this part of the forum - as an atheist - and keep ignoring that spirituality can only be experienced. You can spend your life asking for people to show proof, and never have a chance of seeing it. That's the pinnacle of idiocy.
Like said before, some things can't truly be understood without experiencing them (love, sex, culinary tastes, and yes spirituality). If you can't get that simple concept through your dense skull, no amount of talk here can rescue you.
Yeah, it's stupid to keep coming to this part of the forum - as an atheist - and keep ignoring that spirituality can only be experienced. You can spend your life asking for people to show proof, and never have a chance of seeing it. That's the pinnacle of idiocy.
Like said before, some things can't truly be understood without experiencing them (love, sex, culinary tastes, and yes spirituality). If you can't get that simple concept through your dense skull, no amount of talk here can rescue you.
It is stupid to ignore other peoples contradictory experiences that 'prove' your experiences MUST be false. What part of this very simple concept is NOT penetrating YOUR skull?
But if you do not understand the concept of how cognitive bias show how experience is NOT to be trusted, you are calling the wrong person an idiot.
It is equally stupid to ignore that I am not the one talking about experiences, but on the validity of the Bible. It was you who fetched up the 'experiences' argument.
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