Graphic Anti-Abortion DVDs Given to Oklahoma High School Students

outsider · 1 month

Calm down. No, of course not. What I am saying is that /r/Christianity is the only subreddit where I've ever seen so much blather about what kind of conversation/question is and is not okay. I'm not talking about the terrible/violent/dumb troll shit quoted above - just respectful, thoughtful conversation!

"Why do you think prayer works?" I can't think of a more straightforward and inoffensive question to ask a believer! And here's my point:

If you do think prayer works, then why aren't you jumping at the opportunity to tell people about it? Shouting from the rooftops even?? If I had evidence that prayer worked I would want the world to know. is eve

I think we all know why /r/Christianity often defers the tougher questions to /r/DebateAChristian: because this evidence does not exist at this point. As much as billions of people want it to, it doesn't. I don't say this to be snarky and make you feel like I have all teh smartz. (Spoiler alert: I don't.) It's because I give a shit about why I believe what I do and I encourage others to do the same.

outsider · 1 month

Electrical engineer here. Could you clarify?

outsider · 1 month

Boo hoo. You say argument, I say discussion.

outsider · 1 month

[T]o people who are not Christians, it is almost entirely inconsequential whether or not he existed.

Disagree. Its not "inconsequential whether or not he existed" because unlike philosophical ideas, Christianity is depends on Jesus being a real, historical figure.

So you aren't really disagreeing with me. I realize that, of course, it is an important part of Christianity. But that still doesn't mean that it matters to non-Christians. I don't face confrontation from Jesus these days, but I do face it from his followers.

Christianity isn't just based on the "ideas" of Jesus, they are based on Jesus himself.

Now with that I agree. If Christianity was based, let's say, largely on Jesus' moral views, I won't speculate on how the entire last two millennia would have gone down, but I would imagine it would be radically different. A little more cheek-turning, at the very least.

outsider · 1 month

WARNING: Some slightly sweeping generalizations need to be made here. I have to say, this post is bringing up something that I have noticed in this subreddit. Nobody likes a troll, right? I think we can all agree on that. The problem that I have seen - not all the time, mind you, but often enough to notice it - is that people don't want to be challenged on their beliefs in r/Christianity. In fact, when this happens, very often people pipe up with "Go to /r/DebateAChristian - that's what it's there for/that's not why we're here," etc. And that's fine - if you don't want to debate, you don't want to debate.

I think the reason that it bothers me - and perhaps many atheist redditors like me who want to engage in some meaningful and constructive discourse with Christians - is this: Why are you okay with not being able to defend what you believe in? And when I say "defend" I mean it in like the legal sense...or the dissertation sense. You decided to become a Christian at some point, right? Does it bother you that you can't totally describe the thought process that led you to that decision? Or maybe you can, but not in the way that takes logical steps from premise to argument - in other words, in a way a non-believer could accept? And I say this as an ex-Christian, with all kinds of love.

outsider · 1 month

Define "historical documents." The Bible is literature, not some kind of documentation of a rigorous double-blind study done ~2000 years ago. I know you want to believe that it is something, maybe, a little more transcendent than that, but as far as I know, there's no evidence to support this. Do you have a credible argument for why we should view the events described in the Bible less critically than we do any other very old text?

Does this mean that there is no useful and historical context within it that we can analyze and learn from? Of course not. The most I can say for the Bible at this point is that it is historical fiction which may or may not be based on true stories.

outsider · 1 month

The thing is, to people who are not Christians, it is almost entirely inconsequential whether or not he existed. Does it matter if any great thinker/philosopher actually lived, had the name you think he had, spoke the words you believe he spoke, or that his physical appearance approximated the popular consensus? Does it matter if he is, rather, some conglomeration of people that has been muddled over centuries of storytelling? What does matter, clearly, are his ideas. His ideas are - at least, theoretically - why Christians are Christians, and some of his ideas - particularly the supernatural ones where he claims he the son of God, etc., you've all heard it - are what I take issue with, on a critical thinking level. I take issue with the behavior of many of his followers that do hateful, immoral things in his name, on a cultural and societal level. But whether or not he was, in fact, a man named Jesus who perhaps meets other identifying criteria? Unless you're a historian/anthropologist debating the actual merits of this claim (which I am not), then it's neither here nor there.

outsider · 1 month

Source?

chasetheworld · 1 month

I can't resist: Why is it better than what many other women do? And a follow-up: What is it that we "do"?

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

With all due respect, who cares if you get something wrong?

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

Because by asking the statue you're attributing to it "powers" that it doesn't really possess

Are you?

It's all about clearing your intentions before making the prayer and removing all distractions between you and your creator.

I can understand this.

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

Why?

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

An image is just a symbol of an idea. What's the difference between mentally asking for advice (praying) and looking at a statue and asking advice - not advice from the statue but from what you believe it represents?

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

But I'm sure you agree that being insulted is no justification for violence. I don't understand - where exactly do you feel the Christians went wrong? And I don't understand the calligraphy connection either.

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

I don't follow.

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

Just trying to understand - why is that so insulting?

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

Nancie is a fully qualified Certified Associate of medical intuitive Patti Conklin. Conklin Method Cellular Cleansing is an intensive way of removing the emotional blockages that cause illness and disease.

Oh. That explains a lot.

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

For what it's worth, Nancie Barwick is located in Fairfax, VA - right near me.

GodDamnLiberal · 1 month

Haha, vibrational intuitive.

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