I am truly sorry that this is the impression that you have had. I have seen it too, being in the church my whole life. However, I can realize that pastors, like anyone else, are human and prone to fail and succumb to anything the average person can. Remember, mainline Christianity does not see their leaders as infallible, but as endeavoring to live a life "above reproach." That is, that they will live their lives as an example, though they will still fail. As I have stated, I am going to school to be a youth pastor. I screw up alot. I did drugs when I was younger and banged every chick I met. I also cuss like a sailor sometimes, though I have slowly been able to tame it somewhat. I think the fact that I realize this tempers me when I speak to those who are not Christian.
This is why I don't consider the character of individual Chritians in my judgment of Christianity.
I also find the remark about basically having some special claim to absolute truth alot when I talk to people outside of the church. You do realize that an atheist is saying the same thing, just on the other side, right? I say that there is a God while the atheist says that there is absolutely no way in hell (funny that most often they refer to something they claim not to believe in) that God exists. Everyone, in some form or another, claims a hold of their own absolute truth.
This is actually incredibly wrong. And I'm open to debating this in some other forum if you like, as I suspect that this thread will get shut down soon enough. First, before you can tell me about my position, you should learn what it is. This idea that atheists have some absolute belief that there is no god is terribly inaccurate and in most cases a strawman. I give you the benefit of the doubt and don't assume that you meant this as a strawman. The simple explanation is this: I have not seen an argument for god that I have found compelling. The arguments that I've seen have been heavily reliant on emotion, self contradicting, based primarily on rhetoric, etc. And because of those reasons, I've yet to accept any argument as valid.
But I know that I don't know everything, I'm always willing to consider new points to change my position. You see, I care only about truth, regardless of where it leads, regardless of my preferences. This is actually how I went from Christianity to Atheism. I studied the arguments objectively and came to my conclusions. I began by learning the Atheistic arguments so I'd know how to debate against them in order to defend Christianity and Theism in general.
Now the belief of holding absolute truth on the Theistic side, can prevent one from changing their position
despite any evidence to the contrary. I'm not saying this is
always the case, otherwise I'd still be Christian. But there certainly are teachings inherent in popular versions of Christianity that promote having "faith"
no matter what. The "no matter what" part is key to having people disregard any compelling arguments or evidence that may conflict with their beliefs. In short, some Theists absolutely would not change their mind even if everything pointed to the idea that they were completely wrong about their fundamental beliefs.
I would agree with you to some extent here. Personally I don't give a damn if someone agrees with or respects my beliefs. It is not up to you, or anyone else, to judge me just as it is not my place to judge them.
I can disagree quite vehemently with a non-Christian in debate. It is not ever a reflecton of my view toward them as a person.
It is 0430, I have no idea if any of this even makes sense...
Makes sense to me. Thanks for your input.
Phil (more apologies to CM
:thumbup
