Christians, I Truly Hope You Think Your Faith is Certain and Factually True
With my recent activity on Facebook I have roused a few of my Christian friends there. They liked a Loftus who was basically dormant for a few years so we could be friends. But since I've been active lately I'm getting some push-back. Okay. One of them was a student at Great Lakes Christian College, the one I graduated from in 1977. He reminded me of this as if that means anything. Well it does. Many of these friends of mine usually start out by asking me to remember this past of mine. The fact is that I do. So here's what I wrote:
Tom, yes I remember. I'm the same person only older. I have done some really extensive study since my Bible college days, the findings of which can be found in my published works. Check out "Why I Became an Atheist," and my recent one "The Outsider Test for Faith" if you are really interested. My guess is you are self-satisfied in what you were taught as a kid. You just haven't grown up. Adults learn to question what they were taught as kids. You think that you have grown up but only people who have grown up know what it's like to grow up. Get that? You see, I cannot show an ignorant person that he's ignorant until he becomes informed either. Even an ignorant person thinks he's informed so the only way for him to know he's ignorant is for him to become informed, something that, because he is uniformed he thinks he really knows.
Most all believers are like those in Socrates's day who claimed to be wise. Socrates argued that only people who know they are unwise are wise, so he knew one thing they didn't, that he was unwise. But precisely because he knew this fact he was the wisest of them all. Faith does that to people. It makes them feel certain of their faith when there is no reason for this at all. They claim to be wise but are fools. The mark that you are deluded can never be seen better than that you will not look into my books. You know that you know that you know and that's all you want to know. You might as well say, "The Bible says it. I believe it. That's settles it." Mindlessly quote-mining the Bible and the theology based on it is the opposite of thinking for yourself. You don't even know what I mean when I say this. You don't have the eyes to see. you are blind. Just like Scientologists, Hindu's, Mormons, Muslims, Orthodox Jews. They ALL claim to know, or have you not paid attention to the many debates religionists have? Have you not Googled these faiths and listened to the people behind them who are all certain their faith is correct, and just as certain that your faith is incorrect?
Faith is the problem. You cannot even comprehend what I'm saying it's so bad, and I was on your side of the fence so I know exactly your reaction. I was dumbfounded by the stupidity of people who were like me. Really! Just as you are now. But I began engaging the opposition and learned they were right all along. You won't do this will you? So, you will continue in your childish faith just as it was handed down to you, and just as you have handed it down to your kids, and they in turn will hand it down to theirs. That's what other people in other religions do though. But these religions were almost all created in the superstitious prescientific eras too.
I could go on, but just like a blind and deaf man you don't see and you don't hear. It's almost that bad Tom. You feel insulted that I'm saying these things too. But I'm telling you anyway. I was once like you, as you know. That's how I was. Then I became informed. I decided to listen, really listen to the other side. I thought to myself that Christianity, my type of Christianity, was so sure, so certain, so factually true, that I could read the other side and show them wrong. I hope you feel the same and do likewise. See for yourself.
Tom, yes I remember. I'm the same person only older. I have done some really extensive study since my Bible college days, the findings of which can be found in my published works. Check out "Why I Became an Atheist," and my recent one "The Outsider Test for Faith" if you are really interested. My guess is you are self-satisfied in what you were taught as a kid. You just haven't grown up. Adults learn to question what they were taught as kids. You think that you have grown up but only people who have grown up know what it's like to grow up. Get that? You see, I cannot show an ignorant person that he's ignorant until he becomes informed either. Even an ignorant person thinks he's informed so the only way for him to know he's ignorant is for him to become informed, something that, because he is uniformed he thinks he really knows.
Most all believers are like those in Socrates's day who claimed to be wise. Socrates argued that only people who know they are unwise are wise, so he knew one thing they didn't, that he was unwise. But precisely because he knew this fact he was the wisest of them all. Faith does that to people. It makes them feel certain of their faith when there is no reason for this at all. They claim to be wise but are fools. The mark that you are deluded can never be seen better than that you will not look into my books. You know that you know that you know and that's all you want to know. You might as well say, "The Bible says it. I believe it. That's settles it." Mindlessly quote-mining the Bible and the theology based on it is the opposite of thinking for yourself. You don't even know what I mean when I say this. You don't have the eyes to see. you are blind. Just like Scientologists, Hindu's, Mormons, Muslims, Orthodox Jews. They ALL claim to know, or have you not paid attention to the many debates religionists have? Have you not Googled these faiths and listened to the people behind them who are all certain their faith is correct, and just as certain that your faith is incorrect?
Faith is the problem. You cannot even comprehend what I'm saying it's so bad, and I was on your side of the fence so I know exactly your reaction. I was dumbfounded by the stupidity of people who were like me. Really! Just as you are now. But I began engaging the opposition and learned they were right all along. You won't do this will you? So, you will continue in your childish faith just as it was handed down to you, and just as you have handed it down to your kids, and they in turn will hand it down to theirs. That's what other people in other religions do though. But these religions were almost all created in the superstitious prescientific eras too.
I could go on, but just like a blind and deaf man you don't see and you don't hear. It's almost that bad Tom. You feel insulted that I'm saying these things too. But I'm telling you anyway. I was once like you, as you know. That's how I was. Then I became informed. I decided to listen, really listen to the other side. I thought to myself that Christianity, my type of Christianity, was so sure, so certain, so factually true, that I could read the other side and show them wrong. I hope you feel the same and do likewise. See for yourself.
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