Music Banter - How Real Is Christianity?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by crash_override (Post 902628)

This **** is real, and it scares the living **** out of me.

Yeah, there are definitely some pretty weird ass christians out there that need to chill out. (This is coming from a christian). You don't need to speak In an odd language, cry like a bitch and wave your arms around like an idiot to be a believer.

Oh, it's pretty darn real. It got Bush into office and told him to wage war on Islam.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAStudent (Post 908095)

So you agree, the names aren't important, and getting the stories right isn't important either. If God is a real thing, and I think it is, people should run into it as they go around, like they do with wind, trees, and other people.

Distraction is the enemy. Now why would that be?

The problem is that religions are something more than theism. They also include a group of dogmas as part of their own nature. We can remove more and more "layers" (like in an onion) until only theism remains. Or something similar to what Thomas Jefferson thought, for example. Or even return to Aristotle and the purest philosophical idea of God (you know, the "unmoved mover"...). But then it wouldn't be the same thing anymore. A Christian (or a Jew or a Muslim) is a theist, but a theist is not necessarily a Christian.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaqarbal (Post 908933)

We can remove more and more "layers" (like in an onion) until only theism remains.

I don't believe theism is in the middle of the onion. Theism is a construct. I believe something as real as wind, love, trees, anger, and bricks is in the center. Pick your own label for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaqarbal (Post 908933)

A Christian (or a Jew or a Muslim) is a theist, but a theist is not necessarily a Christian.

Of course. But people want to be right and get the upper hand. So they waste time debating it.

In the study of phallacies, this is called a false dichotomy. You don't have to choose one or the other, you can make up whatever name you want. Or you can get distracted.

what are phallacies? illogical dicks?

This thread reminds me of a caller from the Loveline radio show who was guy talking about his piercings and happened to mention in passing that he was a Christian.

The host asks him what he thinks about the "your body is a temple" bit in the Bible. The guy replies that "I fully believe that my body is a temple and so I can choose to decorate it however I like".

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAStudent (Post 913898)

I don't believe theism is in the middle of the onion. Theism is a construct. I believe something as real as wind, love, trees, anger, and bricks is in the center. Pick your own label for it.
.

You assume of course that wind, love, trees, anger, and bricks are also real. Just because you can't physically perceive something doesn't negate its existence. (or prove it I suppose).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unicorn (Post 917060)

You assume of course that wind, love, trees, anger, and bricks are also real. Just because you can't physically perceive something doesn't negate its existence. (or prove it I suppose).

This is the crux of the problem I think religions face when trying to claim that their belief systems reflect an actual reality. If a religion has no physical proof, or uses as evidence physical "proof" that could be explained in other ways (non-supernatural ways), then there really is no logical reason, I feel, to believe that one particular religion, or any religion at all, reflects the reality of the universe and its existence.

Since you are Unicorn, you might appreciate the logo created for atheism: The Invisible Pink Unicorn. This logo describes the problem with religions that base their purported reality on unseeable, unknowable entities:

Quote:

http://www.invisiblepinkunicorn.com/ipu/home.html

The Invisible Pink Unicorn (blessed be her holy hooves) is a fictional female deity in the form of a unicorn. The goddess was invented at the usenet discussion group alt.atheism as an alternative to other parody deities like Church of the SubGenius "J.R. Bob Dobbs" or Eris of the Discordianism. Quoting from the alt.atheism FAQ:

Like most Goddesses, she's invisible and highly unlikely to exist. However, there is much argument as to her exact colour, her shape and size, and other properties of her nonexistence. She burns with anger against theists, and allegedly grinds them beneath her holy hooves.

The "believers" famous sayings about faith in the invisible pink unicorn is that, like other religions, it is founded in science and faith. Science - that states that she must be invisible, since we cannot see her. Faith - because we know in our heart that the invisible pink unicorn exists. This is of course a parody of the theological reasoning of other religions.