The Christianity Thread

[Zhanteimi]

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

Let me ask you: is it possible for an atheist to pray to a divine being?

Absolutely. They have called for Tash, and Tash has come.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

Let me ask you: is it possible for an atheist to pray to a divine being?

[Oriphiel]

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

It looks like the elves gave that guitar to the dwarf king as a symbol of friendship.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

It looks like the elves gave that guitar to the dwarf king as a symbol of friendship.

GAVE it? You KNOW Lemmy punched them, robbed all their beer and ****ing TOOK IT!

[Frownland]

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

I just disagree with the way youre both approaching it. Perhaps im explaining my position poorly.

Let me ask you: is it possible for an atheist to pray to a divine being? I dont even know what a divine being is other than the arbitrary attributes assigned to one by various religions.

The act of praying can be done by anyone who can communicate, and the subject that is being addressed through prayer is only tangibly talked to in someone's head, so yes. Not genuine prayer, not "effective" prayer, but it still fits.

Can a psychopath write a love letter? They don't even know what love is besides for arbitrary physical stimuli assigned to it by society.

[Xurtio]

It seems like a pretty convoluted route. If you mean does their message reach a divine being, no. If you mean the behavior of trying to communicate to a percieved god, yes.

Its really straughtforward here. You're equivocating the existence of a social structure with the validity of its assertions about reality. Social structures exist regardless of the validity of the belief system. And to counter a previous point, you can in fact trace belief systems back to observations of reality. They happen to be wrong and misguided, but so can some science in the modern era - that doesn't mean the research doesn't exist, just that its bad research that makes wrong assertions.

[Pet_Sounds]

Here's an interesting, somewhat related passage from C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity:

I know that some people say the idea of a Law of Nature or decent behavior known to all men is unsound, because different civilizations and different ages have had quite different moralities.

But this is not true. There have been differences between their moralities, but these have never amounted to anything like a total difference. If anyone will take the trouble to compare the moral teaching of, say, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Creeks and Romans, what will really strike him will be how very like they are to each other and to our own. Some of the evidence for this I have put together in the appendix of another book called The Abolition of Man; but for our present purpose I need only ask the reader to think what a totally different morality would mean. Think of a country where people were admired for running away in battle, or where a man felt proud of double-crossing all the people who had been kindest to him. You might just as well try to imagine a country where two and two made five. Men have differed as regards what people you ought to be unselfish to--whether it was only your own family, or your fellow countrymen, or everyone. But they have always agreed that you ought not to put Yourself first. selfishness has never been admired. Men have differed as to whether you should have one wife or four. But they have always agreed that you must not simply have any woman you liked.

Mere Christianity - The Law of Human Nature

[Blue Hawk]

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

Here's an interesting, somewhat related passage from C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity:



Mere Christianity - The Law of Human Nature

For a guy who was a Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis sure sounds there like he's making the case that Christianity is no better than any other belief system.