Dear Freethinkers

[One Bad Pig]

I don't think it would be fair to mock your reply here as I'm sure practically every Christian has thought somewhere along similar lines at times. I think we as Christian's like to dress doubt up to make it look a bit respectable but the above diatribe is what, I think, accurately characterizes doubt that many wrestle with.

Speak for yourself. FF's diatribe is, as he no doubt intended, a grotesque caricature (where it is not wholly wrong).

[Jedidiah]

Quite the scathing rebuke, FF. I don't think it would be fair to mock your reply here as I'm sure practically every Christian has thought somewhere along similar lines at times. I think we as Christian's like to dress doubt up to make it look a bit respectable but the above diatribe is what, I think, accurately characterizes doubt that many wrestle with.

Not I.

[firstfloor]

I take it all back.

[One Bad Pig]

For the sarcastically impaired the following is said in jest

I take it all back.

Fixed that for you.

[firstfloor]

Fixed that for you.

[Sparko]

So God appearing in the sky and waving at you WOULDN'T convince you after all? Whodathunkit?

[Christianbookworm]

For one, God is spirit, so one couldn't see His true form. Two, seeing His full glory would be as lethal as spending a minute on the Sun's surface. Three, I doubt God would want to unnecessarily terrify everyone by making His presence clear even in a nonlethal manner. Four, wasn't that what the incarnation accomplished? God with us in a relatively non scary form? And I'm sure Jesus had a good reason for not sticking around for centuries.

[Scrawly]

Speak for yourself. FF's diatribe is, as he no doubt intended, a grotesque caricature (where it is not wholly wrong).

Well I suggest you spend some time with Christian's who are doubting/having a crisis of faith, and flirting with heretical doctrines. There are reasons for this reality, and I think FF put his finger on it to an extent, albeit in a crude manner.

[Scrawly]

Not I.

Interesting. Almost every Christian I ever came across could resonate with Mark 9:24 at times, and their doubts were more-or-less connected to FF's diatribe in one form or another.

[Jedidiah]

Interesting. Almost every Christian I ever came across could resonate with Mark 9:24 at times, and their doubts were more-or-less connected to FF's diatribe in one form or another.

Glad to discuss when I can type again.

[firstfloor]

So God appearing in the sky and waving at you WOULDN'T convince you after all? Whodathunkit?

And you reached that conclusion on the basis of a photograph of a cloud? Are we to conclude that you think that really was God Alcloudy?

[One Bad Pig]

Well I suggest you spend some time with Christian's who are doubting/having a crisis of faith, and flirting with heretical doctrines. There are reasons for this reality, and I think FF put his finger on it to an extent, albeit in a crude manner.

I can see doubting and wishing for more direct evidence, but FF went far, far beyond that.

[firstfloor]

I can see doubting and wishing for more direct evidence, but FF went far, far beyond that.

The Bible says that God must not be tested. Truth, on the other hand, by its nature, will stand up to any sort of scrutiny. We proceed towards truth by doubting. Religion, being closed off by prohibitions on doubt shows itself to be unworthy of our devotion.

[One Bad Pig]

The Bible says that God must not be tested. Truth, on the other hand, by its nature, will stand up to any sort of scrutiny.

The "testing" noted has nothing whatsoever to do with scrutiny. Nice try, though.

[JimL]