tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post9021009048925478612..comments2023-06-21T02:30:06.647-07:00Comments on Project: The King and I: New Contributor Introduction: EdwardBrucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08310824690509335801noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-86710777572582454742011-03-10T02:59:10.165-08:002011-03-10T02:59:10.165-08:00@Barbara
I've started the first few chapters ...@Barbara<br /><br />I've started the first few chapters of Joshua (chapters 1-6 or so. (Spoiler alert - the walls of Jericho come tumbling down). I'm ready to move on with the reading!!Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01181354327293762376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-64320085047711664272011-03-09T17:56:02.607-08:002011-03-09T17:56:02.607-08:00Anyone read anything from Joshua?
I appreciate the...Anyone read anything from Joshua?<br />I appreciate the thoughtful response from Confused about the existence of evidence for a god. I don't think I could have said it that politely.AnswerMommahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02189681390112892528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-40845006405706497182011-03-09T16:55:23.872-08:002011-03-09T16:55:23.872-08:00@Edward.
It's been awesome having a Christian...@Edward.<br /><br />It's been awesome having a Christian voice in this blog. I would not have enjoyed this anywhere near as much as if it was just Atheists. I also find your commitment to both faith and critical thinking encouraging. I am someone who just can't seem to abandon logic and reason in favor of faith. Christian faith has always intrigued me especially from critical thinkers but I usually die a little inside when I hear a sermon with a message saying that logic and reason is just the devil trying to trick you. Its just nice to hear from a Christian that does not shy away from reason.<br /><br />Btw I am a software engineer too! I don't 'administer' Linux systems but I pretty much soley work with them. I usually have an awesome systems team supporting me but often our projects overlap somewhat. What languages do you use / types of software do you develop?fug larohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15072466037036738265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-37188929029137345742011-03-09T14:15:25.748-08:002011-03-09T14:15:25.748-08:00@Edward who said "You know everything in half...@Edward who said "You know everything in half the universe. Is it possible that God exists in the other half you don't know about?"<br /><br />We don't need to know everything in the universe. We have a book that clearly describes who and what the Christian god is. Based upon those descriptions we should be able to expect certain things given said deity should exist. That he knows everything (and as such should be able to provide adequate and accurate descriptions of anything), that he answers prayer, so forth and so on. Yet when we take a look at this book, we find that its descriptions of the universe are inaccurate and incomplete. When we study prayer, what people pray for and what said prayer achieves, we find that by and large specific prayers are unanswered or at least no more so than the placebo effect, and more general prayers are unconvincingly answered in that multiple things could answer the prayer and there is no reason to believe some deity answered the prayer.<br /><br />Given the expectations we should find abundant evidence of your deities existence, yet we find none. In this case, absence of evidence becomes evidence of absence, and we don't need to know the whole of reality to come to said conclusion.<br /><br />This does not mean that no deities exist absolutely, and your absolutely right that A deity might still exist. But even if one does, we can be reasonably certain that such deity is not the deity as so described in the Bible.Rawiya17https://www.blogger.com/profile/00261479840421231243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-78398314437410197822011-03-08T18:24:23.293-08:002011-03-08T18:24:23.293-08:00@Helene,
"But we atheists often criticize Ch...@Helene,<br /><br /><i>"But we atheists often criticize Christians for throwing out pat answers or refusing to address the hard questions."</i><br /><br />You are correct, to many often refuse to answer the hard questions, or even know how to answer them. I don't know everything, and doing this on the internet affords me time to go look things up before i reply if i don't know an answer, and think over it. <br /><br />I think it is important to be able to answer the hard questions. And you should be able to question stuff. If you cannot question it then someone is hiding something. This does happen outside of more than just the Christian world. <br /><br />What i do find interesting is how many people don't and won't question their own worldview. Or they borrow lumber from the Christian worldview to build theirs.Edwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16369659005071111204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-71250001045517952422011-03-08T07:32:46.662-08:002011-03-08T07:32:46.662-08:00Edward, I have definitely been interested to have ...Edward, I have definitely been interested to have your comments here and am glad you'll be guest posting. Ricky Gervais famously said that his path to atheism began when he was 9 and his older brother caught him drawing a picture of Jesus. The older brother asked him "Why do you believe that stuff?" He looked up ready to explain when his mother quickly and sternly reprimanded the older brother for asking him that question. So 9-year-old Ricky thought, why is it wrong to ask that question? If I believe then why shouldn't I be able to explain why? Ricky came to the conclusion that his mom thought it was wrong because deep down she knew none of it was true. I know you wouldn't agree with that! But we atheists often criticize Christians for throwing out pat answers or refusing to address the hard questions. You SHOULD be able to question all of this stuff if you believe it and that's what I see you doing. Although I don't generally agree with your conclusions - being an atheist and all :) - many times you have made it possible for to understand Christian perspectives on things I have always found indefensible, which has in turn given me new understanding of the Bible and the people who wrote it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-84137888399360701862011-03-08T06:46:11.706-08:002011-03-08T06:46:11.706-08:00"i came to realize not many people were Chris...<i>"i came to realize not many people were Christians that were commenting. In all honesty i felt it was the blind leading the blind."</i><br /><br />For those posting first impression type comments based on the face value of the text, please keep doing so. In my opinion those are some of the most interesting observations to come out of this project.BHitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221255508123909911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-60738664349388209252011-03-07T19:49:57.006-08:002011-03-07T19:49:57.006-08:00@Brian
"What denomination do you attend?"...@Brian<br /><i>"What denomination do you attend?"</i><br /><br />No denomination, just Christian. I attend a small church, i left a big church last year because they were serving to much milk. :-D.<br /><br /><joke><br />So this guy goes to hell and asks the keeper of the gates:<br />"Do you have any Baptists in here?"<br />the keeper replies<br />"yup"<br />"any Protestants?"<br />"yup"<br />"any Catholics?"<br />"yup"<br />"and Episcopalians"<br />"yup"<br />Now this guy was able to then go to the Gate of Heaven, he asks the keeper at the Gate<br />"Do you have any Baptists in here?"<br />the keeper replied<br />"nope"<br />"any Protestants?"<br />"nope"<br />"any Catholics?"<br />"nope"<br />"well any Episcopalians"<br />"nope"<br />puzzled the guy asks,<br />"What do you have here?"<br />to which the keeper replied<br />"Christians"<br /></joke><br /><br />I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.Edwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16369659005071111204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-79399876041298868372011-03-07T19:38:17.123-08:002011-03-07T19:38:17.123-08:00@Barbara,
What i have learned, correct me if i am...@Barbara,<br /><br />What i have learned, correct me if i am wrong, is that the word "atheist" comes to us from the Greek language. In Greek "a" means "without" or "not" and "theos" means "god."<br /><br />Now if you say you live "without" God, i can believe that. However the other option is you claim there is "not" a God, and from your post i believe you mean the "not".<br /><br /><i>"We are not "anti" something that <strong>does not exist.</strong>"</i> emphasis mine<br /><br />So in order for you to be an "atheist" in that sense, then you would need to be God to make such an assertion. To declare that there is "No God" or "Not a God" you would need to know about everything everywhere to make such a statement. Yet you don't, do you?<br /><br />However i will give you this. You know everything in half the universe. Is it possible that God exists in the other half you don't know about?<br /><br />You are correct, i did not mean any disrespect by using anti-theist.Edwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16369659005071111204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-79140487732992410112011-03-07T19:17:11.994-08:002011-03-07T19:17:11.994-08:00anti-theist could have at least three meanings
1....anti-theist could have at least three meanings<br /><br />1. Against god<br />2. Against followers of a god<br />3. Against the idea of theism<br /><br />-a non-theistic humanist who needs to catch up on the reading.Erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18037406583478493064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-60565772809312021862011-03-07T18:22:45.672-08:002011-03-07T18:22:45.672-08:00Looking forward to your perspective.Looking forward to your perspective.Allyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09370597633814228380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-59381604221817098922011-03-07T17:57:45.601-08:002011-03-07T17:57:45.601-08:00Always interesting to hear from Edward. What denom...Always interesting to hear from Edward. What denomination do you attend?Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973448438167246907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-60550491139868429682011-03-07T17:43:38.100-08:002011-03-07T17:43:38.100-08:00Edward, there might be an anti-theist or two parti...Edward, there might be an anti-theist or two participating in this blog, but I am an atheist, and I think many of the others are atheist. We are not "anti" something that does not exist.<br />I'm sure you didn't mean to be derogatory in your terminology.AnswerMommahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02189681390112892528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-13472664493106485592011-03-07T13:45:21.118-08:002011-03-07T13:45:21.118-08:00You are not alone Edward. I too have been looking ...You are not alone Edward. I too have been looking through the posts and pondering the hard questions to my faith. I've contributed nothing yet but hope that once school slows, I'm a college student at present, to be able to spend more time considering that which has been said and provide clear truth in good spirit.<br />Your steadfastness has encouraged me greatly. Keep up the good work brother!Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00339899235661910848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648300866401965494.post-59484904869897944362011-03-07T13:28:53.105-08:002011-03-07T13:28:53.105-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00339899235661910848noreply@blogger.com