Suspension of disbelief.

[☆ DarkBishop ☆]

Hey Midniterider,

 

Alright so i'm one of the ones you mentioned that read something and the whole house of cards collapsed. But I was also on shaky ground before hand asking questions and already assuming the more nonsensical stories in the bible (flood of noah, tower of babel, and pretty much the whole creation) were just that. An ancient peoples story's to explain life as they knew it. 

 

Now i'm agnostic, not having any deity but just an overall belief that there still may be something in the universe to believe in. 

 

As far as switching a switch back on? I  personally dont see how that is possible. It would take some grand discovery to prove that the bible was actually factual to make me believe again. There is no way I could just "switch" my belief in the bible back on. Since I've deconverted I admit i've had my emotional week points where I was at church with my wife and I prayed for someone to come up to me, say something specific that I was asking for in my prayer, and that I would believe again. After all an all powerful god should be able to relay a simple message to prove he is worthy of my worship. But alas. that never happened and science is still disproving the bible more than proving it. So here i am. 

 

Great topic Midnite

 

DB

[WalterP]

7 hours ago, Edgarcito said:

That's right W, I know the answer already....  I'm looking for a physical/chemical mechanisms that are responsible for, as the Prof says, demonstrable.  Morality is this chemistry, joy I that chemistry, etc.  Then the arguments here would be substantiated.  I doubt we will ever understand....too complex I'm betting.  Not a biggie.

 

Endgarcito3,

 

If you are looking, but know the answer already, then how are you going to guard against confirmation bias?

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

 

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that affirms one's prior beliefs or hypotheses.

 

 

Thank you.

 

Walter.

 

 

[TheRedneckProfessor]

36 minutes ago, WalterP said:

 

Endgarcito3,

 

If you are looking, but know the answer already, then how are you going to guard against confirmation bias?

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

 

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that affirms one's prior beliefs or hypotheses.

 

 

Thank you.

 

Walter.

 

 

As I said, he looks for evidence of jesus for similar reasons.

[WalterP]

1 hour ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

As I said, he looks for evidence of jesus for similar reasons.

 

Hmmm, well he's going to have a problem getting naturalistic science to provide supernatural evidence for Jesus.

 

 

But, if he already knows the answer he wants, then I suppose he'll just do this.

 

 

 

 

 

[TEG]

18 hours ago, DarkBishop said:

As far as switching a switch back on? I  personally dont see how that is possible. It would take some grand discovery to prove that the bible was actually factual to make me believe again. There is no way I could just "switch" my belief in the bible back on.  . . . After all an all powerful god should be able to relay a simple message to prove he is worthy of my worship. But alas. that never happened and science is still disproving the bible more than proving it. So here i am.

 

My thoughts exactly.  I could believe, and would believe, but as far as the bible and christianity, it would take something extraordinary.  A bullet stopping in midair, a pillar of fire leading people to a destination, a person blown up by a bomb coming back to life.  And witnessed by the general public, not just one person’s private hallucination.  And there is nothing about the bible that demands belief, either morally or scientifically.

 

“Thanks to nihilism, I have nothing to believe in.”

[TheRedneckProfessor]

16 minutes ago, TEG said:

Thanks to nihilism, I have nothing to believe in

[midniterider]

Exchristians, years prior to your deconversion when you were Christians buried in the faith, did anyone give you a logical argument against your faith or provide some contradictory bible verses to you? 

 

If so, how did you dismiss those ideas and maintain a strong faith in Jesus (for a while, anyway)? 

 

 

 

 

[◊ Weezer ◊]

As a young adult I remember a neighbor asking me if I believed God knew everything, and if everything he made was perfect.  When I said yes, his reply was, "then why did he make an angel that would later turn against him and become Satan?"  That registered in my mind, but was shoved to the back.  But through the years would become just one of many questions.  It was about 20 years later I walked out of church to never return.

 

I didn't really dismiss the idea, just shoved it aside temporiarly.  It eventually got to the point I could no longer ignore the collection of questions I had pushed to the side.

 

This might be a good discussion to take to the Questions thread.