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  1. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    Oh happy day. A person who deals in absolutes, makes broad sweeping and condemning statements and offers nothing to back them up. I'm sorry, how is that any different than the belief systems you oppose? I'm a believer. I support stem cell research, condom use and equal rights for everyone...
  2. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    Absolutely. But since I can't know with certainty until I die, I'm not going to spend my life trying to back up my position on... life lol. I'm content to live a life dedicated to fostering peace, spreading hope and searching for understanding. Why do I need to know that the vehicle I use to do...
  3. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    I care that the things I claim to know are true. I hope that the things I believe are true.
  4. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    To your first point; so? Scripture is written by men. They are trying to articulate things they've seen or experienced that are sometimes profoundly beyond them; sometimes ego or prejudice (as is my reading of much of the Gospel of John) gets in the way and obscures the message. To your...
  5. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    Heh. Lets rephrase then, shall we? I believe because, despite my knowledge of all the reasons not to and my well reasoned arguments against doing so, belief was instilled in me. I have no explanation for it; the fact that it happened to me is sufficient reason for me to accept it. So this gets...
  6. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    I disagree that one has to give up anything to have faith. I have faith where before I didn't, not because I was commanded, threatened or cajoled, or because it suddenly made sense to do so but because it was just there one day. I believe things I have no good reason to believe for no reason...
  7. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    This is all I'm trying to get at. I can be passionate in my beliefs without allowing them to conflict with observations of the natural world. Why do the two have to get mixed into an unhealthy porridge of intellectual crazytime?
  8. UntemperedSchism

    What is your biggest reason for not becoming a Christian??

    Yeah, I used to love that one too :D I guess my response is: Only when you're either making claims or propagating them. My faith makes no assertions but rather states beliefs and causes me to share them with people of belief. I believe that there is a God. I believe that God sometimes...
  9. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    ^This.
  10. UntemperedSchism

    What is your biggest reason for not becoming a Christian??

    To be fair though, Thomas has been remembered for 2000 years as Doubting Thomas, not Eventually Coming To His Senses After Witnessing Direct Evidence And So Should We All Thomas. :D
  11. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    Right? The corner stone of religious faith is that it is describing and exploring things which cannot be measured physically; which are purely and spiritually experiential. Why then does anyone think it's a good idea to apply the logical rules of physicality to it or, even worse, use the...
  12. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    Not at all. I'm not advocating an abandonment of reason. I'm simply saying that matters of faith should remain matters of faith and not intrude on or pretend to the realm of knowledge. Religious faith should be a separate type of thought; a different way of asking questions and searching for...
  13. UntemperedSchism

    Faith Isn't Knowledge...Nor Should It Be

    I had a conversation with one of the ministers at my church this weekend about crises of faith and the idea that faith is a state of mind that should abhor proof and the search for it. As an atheist I had opportunity on almost a daily basis (usually on Twitter) to argue with believers and it...
  14. UntemperedSchism

    Moderate theists are cherry pickers

    This is kind of my answer to the issue of strict vs contemplative faith, which is really what someone is talking about when they accuse you of cherry picking: If I ask a hundred men to draw a tree, each one will create a different image. Some will be accurate, some will be interpretive. Some...
  15. UntemperedSchism

    Questioning ability to think clearly just because someone is religious

    I don't know that you should question someone's ability to think clearly (speaking as one somewhat biased and who used to argue from pure rationalism) but I think when someone is running for office, the taboo against questioning the details and specifics of whatexactly is going to be influencing...
  16. UntemperedSchism

    Some questions about evolution.

    Well that's a tall order:rolleyes: Would you like a side of unicorn with that? You know, on account of it not existing. :D
  17. UntemperedSchism

    Does Science have a better explanation on things compared to divine inspiration and revelation?

    I'd say it's decidedly inconvenient. I'd love to be able to explain, concretely, why I now believe what I believe. I can't yet, and I'm unwilling to just guess or make blanket assertions, so I don't try to explain it.
  18. UntemperedSchism

    Does Science have a better explanation on things compared to divine inspiration and revelation?

    I'm going to assume, given the general tenor of our conversation, that the "getting...inside a brain like yours" comment was not mean to be complimentary lol. I now feel a bit more ashamed of my own inhumanity to theists when I was in your shoes :D
  19. UntemperedSchism

    Once I would have come here for very different reasons...

    Heh. I love that painting. It says everything I need to say about the state of the everyman in society. With an apple. :D
  20. UntemperedSchism

    Once I would have come here for very different reasons...

    It was a sequence of events that culminated in a complete attitude shift.
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