What Makes a Christian a Christian?

[Heyo]

Whether or not a book is a religious text is not determined by the demonstrable truth of its claims, but by its usage. If the demonstrable truth of its claims were a factor, then there would be no religious texts at all.

If no one adopts a text from god as a text for their religion, then it is not a religious text.

Is Star Wars a religious "book" (Film trilogy)?

 

[ppp]

Is Star Wars a religious "book" (Film trilogy)?

I was thinking about that as I was typing that post. Yep, it would be for those who are serious about Jedism.

 

[Moses_UK]

I was thinking about that as I was typing that post. Yep, it would be for those who are serious about Jedism.

You here to just troll people and not investigate religion. your words are subjective with no evidence at all

 

[ppp]

You here to just troll people and not investigate religion. your words are subjective with no evidence at all

Between the two of us, the only one calling someone a troll because they disagree is you.

And I will point out that I have laid out my reasons clearly:

Whether or not a book is a religious text is not determined by the demonstrable truth of its claims, but by its usage. If the demonstrable truth of its claims were a factor, then there would be no religious texts at all.

If you cannot bring yourself to think about the whys I am giving you, and provide reasoned (preferably non-fallacious) responses of your own that is not my fault.

 

[Cooky]

Between the two of us, the only one calling someone a troll because they disagree is you.

And I will point out that I have laid out my reasons clearly:

If you cannot bring yourself to think about the whys I am giving you, and provide reasoned (preferably non-fallacious) responses of your own that is not my fault.

Hey, no fair... You're supposed to "see the light", and it's not working. You must be a troll.

JK, JK...

 

[Cooky]

In fact, anyone who is not easily persueded to religion is but a mere troll..!

(jk, jk®)

 

[Moses_UK]

Between the two of us, the only one calling someone a troll because they disagree is you.

And I will point out that I have laid out my reasons clearly:

If you cannot bring yourself to think about the whys I am giving you, and provide reasoned (preferably non-fallacious) responses of your own that is not my fault.

1. You believe that your self-sufficient even though you can't explain where you were before your birth and where you will end up after death.
2. You follow the crowd and believe in your western styled atheism because its cool, and your people assume your enlighten due to that
3. if harm was to fall on you (which I hope doesn't) you would call out to God asking for help
4. your so blinded by hatred that you cant comprehend God demanding submission from you
5. your so limited in your powers, strengths, and knowledge and you still believe that you all-knowing
and keeper of truth

wake up

 

[Cooky]

You don't believe in God..?

You're blinded by hatred!!!!!!

You, you... you follow the crowd!

You, you... you think you're "self sufficient" Hah!


(jk, jk®)

 

[Moses_UK]

You don't believe in God..?

You're blinded by hatred!!!!!!

View attachment 46891

Mr. Cooky, you too have a religion and set of beliefs and that's paganism. Athiest hide their real religious beliefs and point fingers at believers.

The difference between me and you is that I have the guts to tell you about my faith. Explain to me yours (Devils religion)

 

[Cooky]

Mr. Cooky, you too have a religion and set of beliefs and that's paganism. Athiest hide their real religious beliefs and point fingers at believers.

The difference between me and you is that I have the guts to tell you about my faith. Explain to me yours (Devils religion)

(jk, jk®)

 

[Moses_UK]

Bow to your master..!

View attachment 46892

(jk, jk®)

hahahahha, That's the Christian portrayal of Satan. your a joke

 

[Cooky]

hahahahha, That's the Christian portrayal of Satan. your a joke

Hahahahahaaaa...!!!!

(jk, jk®)

 

[ppp]

Hey, no fair... You're supposed to "see the light", and it's not working. You must be a troll.

JK, JK...

Here I am under my bridge, waiting for goats...I mean dinner!

 

[ppp]

Five statements that are false in content and incorrect in grammar. In addition, you are claiming knowledge to which you have no access. Also, I asked for non-fallacious reasoning.

1. You believe that your self-sufficient even though you can't explain where you were before your birth and where you will end up after death.

You believe that you're self-sufficient to do [unspecified], even though you can't explain where you were before your birth, and where you will end up after death.

2. You follow the crowd and believe in your western styled atheism because its cool, and your people assume your enlighten due to that

You follow the crowd, and believe in your western-styled atheism because it's cool; and your people assume you're enlightened due to that.

3. if harm was to fall on you (which I hope doesn't) you would call out to God asking for help

If harm was to befall you (which I hope doesn't), you would call out to God asking for help.

4. your so blinded by hatred that you cant comprehend God demanding submission from you

You're so blinded by hatred that you can't comprehend God demanding submission from you.

5. your so limited in your powers, strengths, and knowledge and you still believe that you all-knowing
and keeper of truth

You're so limited in your powers, strengths, and knowledge that you still believe that you are an all-knowing [unspecified] and keeper of truth.

wake up

Sleep well. And thank you for not wishing harm upon me.

 

[Cooky]

Hey @Moses_UK, serious question... Have you ever tried worshipping Satan before? Just to try something different?

...Just curious.

...There's quite a few Satan worshippers on this site.

 

[Heyo]

Where is the evidence for God? Where is the evidence for the truth of Islam?

There is evidence, lots of evidence. But what counts as evidence depends on a lot of factors. This is a basic truth about the way reason and rationality works and it is just as true about religious claims as it is about scientific (or mathematical) claims.

Imagine you are a scientist living in a world that is bitterly anti-science. The masses are taught from a very young age to distrust science, to look down on scientists, and to view science itself as charlatanism at best, a violent death cult at worst.

In this world, of course, there is no institutionalized science education. The vast majority of people have zero exposure to science in the classroom growing up. This results in a severe lack of scientific literacy in the general population. But the ignorance runs deeper than that because even universities are anti-science. The vast majority of university professors and cognoscenti worldwide view science with snarky contempt.

The only way to study science is in small, underfunded, understaffed independent schools scattered around the world. To study at those schools requires great personal and financial sacrifice on the part of students, which means that very few legitimate scientists are trained relative to the size of the population.

An Islamic country? Or the US?

Now, for some reason in this world, the public believes that burning forests is great for the world’s climate.

As a scientist, you know better. You tell people that actually burning the world’s forests will cause an environmental disaster. Most people laugh at you and ignore everything you have to say given that you’re just a kooky scientist. Others are more respectful and tell you that you have the right to believe whatever you want as long as you don’t try to impose your beliefs on others by, for example, insisting that they’re true.

But there are some science skeptics who enjoy trolling scientists. So they start a dialogue with you. And they demand evidence. How do you know burning forests will lead to disaster? Where’s the evidence?

Now, you might be inclined to explain to them about greenhouse gases. But, of course, these people know absolutely nothing about chemistry or physics or biology. You could try to explain to them how CO2 traps heat, but they have no idea what chemical elements are, let alone CO2. You could tell them about how trees trap CO2 and give off oxygen and how living things like humans need oxygen, but then they would ask you for the evidence of all that. So you might try to explain some basic chemistry, but of course, that is not enough because ultimately chemistry as a body of empirical knowledge relies on molecular physics. So you’ll have to explain that and justify why that is epistemically reliable. And when it comes to understanding molecular physics, working knowledge of nuclear physics and even quantum mechanics is required, and on and on.

Obviously, these skeptics are going to understand very little of anything you might explain, let alone assume that what you’re saying is true. After all, these people had doubts about your initial claim as a scientist — there is nothing that would make them less doubtful about any of the other claims you would have to make about the supporting science that justifies that initial claim.

Now you might tell them: look, if you want to know with certainty how I know burning forests is a bad idea, you need to get a thorough science education and then do some basic experiments and then go onto advanced studies, etc., etc., and then you will have the evidence you need.

To which the skeptics laugh uproariously.

The lesson here is that what counts as evidence, i.e., compelling evidence that justifies belief requires a gigantic body of contextual knowledge. In discussions about science, that body of contextual knowledge is simply assumed on the basis of scientific authority. People trust scientists to know what they’re talking about, so they won’t press them too far to justify every single thing.

But when those same people talk about God, the skepticism is turned up to a whole different level, because religion has no intellectual or epistemic authority in the secular world we live in.

There is plenty of evidence for God, evidence far more compelling, consistent, and “objective” than anything in empirical science. But two things impede people from recognizing this.

First, contextual knowledge is not there. Islamic education is nonexistent for most of the world, including Muslims. Instead, Muslims worldwide are educated through secular models of learning. Obviously, that will impact Muslims’ ability to intellectually arrive at the conviction in the existence of Allah and the truth of Islam.

And if that weren’t bad enough, the second impeding factor is a very active anti-religion, the anti-Islamic current that permeates the culture, the media, the academy, etc., etc. The state of iman and conviction of Muslims around the world is severely impacted by these two factors.

The evidence for Allah and the truth of Islam comes from different sources that mutually reinforce each other. This is the way any body of knowledge works, including scientific knowledge, as the example above was meant to show. A skeptic can undermine any specific point of knowledge but they can do this in virtue of ignorance of the larger context or paradigm or episteme or plausibility structure or web of belief (or whatever other philosophical/sociological terms you want to use).

The nice thing about science is that it works. I can construct an experiment that shows my explanation and prediction. There are experiments you can do in your kitchen. I can build trust in science through constantly being right.

What are the basic experiments that made you trust religion and got you interested in the more complex experiments?

 

[Marcion]

A Christian is only a true Christian if the Christian teachings in the New Testament override the teachings of the historical Jesus in importance.

 

[paarsurrey]

What Makes a Christian a Christian?

Friend @Heyo !

It is very difficult for a Pauline-Christian, I understand, to know the truthful teachings of their beloved and innocent Jesus son of Mary, as the sinful Paul so cleverly hid them in his made-up creeds that the ordinary believer got misled from Jesus' truthful way and or his Path.
But now , I figure, with the advent of the Promised Messiah or Second Coming in the form of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad 1835-1908 a sure possibility has arisen to follow him and find the true teachings of Jesus and become a true Christian as well a true Muslim, as I understand. No compulsion however, please. Right friend, please?

Regards

 

[Heyo]

What Makes a Christian a Christian?

Friend @Heyo !

It is very difficult for a Pauline-Christian, I understand, to know the truthful teachings of their beloved and innocent Jesus son of Mary, as the sinful Paul so cleverly hid them in his made-up creeds that the ordinary believer got misled from Jesus' truthful way and or his Path.
But now , I figure, with the advent of the Promised Messiah or Second Coming in the form of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad 1835-1908 a sure possibility has arisen to follow him and find the true teachings of Jesus and become a true Christian as well a true Muslim, as I understand. No compulsion however, please. Right friend, please?

Regards

I personally have no skin in the game. I just watch and see and wait for the big conference when all Christian leaders get together and find a common answer. Until then I proclaim that even Christians don't know what a Christian is.

 

[paarsurrey]

I personally have no skin in the game. I just watch and see and wait for the big conference when all Christian leaders get together and find a common answer. Until then I proclaim that even Christians don't know what a Christian is.

Since, one started the thread, one must be knowing who has the most skin in the issue, please ask them to attend to it, if they may. Right friend, please?

Regards