View Single Post
Old 01-10-2014, 11:19 PM   #129
aiki-jujutsuka
 
aiki-jujutsuka's Avatar
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 192
Offline
Re: Old Testament Creationism

Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
That's an offensive way to phrase a question, but I'll try to answer it. I find fundamentalism to be foolish and inescapably erroneous -- ANY fundamentalism, not merely Christian fundamentalism. I have no problem with "faith" by some definitions, and find other forms of "faith" to be an exercise in willful stupidity. Believing that something is the literal truth because it comes with the stamp of your religion on it makes no more sense than believing food is healthy because you bought it at a "health food store". Your religion -- any religion -- is the product of human beings who seek to represent, in their inevitably flawed way, their understanding of the divine or the spirit. Some do so earnestly, some do so honestly, some do so cynically and with an eye out to their own opportunity. Even the most well-intentioned are flawed, and what they produce (with their religion's brand name stamped on it) is likewise flawed. Some of it is produced by charlatans and self-serving demagogues. None of it is perfect. Buyer beware...or, well, don't. Up to you.
Thank you for your honesty, I apologize for any offence caused, however reading your comments they have hardly been exactly "polite". Neither of us are perfect and maybe its the nature of this kind of internet discussion that brings out the worst in us .

I like your health food store analogy, if I may I would like to continue using it in my response...

We human beings are inherently sinful (in other words imperfect). Sin is like a sickness in many ways. Now say we go into the health food store to buy some food recognising our need for a healthier diet. We browse the isles looking for healthy alternatives to our favourite foods. Imagine we come across a package which has the nutritional value of the product as well as an official stamp or logo of a well known, trusted quality control organisation. With the information we have we draw an inference that this food is indeed healthy and so we buy it, eager to get home and start making the necessary changes to our lifestyle. There is nothing illogical or foolish about that. We have looked at the evidence and drawn sensible conclusions. Now there may be some counterfeit products in that health store, which contain no health benefits and deceive us. That is a possibility. But where there are counterfeit products there are always real ones from which the counterfeit has been copied. Familiarity with the real brand and product will help us detect and identity the fake.

This is what the Christian faith is like. The Bible is not just a man-made book about God which we must take at face-value regarding its truth claims. The Bible gives us a diagnosis for our condition (sin) and perscribes the remedy (faith in Jesus). The "stamp" of authority does not come from the religion (Christianity) it comes from God Himself. God created the universe so naturally He is omnipotent and because He is eternal and not confined to the dimensions of space-time that are part of our universe He is omniscient. Knowing that humanity would use its free-will irresponsibly (like those bad eating habits and laziness) He created the means of our salvation knowing we could never achieve it by ourselves and inspired the creation of the Bible through His Holy Spirit so that people of all generations after its completion could know this truth. Salvation is an act of God`s grace. God began it and God will bring it to completion.

Now I understand you will probably object to my use of your analogy, but the point is we as imperfect, flawed people how can we say what God is and is not capable of doing? It is because of our finiteness that we struggle to comprehend the truth. I would encourage you not to disregard the Bible because of your (justifible) view of the flaws in human nature. Yes we are flawed, but God by very His very nature is able to overcome them.

Last edited by aiki-jujutsuka : 01-10-2014 at 11:22 PM.
  Reply With Quote