Hi Neo-x,neo-x wrote:Phillip, I don't take anything from you and I can say that you were one of the few people who defended me and approached me. So believe me there is nothing personal here. If there had been I would have gone silent. But to be honest I'm just fed up, my friend. Its not you, my words led k this morning into a small heated exchange.
For myself, Scripture has nothing to do with what I was asking of you really.
I've stated numerous times one can look to Habermaus and treat the books in our Bible separately in a historical-critical way.
You can still get to Christ that way, by no means taking Scripture as the "Word of God".
SO, that challenging your Christianity because you don't believe in or accept the protestant canon of Scripture was completely not the case, when you felt attacked and I snapped back.
Rather, I see people often hold incoherent beliefs.
I am a big believer in making my beliefs as coherent as possible.
Our beliefs that we hold may contradict each other, and where they do, we should reflect upon them and remove that contradiction.
As a Christian, and someone that respects the mind and reason, I feel it's like my duty to analyse where my beliefs contradict and work them out.
For example, Jac raised some valid points which appeared to show some inconsistency to my own beliefs.
So I actually took an hour out to unpack what was being said and pinpoint what the issues seemed to be.
Then I saw the issues, and against the fuller scope of my beliefs saw that there really wasn't an inconsistency.
Jac still thinks otherwise, but @Jac -- I don't believe God interjects Himself here and there but lives with us in time sustaining everything in existence including continuing time itself.
So when you stated that you do not believe God was involved with making this universe or life, that such is unguided, then such as belief as I see it contradicts Theism itself (not Scripture, but reason). Others tended to see an inconsistency here too, but none called you non-Christian from what I can see and certainly not myself.
Rather either I misunderstand what you meant, or this is just an incoherent part of your beliefs that perhaps you haven't fully reflected upon.
OR perhaps it just doesn't matter to you, because by taking the most extreme position possible you are in a way putting on steel armor to ensure your most fundamental beliefs in God and Christ can't be taken away by some future discovery. So it's kind of like a defense mechanism.
Your further words along the lines that God may intervene here, but you don't see it is necessary, seem to suggest to me that you are simply allowing for a worst-case scenario should it be somehow discovered God is absolutely not needed for our universe or life.
Or perhaps I'm here just over-thinking you and your beliefs.
So that is what I was getting at when you felt your Christianity was under attack.
In actuality, I was wanting you to reflect upon you said regarding God doesn't need to be involved and Theism itself.
Hope that makes sense and I haven't come across wrong again.