I'm Taking a Needed Break

Last time I took a break it only lasted for one week. Who knows how long this one will be? I'll still listen in, but I'm burned out right now. Stay tuned for what the other members will post. I'll be back. So as a last thought for a while let me leave you with how I see our differences:

Christians and I reject all other religions. I simply reject their Christian religion with the same confidence they have when rejecting all other religions. The rejection of a religious viewpoint is the easy part. We all do it. And we're all confident when doing so. The hard part after the rejection is to affirm a religious viewpoint. That's where a person must argue that he has the correct one. And from what I see, Christians are just as confident that they are right as that the others are wrong, unlike me. I think the default position is soft-agnosticism, which simply says, "I don't know." That's right, I don't know what to believe after rejecting all religious viewpoints. I could even happily concede that there is a God, a deist god, a philosopher's god. But such a distant god is no different than none at all. Think about it. That's why I've chosen to be an atheist, since it makes no difference to me even if a god does exist. But I could be wrong, and I admit it.

Christians on the other hand seem absolutely confident that they are correct in what they affirm, and that's a huge difference between us. Given the proliferation of religious viewpoints separated by geographical location around the globe, the fact that believers have a strong tendency to rationally support what they were taught to believe (before they had the knowledge or capability to properly evaluate it), along with the lack of compelling evidence to convince people who are outsiders to the Christian faith, mine is the reasonable viewpoint to affirm, that's all.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi John,
take care, we'll try to hold down the fort!

But as I see it, what you wrote here in this thread is THE argument that debunks christianity.

Anonymous said...

Best wishes for a well deserved break. I hope it is restful for you.

One thought I'd like to put out is that it doesn't have to be one or the other; faith in absolutes or no faith.

I think the response, "I don't know" is the wisest one that can be made. It will always be the truest statement made by real seekers.

I don't endorse every view on this site, but this was a post that reminds me of what you seem to be getting at:

Mystery

Lantrix said...

Enjoy the break from the blog. This post sums up exactly how I feel, but wasn't able to put into words. I'll be sure to refer my questioning Christian friends to it.

Prup (aka Jim Benton) said...

John:
Excellent post, very well put and I especially -- as you know -- agree with the point about there being no 'operational difference' between a deistic God and no God.

Enjoy your vacation, rest, breathe, and come back stronger than ever. (And I'll try not to cause too much trouble when the 'cat's away.' (;-) )

Roopster said...

John,

Have a great sabbatical :)

Paul

Bill said...

This blog is time consuming, both intellectually and emotionally, for me. It must be a hundred times more for you. Rest up.

akakiwibear said...

JWL, relax and enjoy, confident that you are right, no one is absolutely certain.

God bless you.