Thursday, August 12, 2010

It Makes Me Feel Better

There is a very common argument for belief which can be distilled down to: it makes me feel better and don't you want to feel better, too? Or, more verbosely, but less cogently stated:

The Two Reasons to Believe

The person who doesn't believe in Jesus Christ because of the "scientific evidence", is deceiving themselves. Seemingly legitimate arguments of logic and science can be offered from both sides of the table. Science, of this sort, is just a trumped up excuse to maintain the worldview you started with. It bolsters and supports the egocentric. It's foolishness to argue with a made up mind. Why waste time?

Science that doesn't support your argument is a "trumped up excuse"? Yeah, you have no idea what science or how it works, do you? Why waste time, indeed. Oh, you're going to anyway, aren't you?

If [A] cogent argument is making one more defensive, then what is left?

uncogent arguments, i.e., nonsense?

One who does not believe needs to see something worth believing in. This person will want to see something that they will want for themselves.

No. I want to see proof. Proof is different. Although good luck with making Mr. Ilikeitwhenyoubashbabies'skullsin something I might want.

Seeing the difference Christ makes, in the the lives of a believers, is one reason to believe that He can make a difference in yours.

Look, I've seen people made happy and content by Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Cold Play. (Really, Cold Play.) This does not inspire me to believe in your version of Christianity. This is proof of the fact that some people need something, anything, to believe in and whatever they latch onto first will do.

The active, miraculous love shining out of a believer will make you wonder.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yes, I shall know you by your love: of hating homosexuals and women and muslims and Hispanics and poor children. It's all clear now. I must worship the god of active, miraculous, hateful love!

Seeing the peace and just plain sanity with which a true christian faces the most challenging of circumstances can persuade the most sceptical.

Ahem. "Skeptical". And no, it doesn't. Christians face foreclosure, death, divorce, illness, etc. with exactly the same fortitude as anyone else. And, if fortitude in the face of adversity is a reason to convert, I suggest you check out Christopher Hitchens' most recent interview- and become an atheist.

A believer always has something awesome to look forward to, that hope that cannot die! Opiate of the people, indeed!

I don't think you know what "opiate of the masses" meant, and I hope someday to ride a pink unicorn, that's no reason to believe unicorns are real.

The other reason to believe, and the best one, is that you get to know Jesus Christ! Remember, this is the One that was sent to show us what God is like! This is the One who gave up everything, including His life, just to have us with Him! In tenderness, He holds us, comforts us, and sustains us! Obedience to His every word is a joy, because He holds only our highest interests in His heart! With Him with us, we need fear nothing! Is it any wonder that praising Him is our greatest honor? That rejoicing in Him is something we'll gladly do, forever?

Yeah! I get to hang out with your imaginary friend! Who really isn't the most interesting imaginary friend available to me. I've always felt Odin was more interesting than Jesus, and then there's Prometheus or Shiva. An evening with Loki sounds both dangerous and exciting.

Anyone who has not trusted Jesus is missing out on anything and everything worthwhile and worth having.

Like what? Your boring imaginary friend or your hateful love?

Christianity can be proven, but no one should believe only because of the cold, hard facts.

If you had proof, or facts of the cold and hard persuasion, why didn't you give me those?

That is only a part of it! Convicting is done by the convincing of the heart! Who wouldn't want to be a part of the best possible outcome?

No one, but you haven't proven it, so I'm going to go call Loki and see if he wants to go clubbing with me and Shiva. (There's dancing- and death!)

9 comments:

  1. Okay, this...

    "Seeing the peace and just plain sanity with which a true christian faces the most challenging of circumstances can persuade the most sceptical."

    ...made me laugh.

    "I'm going to go call Loki and see if he wants to go clubbing with me and Shiva. (There's dancing- and death!)"

    Ooh, can Cernunnos and I come, too? Morrigan and Brigid had a scheduling conflict, but they might want to catch us up later.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't forget Eris. She started the Trojan War with just an inscription on an apple.

    Sceptical is the British spelling.

    Seemingly legitimate arguments of logic and science can be offered from both sides of the table.

    This told me everything. It is absolutely right too. One side is presenting actual logic and science while the other side is "seemingly" (so as to give the impression of having a certain quality) doing the same. Creationist and Apologists are "sciency". They look like science on a cursory glance but once you start digging you see that it is just a false front to woo people over.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Science = empirical verification
    Christianity = non-entertaining nonsense

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, I will defer to the people who invented the language, but, um . . . "sce" in "scepter" is pronounced as "s", so . . . fuck it, no part of english pronunciation makes sense, why should that?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Does it help if scepter comes from the French septre which derives from the Latin sceptrum and the Greek skeptron, so it was the French that dropped the "k" sound?

    While skeptic comes from the Latin scepticus and Greek skeptikos, so it never dropped the "k" sound?

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you're gonna have any of the Aesir or the Vanir, you'd best be inviting Frigg along to keep 'em in line.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll never be allowed back in that club . . .

    ReplyDelete
  8. Coldplay makes me angry. And sleepy. Basically, it causes me to go to bed angry.

    Just thought I'd throw that out there...

    ReplyDelete
  9. I once had a girlfriend who got sucked in by a sect, and I spent some time trying to get her out. That included going to the commune where she lived, and I must say, the people there impressed me greatly: they seemed to be the most loving and generous group I had ever seen. It was very attractive, the thought of living in such a supportive and friendly society, and I was sorry that the whole world was not like this.

    But that was just my immediate emotional reaction. My intellect rebelled, and the more time I spent with them, the creepier and more insidious they seemed to be. This was a commune of the Unification Church, the Moonies, and they were batshit crazy.

    I didn't manage to get my friend out, but she got out on her own later, luckily.

    cheers from sunny Vienna, zilch

    ReplyDelete

Comments are for you guys, not for me. Say what you will. Don't feel compelled to stay on topic, I enjoy it when comments enter Tangentville or veer off into Non Sequitur Town. Just keep it polite, okay?

I am attempting to use blogger's new comment spam feature. If you don't immediately see your comment, it is being held in spam, I will get it out next time I check the filter. Unless you are Dennis Markuze, in which case you're never seeing your comment.

Creative Commons License
Forever in Hell by Personal Failure is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at foreverinhell.blogspot.com.