What’s the main reason, not reasons, on why you are a Christian?

Faith & Science Conversation
,
101

I always find you without guile, Randy.

1 Like
102

I have also made this mistake, which sometimes comes from not really understanding what you are feeling, and have had to apologize.

This has put me, I suppose, on the guileful list of @Kendel

1 Like
103
  • Or, to use heymike3’s phrase, giving voice to “a drunken fist”.
1 Like
104
  • There goes that “shame bell” again, … :wink:
105

Fix it, and move forward.

106

Fix what? Or do you mean drop it?

107

I make a lot of mistakes–no one’s perfect. I have had to apologize to my kids for attributing ill intent to them. I really feel bad about that.
Jesus’ words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” make me really think.

1 Like
108

This is so true! And it brings up a really complicated issue with how do you confront your kids when you are almost sure they are lying to you. Kind of relates here a little.

My parents scared me good by telling me they could tell when I was lying to them. My kids haven’t done so well with that lesson I tried on them. They probably saw right through it.

109
  • I had a boss in the IRS who “cured” me of prevarication when he told me: “Ya know, you wouldn’t have trouble remembering the truth if you told it the first time.”
2 Likes
110

My issue is with the pretense of objectivity that is then explicitly contradicted.

111

You’ve already answered your own question.

112

Then address the logic of the statement, rather than accusing someone of bad intent.

2 Likes
113

Good question. I would say I am a Christian because I made a reasonable step of faith. My good friend in university pointed me at C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, and that made a big impression on me. It seemed to me that it is entirely reasonable that Jesus is the Son of God, but ultimately, a step of faith was needed. Since then, I would say that the step of faith has been reinforced by the working of the Spirit. I won’t say that my faith is always strong, because it isn’t always. But I cling to the belief that Jesus Christ will not let me, as one of His sheep, wander irrevocably away.

I very much appreciate organizations like BioLogos that help me to remember that I don’t have to abandon reason to keep the faith.

3 Likes
114

The poor logic is self-evident and so glaring it makes the case implicitly. Maybe it’s the insistent repetition that accentuates the prevarication, inviting comment.

115

Poor logic and prevarication (lying) are not the same thing.
Disagreement and prevarication (lying) are not the same thing.
Accusing someone of prevarication (lying) whose logic one finds faulty, or with whom one disagrees, looks like ill will, or an unwillingness to engage in reasonable argument. Accusing someone else of prevarication (lying) does not make one’s case.

116

I didn’t mean to imply they were nor was I using them interchangeably. You inferred incorrectly.

Likewise.

That cannot be done when presuppositions are evident and even explicitly stated elsewhere, but denied or ignored in a current discussion.

117

Arguments may superficially appear to be reasonable if one forgets, ignores or is ignorant of the other’s presumption and underlying presuppositions.

118

Then I’m confused, because I feel like there is still something off in your comments to me.

It is as if you suspect I am not being forthright, which came up again in the liar and lunatic thread.

119

I’ve found when addressing the logic of the statement, or rather the glaring illogic, I was told to get lost… how is it, like a reverse judgement, when an unbeliever shakes the dust from their feet.

1 Like
120

Aptly put.