First of all, I would like to thank the banned spammer for reopening this topic. While our friend Lithodid-Man, a college professor from Alaska, is long gone, I was able to read some of the conversation and of course it spurred me into some replies.
jar writes:
Unfortunately, if you do live in this world, it is very likely you will eventually be confronted with evidence that refutes many widely held Christian belifes, ones like Young Earth or that there was a Great Worldwide Flood. This seems to lead to one of several reactions:
1)the person realizes that the actuality of such beliefs does not have anything to do with GOD or a belief in GOD and moves on.
2)the person abandons their Faith totally.
3)they move into a creative stance where they make up a series of possible scenarios that explain whatever troupling fact is presented to them without even considering that many of their mythical scenarios are mutually exclusive.
4)they say "Yes none of the evidence supports my beliefs but I will continue believing them anyway.
Of those options, the first and fourth seem to happen less often than the second or third.
So, what steps should Christians take to prevent options 2 & 3?
Abandoning ones faith often stems from an all or nothing mentality. As I have said before, I learn more from arguments which I disagree with than I do from arguments and positions that I agree with.
Im quite certain that I believe without evidence. The only evidence I have is my subjective beliefs.
Saying, "I don't know," is the same as saying, "Maybe."~ZombieRingo
One of the major purposes of debate is to help you hone your arguments. Yours are pretty bad. They can use all the honing they can get.~Ringo