Sending myself crazy!

quote:

---

Originally posted by schrafinator:
Ah, but you weren't born believing, were you? You have years and years of parental influence and churchgoing and instruction which have heavily influenced you.

---

in my case my parents dont go to church so therefore they couldnt influence my decision to go to church. It was my choice to believe in god. It was my choice to go to church. And you may say that even though it wasnt my parents who influenced me it could have been something else such as friends or something and i was just doing what all the other people were doing but thats not true. when i first started church and believing in god none of my friends went to the same church as me if they went to church at all and we never discussed god or religion anyhow. so i would say that this is an example of peoples own free will.------------------
~~darWOOD~~

quote:

---

Originally posted by schrafinator:
You can't put yourself into any viewpoint if you disagree with it? Wow, that is a very narrow way to experience life and a very poor way to understand people and cultures which are different.

​

Is your personal viewpoint so weak or restrictive that attempting to understand where someone else is coming from is too scary? Do you feel that putting yourself in anothers' viewpoint, just in an attempt at understanding, is too much of a threat to your own?

​

[This message has been edited by schrafinator, 03-16-2002]

---

Its not like u have alot of room to talk. This entire time all you talk about it how KP is wrong and try to find a way to make it seem like his ideas and beliefs are incorrect because they arent the same as yours. You criticise him because he said that he couldnt put himself into another persons viewpoint but you are being a hypocrite because you said "Do you feel that putting yourself in anothers' viewpoint, just in an attempt at understanding, is too much of a threat to your own?." and yet you didn't put yourself in his viepwoint... all you did was try to think of the next thing you can try to do to disprove his beliefs. How bout next time you be sure to practice what you preach.

I wasnt trying to help KP. i was just stating the fact that if you are going to talk smack about someone not being able to look at ideas through someone elses viewpoint that you shouldnt go out and do the same thing that you accused them of. Yes i know this is a debate board but is it too hard for you to look at someones ideas and actually consider them instead of just looking for a way to try and prove them wrong? True, without arguing its not a debate but you can still argue and see where they are coming from at the same time. I think that all you are interested in is arguing with someone and your not really interested in getting your point across. Also, i wasnt trying to portray you as a "big meanie", as you so maturely stated, i was just saying that you should follow your own advice, which is some that you must really believe in considering that you wrote two paragraphs saying how important it is. you get upset about what i say and to try and contridict me just because i tried to show you that you are guilty of doing the same as he is. It also accures to me that if you were such a "good debater" you would have been able to show your opinion without having gone as low in your response as to try and portray me as some immature, stupid person by falsly stating that i implied that you were a "big meanie". i never said anything like that, all i wanted was for you to realize what you had done and maybe it would help out some other time... unless you like being a hypocrite.------------------
~~darWOOD~~

quote:

---

Originally posted by schrafinator:
The major thrusts of this discussion are my contention that the religious belifs and traditions that most people hold to are determined by the culture in which they live, and that one cannot simply choose to believe in God.

​

Why did you choose Christianity as your choice of religion?

---

You have a point in saying that your surroundings do have part of what people believe in... but its not like you dont have a choice. The fact that the only churches around here are christian probably is a part of the reason why i chose to be christian, but i could have chosen to not be religious at all. i chose to first start going to a christian churche because thats whats around but i didnt have to believe in it and i could have stopped and looked up other religions by using libraries or the internet. It was a choice to have this religion and it is a choice to stay in this religion and its a choice to have whatever beliefs you have. Everyone has thier beliefs because thats what they chose to believe in.------------------
~~darWOOD~~