Introduction

Science, World, and Faith

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Posted by: henryjackson Original: 8/29/2006 8:25 PM Views: 81 Comments: 26 eProps: 31 Read Comments Post a Comment Back to Your Xanga Site

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2 eProps from: godmadescience Roaring_T_Rex Lord_Adinfinitum firefairy10 CrissGoth deltadom THDmilkman thas_lyffe thestory_line mykid2 Snakelips jitterjots Egregious_Deviant_Zebra usalapinhazzer ILoveObento 1 eProp from: soulfulwriter 0 eProps from: R3PTILIA aslongasiamalive

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Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Here is a short explanation of who I am, why I wrote this book, and what this book is for. I am an ordinary layman of an ordinary Christian church. I attend Sunday worship regularly and fulfill the usual duties like tithing, attending the required services, etc. Outside the church, I read the Bible, pray, listen to Christian music, read Christian books, and participate in fellowship activities in order to strengthen my faith. In addition, I like to argue with nonbelievers. When I meet people who have challenging questions about Christianity or theology, I can't help doing my best to find answers to respond to them. I believe Christianity is true, thus I also believe that if I strive to think, there are always good answers for those tough questions.

During my discussions with friends of both nonbelievers and believers, I have found many valuable arguments that are worth writing down. Some of which are my ideas, formed only after being baffled by some very difficult questions of nonbelievers for days or weeks; some are my inspirations, after years of confusion about Christianity and other religions; and some are the essence of the thoughts of great Christian teachers. Accordingly, it is my belief that if these ideas are written down and organized as a book, they can and will be a solid reference to persuade people to accept Christianity. This book may also save time and energy that is otherwise spent engaged in religious arguments. I felt compelled to finish this project, and this book is the result. It is my hope that people will consider it both interesting and helpful.

Throughout this book, I assume that you, the reader, are a person who does not believe in any religion. You know plenty about modern scientific concepts such as the evolution theory in biology, or the big bang theory in cosmology. You feel uncomfortable when someone invites you to go to church. You sometimes argue with your friends about their beliefs and feel that they are uninformed and a little bit stupid. This book is a collection of what I have come up with so far for arguing with people like you.

Because of my educational background, I open with a chapter entitled, "What Science is".

http://swf2007.com/00.html

http://swf2007.com/

Posted 8/29/2006 8:25 PM - 81 Views - 31 eProps - 26 comments

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26 Comments

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I'm sorry, I don't know why you told me about this. I'm not Christian, although I once was, but I will never return to Christianity. I have learned not to try and convince myself into believing those cute little bedtime stories are fact. No matter what you say, you'll never have the fact base to convince me. Sorry.

Posted 8/30/2006 7:16 AM by R3PTILIA - reply

That's because thing things a person does or does not accept as "fact" depends on the assumptions and theories that she unconsciously holds to be true, as Thomas Kuhn has written about in "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." He's not a Christian, by the way. Raw, uninterpreted facts don't exist. That's why no fact base by itself would convince you; those facts will be interpreted within your non-Christian worldview. One must always deal with worldviews when discussing facts.

Posted 8/30/2006 12:24 PM by godmadescience - reply

Sounds great so far, buddy. I especially like the part about saving time.

Posted 8/30/2006 11:14 PM by Roaring_T_Rex - reply

Good idea, i love science and god, this will only be able to affect the open minded unfortunetly. i will probably read this slowly as i have many books to read and little time between daily tasks. I look forward to hearing from you again, feel free to comment my site any time. ttyl

Posted 8/31/2006 1:02 AM by Lord_Adinfinitum - reply

and also i want to mention that i am honores to be invited here ty

Posted 8/31/2006 1:06 AM by Lord_Adinfinitum - reply

Wow. :)

Oh thanks for the comment, by the way. Good luck on the book! I'll try getting a copy if ever.

Posted 9/1/2006 7:50 AM by firefairy10 - reply

I'm Athiest. I dont believe in god or anything they say in the bible. Science directly disproves everything written in that fairy tale book. All it is is a story, and everyone believes it. Imagine if everyone believed The Oddessy was real, and centered thier life and beliefs around that, and you've got a perfect example of how rediculous Christianity is. Jesus didnt walk on water or come back to life. The cross was nothing special until someone nailed him to it in that book, people were crucified all the time. And he sure as hell didn't come back to life. Maybe there was a person who existed named Jesus, but someone, or he himself, wrote a story, a big FICTION novel series. Your religion is based on a thousand lies, and everyone overlooks them. When something good happens, it's a miracle from God. But when something bad happens, it's his will, and we just dont understand it. Why is it that everyone credits him for the good but never the bad> Why is all the evidence overlooked?

Miracles don't happen. God doesnt exist. We're alone. You cling to your faith because you're too scared to accept the fact that you have to make your own destiny.

Don't talk to me agian, unless you have something useful to say.

-Criss

Posted 9/1/2006 6:38 PM by CrissGoth - reply

where are your references
Dom

Posted 9/1/2006 7:17 PM by deltadom - reply

where are your references
Dom

Posted 9/1/2006 7:18 PM by deltadom - reply

Hi, Dom:

I am sorry that I didn't make a reference list or an index. However, most knowledge used in this book are well-known. If you are not familiar with something, (Don't have any bad feeling. I don't know a lot of things, either.) Google and Wiki are right there. Thank you for your visiting.

Sincerely,

Henry

Posted 9/1/2006 7:35 PM by henryjackson - reply

Sorry, I'm not interested. I'm Atheist, and Im very firm in my beliefs, and all this seems like you're just trying to get me to convert.

Posted 9/2/2006 11:23 PM by citizen6638901 - reply

"I assume that you, the reader, are a person who does not believe in any religion."

Wow, how did you assume that? I am a serious follower of Christ who believes in the Peace of the Gospels. I'm not sure why you thought otherwise. Good luck though with this adventure. I believe that this may not be the way to bring people to Christ, but if you feel led, so be it.

Posted 9/7/2006 4:33 PM by THDmilkman - reply

Oh, cool.

Posted 9/8/2006 7:30 PM by thas_lyffe - reply

uhh, thanks? i dont exactly get it and i dont exactly know why you chose me but i guess yeah, its okay. maybe you should try writing it in a little less confusing language. okay bye.

Posted 9/10/2006 3:59 PM by thestory_line - reply

I finally got round 2 checking my guest book and so no now I'll read your book... bit by bit cuz I'm a slow reader

I haven't seen your name about in any of the blogs and discussions about metaphysics and God on Xanga, so did you partake under a different pen name or perhaps the ones you partake in are not the ones I th@ I did ?

Posted 10/25/2006 1:45 PM by mykid2 - reply

To Mykid2:

I didn't partake any discussion about metaphysics and God on Xanga. Thank you for your reading.

Sincerely,
Henry

Posted 10/25/2006 2:59 PM by henryjackson - reply

I wrote this a while ago, i just wanted to share this with you because you have no right to argue with someone's beliefs. NO ONE HAS THAT RIGHT.

Two things. I never said Christianity was about going to church and wearing a fat cross on your neck. Again, without understanding the argument you simply made the assumption that all non Christians think Christianity is about churches and crosses. Quite the contrary. Maybe some of the more stupid ignorant ones are, but generally nobody assumes Christianity is about going to a church with a cross.

Let’s put it this way. Ultimately belief in god is the product of civilized thinking. Or rather. We can generally summarize that whatever religion you can suggest the ultimate purpose is just to make people act in a more "moral" way.

What is morality? Morality is (by definition) the quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. Generally religion is for the purpose to instill morality. Christianity is no exception. Generally the bible is (simply put) a collection of stories which teaches people how to better themselves. So is any religious text. I thusly derive the statement that. Yes, religion has been, is and continues to be a good method of providing guidance to and otherwise generally blind humanity.

I am merely suggesting. That it is not divine intervention that nudged humanity along the right path. I suggest that it was humans that made humans great, not higher governing beings .That is to say. When conceived, such ideals as morality and social order were generally accepted and implemented because they were found to improve the quality of life. Now religion is one of the many ways that these ideals were transmitted and thought. Though there were alternative routes of transmission of beliefs, religion was perhaps the most successful method. Thus the ideas of morality and social order became intertwined with spirituality and or religion. What you are saying is that these ideals are SOLELY the product of religion. It is to this I disagree.

I say religion is one of the ways to transmit these so called positive values. So what if logic and reason is also a way to do this? Does it make me wrong if I believe differently? All the while maintaining the SAME positive ideals. Even religion in itself is not final decided or fixed. Obviously whilst holding true to the same root values i.e. kindness, loving, generosity etc different schools of thought established different ideas about these values. For example. Buddhism and Christianity, completely opposed by root definition as to what truly a higher being is. From the point of view of Buddhists, the ultimate higher being is an enlightened human (i.e. Buddha) meanwhile in Christianity; the higher being is Lord God Almighty. However the aforementioned religions both preach the same morals and ideals. Nobody is to say either of them is right or wrong. Why not make the same statement of atheism. I believe in god, you believe there is no god. Nobody can say I’m not right nor can anybody say you’re wrong. As long as it makes us better people you believe what you want to and I’ll believe what I want to.

Hence I make the statement.
"Atheists aren’t saying you can’t believe in god. Were just saying we choose not to."

Everybody has every right to their beliefs. Therefore, making unjustified claim that your belief is the only one that is correct while slandering the beliefs of others is by moral definition. Immoral.

Posted 12/30/2006 2:23 AM by aslongasiamalive - reply

i follow Christ and believe in his divinity. and reading this sentence made me cringe, hard. : "In addition, I like to argue with nonbelievers." and "people like you."

you need to seriously examine your faith, my friend, and the negative impact you're having on the reputation of Christians around the world.

hmm. a place to start - read Blue Like jazz by Don Miller. start somewhere.

Posted 2/9/2007 9:13 PM by Snakelips - reply

"Throughout this book, I assume that you, the reader, are a person who does not believe in any religion."

You assume this throughout the book? Would you explain this please? Maybe you could leave out, "Throughout this book". I don't see it as being necessary here.

I don't think I'll be taking the time to read this book. I already have other priorities that are more important to me. If I ever get the time, then I might consider it. But honestly, just this post didn't grab my interest very much. Take care.

Posted 2/17/2007 4:40 AM by soulfulwriter - reply

To soulfulwriter:

1. It is my hope that all people who don't believe in any religion will accept Jesus Christ as their savior.

2. This assumption makes many expressions in my book smooth, natural, and well-organized.

Sincerely,

Henry

Posted 2/17/2007 10:23 AM by henryjackson - reply

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

Posted 2/17/2007 12:18 PM by soulfulwriter - reply

"In addition, I like to argue with nonbelievers. When I meet people who have challenging questions about Christianity or theology, I can't help doing my best to find answers to respond to them. I believe Christianity is true, thus I also believe that if I strive to think, there are always good answers for those tough questions."

I applaud you for wanting to strengthen your faith through thinking and studying. However, as St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the gospel always; if necessary use words."
Ultimately it is the Holy Spirit that changes the hearts of people; not clever words or any other human effort. We bring the gospel out and show that we care about people by our love, but it is the Holy Spirit that brings about the change of heart. God Bless!

Posted 2/18/2007 1:53 AM by jitterjots - reply

Visit Egregious_Deviant_Zebra's Xanga Site!

I feel no desire to argue with online xtians about what they believe. You believe whatever trips your trigger, but make sure that you don't get all uppity and decide to become like those disgusting Xtian Reconstructionists, and we will get along fine. I don't really want to associate with anymore xtians, because you guys already outnumber nontheists 10 to 1.

As long as the religious believers keep in mind that not everyone is going to follow their particular myth and or superstition, we will get along fine. I don't push my atheism on others, so I expect the same treatment from believers. As for reading your book, I do not have the time. I am a very busy man, writing my own stories, and living the only life I will ever have. There are two constants in the universe. #1. No theist will ever convince me to believe in the Jesus myth ever again, so they should really just knock the dust from their sandals and turn away from me. #2. I will never convince a theist to denounce xtianity (or any other mythology) and I don't even bother to try anymore. I am happy with who I am, and I don't need any imaginary friends (that I didn't invent for humorous purposes) to make my life complete. As long as you don't enforce prayer in my public school, I won't enforce thinking in your private, tax exempt church.

Good luck with your book and if you really want a bigger audience, try to get it published. I'm sure the publishing houses that cover theist subjects might be interested. If xtian rock bands can sell CDs, then an xtian writer can get published.

Posted 3/10/2007 12:21 AM by Egregious_Deviant_Zebra

- reply

Thanks for the invite, and I will work my way through your book. It sounds interesting. I don't like to argue, but I am into good apologetics.

Posted 3/13/2007 9:06 AM by usalapinhazzer

- reply

ar·gue [ahr-gyoo] -gued, -gu·ing.
–verb (used without object)
1. to present reasons for or against a thing: He argued in favor of capital punishment.
2. to contend in oral disagreement; dispute:
–verb (used with object)
3. to state the reasons for or against: The lawyers argued the case.
4. to maintain in reasoning: to argue that the news report must be wrong.
5. to persuade, drive, etc., by reasoning: to argue someone out of a plan.
6. to show; prove; imply; indicate: His clothes argue poverty.

It looks like many people are offended by the word "argue", when, in reality, it only means to discuss two different sides of a matter. And wow, the Atheists don't seem in the mood...

Keep up the good work HJ!

Posted 8/20/2007 9:43 PM by ILoveObento - reply

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