[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('clueless', 'A')s I said, you choose not to believe.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'I') think a preference to believe in something so incomprehensible that it defies any attempt to understand its nature or prove or disprove its existence doesn't really violate this definition of objectivity.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', 'S')o where the fundamentalist falls down is trying to back up their preference with proof from the real world, eg the collection of stories from some middle eastern tribes plus a couple of letters.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'S')omething akin to the people that say they invented a perpetual motion machine because they filed a patent or have a website.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', 'N')ot really. Perpetual motion machines are uniformly demonstratably false. There can be no falsification of an object of faith.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'S')omething akin to the people that say they invented a perpetual motion machine because they filed a patent or have a website.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', 'N')ot really. Perpetual motion machines are uniformly demonstratably false. There can be no falsification of an object of faith.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'W')ell sure, if you believe in thermodynamics. But seriously, OK - how about cold fusion? What I was trying to equate is the idea that because some "document" says something doesn't make it true until the due diligence is performed.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', 'P')roblems occur when you have three significant digits, and people live or die depending upon what the fourth would have been.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', 'A')n interesting point that got drilled into me in college financial accounting; forever is 30 years.. If you can show something will work out to thirty years, you've shown forever.

[katkinkate]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('clueless', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')xcept, that minor point, that is deliberately avoided, that this chap you refer to, hasn't written anything.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('katkinkate', 'H')e might have been this day's equivilent to Billy Graham.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '
')We believe something if it is repeated enough

[Carlhole]

If anyone ever would like to read an involved book on the subject, the best one I ever read was "A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam" by Karen Armstrong.

From Amazon.com:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Amazon', 'A')rmstrong, a British journalist and former nun, guides us along one of the most elusive and fascinating quests of all time--the search for God. Like all beloved historians, Armstrong entertains us with deft storytelling, astounding research, and makes us feel a greater appreciation for the present because we better understand our past. Be warned: A History of God is not a tidy linear history. Rather, we learn that the definition of God is constantly being repeated, altered, discarded, and resurrected through the ages, responding to its followers' practical concerns rather than to mystical mandates. Armstrong also shows us how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have overlapped and influenced one another, gently challenging the secularist history of each of these religions. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly
This searching, profound comparative history of the three major monotheistic faiths fearlessly illuminates the sociopolitical ground in which religious ideas take root, blossom and mutate. Armstrong, a British broadcaster, commentator on religious affairs and former Roman Catholic nun, argues that Judaism, Christianity and Islam each developed the idea of a personal God, which has helped believers to mature as full human beings. Yet Armstrong also acknowledges that the idea of a personal God can be dangerous, encouraging us to judge, condemn and marginalize others. Recognizing this, each of the three monotheisms, in their different ways, developed a mystical tradition grounded in a realization that our human idea of God is merely a symbol of an ineffable reality. To Armstrong, modern, aggressively righteous fundamentalists of all three faiths represent "a retreat from God." She views as inevitable a move away from the idea of a personal God who behaves like a larger version of ourselves, and welcomes the grouping of believers toward a notion of God that "works for us in the empirical age." 25,000 first printing; BOMC alternate.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', 'A')n interesting point that got drilled into me in college financial accounting; forever is 30 years.. If you can show something will work out to thirty years, you've shown forever.

[Atlantean_Relic]

But our green fiat paper was started after the invention of modern science, so its all good!

[Heineken]

We tend to believe that which induces or preserves a sense of comfort, security, and continuity. We tend to reject everything else.

It's that simple.

[clueless]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he same person can believe contradictory things. For example Jesus tells us to both get rid of our swords and get some more. Matt 26:52, Luke 22:36.

[clueless]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sciencegirl', '[')img]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d17/KittySwingsUp/Good%20Funny%20Stuff/IGaveMyselfToJesus.jpg[/img]

[clueless]

Actually guys you are all wrong about Christianity in this regard of something being repeated enough times will eventually be believed.

Christianity is madness and foolishness - The true message (as opposed to the false message of Swaggart, Robertson, Popes etc.) of Christianity is so outrageous it takes a miracle to believe it. It is not hard to believe, it is practically impossible to believe.

Luk 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in Spirit and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the sophisticated and cunning, and have revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for so it was pleasing before You.

Perhaps one of the greatest miracles is the fact that the best selling book of all time (the Bible) is a book that says mankind is doomed to eternal hell and is in need of a saviour. Not exaclty a popular message the masses would want to run out to Borders and buy.