tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post5868660906144682136..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: Thousands of godsRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-7611496929890980242013-03-03T12:59:14.103-05:002013-03-03T12:59:14.103-05:00Yes, I've always wondered why you can't ju...Yes, I've always wondered why you can't just substitute "philosophical preference" for "god" and get a situation where you should abandon atheism (another philosophical preference) because, clearly, we've got questions of philosophy wrong so many times before, what chance do we have that we've got them right now?<br /><br />The whole line of "reasoning" just assumes atheism is true and that atheists have a superior vantage point--that they are not like everyone else. But isn't that the very issue at hand? Arrogance at its finest.Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784922935749497931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-60982405098258714052013-03-03T06:39:11.757-05:002013-03-03T06:39:11.757-05:00Nice!Nice!rockingwithhawkinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10550503108269371174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-66454774666059203852013-03-03T06:38:49.135-05:002013-03-03T06:38:49.135-05:00Michael Shermer said:
"To believers in each ...Michael Shermer said:<br /><br />"To believers in each one they all appear unique."<br /><br />Many of the Israelites tried to worship the golden calf as a god who brought them "out of Egypt" (e.g. Exod 32). Some of their descendants tried to incorporate other ANE gods like Baal into worship of the one true God. Apparently they didn't think the Lord God had to be exclusively worshiped. Indeed, the Bible is full of passages warning against idolatry, comparing idolatry to adultery, describing God as a jealous God, and so forth. G.K. Beale's <em>We Become What We Worship</em> has more examples. In fact, if anything, judging by the Bible itself, it seems it takes more rather than less effort only to believe in the God of the Bible. It seems easier to mix and match, combine, consolidate, or otherwise keep various gods undiffereniated from the God of the Bible than to stay true to the God of the Bible alone.<br /><br />"To an anthropologist from Mars they all look the same."<br /><br />Christianity is historically rooted in a way in which several other major religions are not. Take away Gautama Buddha and Buddhism can still stand more or less unchanged since it's the Buddha's ideas which are important not the Buddha himself. Likewise Allah could've picked a prophet other than Muhammad. Perhaps Abdul or Farooq or Achmed would've served Allah's purposes just as well. However, take away Jesus Christ's existence (let alone crucifixion and resurrection) and what's left of Christianity? At a minimum, one would think an anthropologist could distinguish between essential historical and ahistorical differences in religions.rockingwithhawkinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10550503108269371174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-30583391844183189242013-03-03T04:12:43.574-05:002013-03-03T04:12:43.574-05:00It's an odd argument; since you don't beli...It's an odd argument; since you don't believe in lots of gods you should believe in none. Or, since you don't believe in everything you should believe in nothing. Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04171699624103400663noreply@blogger.com