Recently, a friend posted: Reasonable people can see the same facts and come to different conclusions. People can be wrong without being stupid, deluded or evil. If you have opinions, you should actively seek the best and most principled people who disagree with them to test whether you are correct. If your argument takes the form of “the same people who say thing X also say thing Y and that makes them hypocritical” you’re only attacking the worst advocates of thing X, rather than making a good case for what you believe. Do not be scared of changing your […]
Selective Application of Scripture (Matthew chapter 7)
I was recently told: Some people believe, and some people don’t. Bad logic is picking and choosing which bible verses or “versions” of G-d (the spiteful god, the loving, compassionate god, etc.) you want to use to justify whatever subject is being discussed. That’s how modern Christianity can somehow condemn homosexuality and in the next breath, justify capital punishment. The context of this comment was a discussion about the basis of morality. Within that discussion, one of the contenders had played the “Judge Not” card. The “Judge Not” card seems to serve as a universal wildcard which always trumps […]
Can you explain to me why you feel it is wrong?
I recently took some bait. The bait was in the form of a question asking for discussion about the basis of morality. It is not possible to determine the tone of voice in a post. So, when I saw that my tone of voice was being misinterpreted, I dropped out of the thread… hoping to leave the door open for future friendly relationships. This is one of my own observations. The Bible is referenced in a very selective “picking and choosing” manner by someone critical of the Christian position. Then, at the end, a new critic joins in to say that Christians are […]