Christian Answers Repository

I think Christians here at ATS would all agree that this board presents a microcosm of the larger world of skeptics and their oft-repeated criticisms against our faith. So I thought it might be good to highlight a site that addresses the most common objections.

A Christian Thinktank is practically a one-stop apologetics resource all its own. A good first reading is the Over-dex of Objections which addresses the alleged cruelty of God, the concepts of "god" or "soul", the reliability of the Bible, lack of evidence for God or Jesus, and whether these things being true really matter. Other links from the main page deal with the typical criticisms from other religions such as Judaism and Islam, Christianity as philosophy, and internal debate topics such as women, slavery, and miracles.

I just finished a series based primarily on this site's material, beginning here. Also note that at the bottom of the Thinktank home page is a link to download the entire site, which wouldn't be a bad idea considering the growing threat of internet censorship.

reply to post by SaberTruth


You wrote:

["I think Christians here at ATS would all agree that this board presents a microcosm of the larger world of skeptics and their oft-repeated criticisms against our faith."]

You have made yourself a spokesperson for christians before, sofar not in a convincing way. More generally it's questionable, if ATS is representative. Individuals with unique individual positions manifest more often here than the man in the street does.

Quote: ["A Christian Thinktank is practically a one-stop apologetics resource all its own. A good first reading is the Over-dex of Objections which addresses the alleged cruelty of God, the concepts of "god" or "soul", the reliability of the Bible, lack of evidence for God or Jesus, and whether these things being true really matter."]

I have formerly voiced a suspicion of the existence of a christian 'manual' with pre-digested arguments; this suspicion has now a much greater probability.

In SOME versions of the christianities, AUTHORITY lies at the center. The individual is not expected to have own thoughts, opinions etc, but must listen to someone higher in the hierarchy and rely on and use arguments from those higher up. Whether they understand a word or not of the 'official' arguments.

Good work, S&F.

When I return home I'll add some resources/links.

reply to post by bogomil

In SOME versions of the christianities, AUTHORITY lies at the center. The individual is not expected to have own thoughts, opinions etc, but must listen to someone higher in the hierarchy and rely on and use arguments from those higher up.

Your absolutely right. This "authority" is the Authorized King James Bible. That is the only thing Christians must listen to without having opinions of our own.

The problem lies with Christians not able to understand the text of the Bible because of either preconceived conceptions, rebellion, being illiterate, following men who teach otherwise, or are willfully or divinely blinded from what they read by either them self, or God doing the blinding....

God will happily blind a man to the truths of the Bible if the man reads the Bible on his on terms and not Gods. Which is belief, being humble, and trusting in what you read.

reply to post by SaberTruth

A Christian Thinktank is practically a one-stop apologetics resource all its own.

I wonder if they included Jesus Never Existed.com

I bet not.

But I understand the need to keep the christian program running. The NWO couldn't do what they do without that program.

reply to post by LHP666


Use this one, its much better and far more accurate:

Jesus is Lord.com

Originally posted by LHP666

I wonder if they included Jesus Never Existed.com

I bet not.

But I understand the need to keep the christian program running. The NWO couldn't do what they do without that program.

I wonder if you read anything at all at the Thinktank.

I bet not.

But I understand the need to keep the "i am my own god" program running. The NWO couldn't do what they do without that program.

PS: Are you aware of the OP being aimed at offering Christians handy resources for defending their faith? Really?

reply to post by KJV1611


hahahahaha....oh...you're being serious.

But the gospels and epistles were recorded in Hellenistic Greek, not English. The Old Testament was recorded in Hebrew. Neither were written in courtly 17th century English. Why is a poor translation written in archaic and obscure version of English the best way to go?

Also, why is the only way to understand the book to have the preconception (which is the word you were looking for) that the Bible is true? Why can't the Bible demonstrate its own truth without prior acceptance?

reply to post by SaberTruth


Looked through it...man, they have a really easy job of it when they attack straw men instead of proper forms of the argument!

A good example is the thing in which there's apparently the claim that science disproved souls...my reaction was a 'lol wut?!' The proper argument would be "There is no evidence to put forth the existence of souls and the idea of consciousness seems to be directly linked to brain meat, so why would we accept the concept of a supernatural component to the human mind like a 'soul' or 'spirit'?"

Sooooo.....yeah. Great 'over-dex'.

reply to post by LHP666


The people pushing for the NWO are Luciferians.

Originally posted by SaberTruth

I wonder if you read anything at all at the Thinktank.

I bet not.

You'd win that bet. I've seen it all before.

But I understand the need to keep the "i am my own god" program running. The NWO couldn't do what they do without that program.

PS: Are you aware of the OP being aimed at offering Christians handy resources for defending their faith? Really?

What is wrong with using their own bibles to defend their faith? (I'll tell you why. It's because they don't even read their bibles)

Do they not have the knowledge to defend this by themselves? If not, why not?

And what is wrong with being our own gods? Granted, we have a long way to go, but it is better than being slaves to a tyrant 'god'.

Originally posted by LHP666
You'd win that bet. I've seen it all before.

I seriously doubt that.

What is wrong with using their own bibles to defend their faith? (I'll tell you why. It's because they don't even read their bibles)

Do they not have the knowledge to defend this by themselves? If not, why not?

Maybe now you are beginning to see why I started this thread which is, after all, aimed at Christians. Remember?

And what is wrong with being our own gods? Granted, we have a long way to go, but it is better than being slaves to a tyrant 'god'.

The very first episode of the original Star Trek series, with Capt. Pike instead of Kirk, had that view as its theme. But if you can't look at the world and figure out why humans cannot manage themselves, then I suppose a false hope might be better than no hope at all, eh?

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


Hey hey!! The ape man is back!! You still picking and eating fleas off your family members bud? Good protein no? Anywho, I'm not greek, nor am I of Hebrew decent. So I'll stick with the english Bible preserved and inspired just for me....and the rest of the world which use english as the world's most commonly used language. Hints why God chose it (english) to spread his word through out the world.

Its basic logic really, but you wouldn't know anything about that. Unless you have a BA, BS, MS, DD, PH.D or DD telling you something, you will refuse to believe it. You have your own gods, please stick to them and trust in them. Good luck

reply to post by SaberTruth


You wrote:

["But I understand the need to keep the "i am my own god" program running. The NWO couldn't do what they do without that program."]

This is a good example of what I said in my first post on this thread. The strong authoritarian attitude amongst some christians.

Liberal, egalitarian and secular principles are blackpainted, and individualism ..."I am my own god"....is described as psychopathic anarchy. That theocracies mainly are brutal, and that secular democracies are not, is ofcourse disregarded in an obsessive pushing of a religion for slaves.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by LHP666

 

The people pushing for the NWO are Luciferians.

That must certainly be propaganda. Lucifer being one of the good guys, arch-liberal and anti-totalitarian as she/he is, would be the last person to initiate NWO.

But then ofcourse NWO is different things to different people. For SOME elitist/select christians with a leaning towards ideological fascism, a very bad NWO is one, where christians don't have power.

reply to post by bogomil

But then ofcourse NWO is different things to different people.

So is Lucifer.

For SOME elitist/select christians with a leaning towards ideological fascism, a very bad NWO is one, where christians don't have power.

You might want to discuss that with the "Kingdom Now" crowd.

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.

Hmmm, 7+ Billion people on Earth, how will we ever achieve half a billion?

Doesn't sound to Christ-like to me.




Georgia Guidestones

Originally posted by KJV1611
reply to post by madnessinmysoul

 

Hey hey!! The ape man is back!! You still picking and eating fleas off your family members bud? Good protein no? Anywho, I'm not greek, nor am I of Hebrew decent. So I'll stick with the english Bible preserved and inspired just for me....and the rest of the world which use english as the world's most commonly used language. Hints why God chose it (english) to spread his word through out the world.

Its basic logic really, but you wouldn't know anything about that. Unless you have a BA, BS, MS, DD, PH.D or DD telling you something, you will refuse to believe it. You have your own gods, please stick to them and trust in them. Good luck

edit on 19-6-2011 by KJV1611 because: i can

You are actually contradicting yourself here.

The average non-theist is a rather 'anti-totalitarian' person, often with pro-liberal attitudes and an active knowledge about what that implies.

I consider myself as such, and I can assure you that my own participation on ATS is done on a basis of my own ability to conclude, form opinions etc.

Whereas it's common, that missionary christians refer to 'authority' most of the time. Hierarchy is essential to a system with a dictator at the top.

reply to post by KJV1611

Originally posted by KJV1611
reply to post by madnessinmysoul

 

Hey hey!! The ape man is back!! You still picking and eating fleas off your family members bud? Good protein no?

Yay, ad hominem and appeal to ridicule!

Anywho, I'm not greek, nor am I of Hebrew decent.

...well, you didn't talk about yourself...to quote you:

Your absolutely right. This "authority" is the Authorized King James Bible. That is the only thing Christians must listen to without having opinions of our own.

...no mention of you or English speakers...wait a second, I'm not English! In fact, it's crazy that I can speak another language as well! Two languages? Bi-lingualism!

So I'll stick with the english Bible preserved and inspired just for me....and the rest of the world which use english as the world's most commonly used language.

You know, except Mandarin and Spanish, which have more native speakers than English and Mandarin may have more overall speakers than English.

Even if you do take English as having the most speakers, let's say it has 1.1 billion (which is a very generous estimate), that still leaves out nearly 6 billion people (yep, world population is hitting 7 billion soon if it hasn't already).

Hints why God chose it (english) to spread his word through out the world.

....except that for 1600 years it wasn't used and that the form of English found in the KJV, when not badly translated, is not the most common form of English ever spoken, even in 1611.

Its basic logic really, but you wouldn't know anything about that.

...no, I'm quite aware of basic logic. Hell, I've even studied it as a practice (a boring study, with all of those truth tables and tableau proofs).

Unless you have a BA, BS, MS, DD, PH.D or DD telling you something, you will refuse to believe it.

...no, that's a blatant straw man. I take things on their evidence, not on the authority presenting them. A lay person who makes a brilliant discovery and has the evidence to back it up is going to get the same treatment from me as a person with a degree who does the same.

You have your own gods, please stick to them and trust in them. Good luck

I have none at all.

Originally posted by SaberTruth

Maybe now you are beginning to see why I started this thread which is, after all, aimed at Christians. Remember?

I'm more tolerant of christians than those that haven't been programmed by it from the time they were little kids.
But telling people how to try to manipulate others to draw them into a cult, is only making them slave catchers.

And what is wrong with being our own gods? Granted, we have a long way to go, but it is better than being slaves to a tyrant 'god'.

The very first episode of the original Star Trek series, with Capt. Pike instead of Kirk, had that view as its theme. But if you can't look at the world and figure out why humans cannot manage themselves, then I suppose a false hope might be better than no hope at all, eh?

Star Trek is fiction. It doesn't apply here. No one lives or dies based on a Star Trek episode.

So you need a religion to manage (control) humans? Interesting admission. Look at how religions, in particular the 3 that are based on the jew desert 'god', are controlling people and then tell me how that is a Good Thing.

It is christianity that is giving people false hope. It tears people down, calls them sinners destined for "hell" simply because they were born as human beings, and depends on some fictional godman to save them from their humanity. That's all there is to it. That is christianity.