[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by Dottore
Jeff, with respect, I have heard the "if you knew it better you would understand it and believe it as well" argument often enough. I really don't think I have to live and devote myself to Christianity in order to hold some informed views about it. Any more than you need to do this with Buddhism or Communism or whatever. Life is far too short for this.

Absolutely true, Dottore. You can most certainly hold informed views in any area in which you are not an expert. We all do just that. The only thing that irks me concerning non-Christinas in this regard is when they present ill-informed, missunderstood positions and statements as "fact". When they purport to know more about Christianity than Christians. I think we all find this true in any area in which we have a keen interest, and pursue more than a passing level of training and knowledge in that area. I think the missinformed, self proclaimed "experts" can get under our skin no matter the topic. That they seldom listen to those with somewhat more background on the topic simply adds to the frustration.

I do not buy into the superiority of Christianity over any other monotheistic religion despite the analyses (the law accuses and convicts and the gospel acquits and saves) that you presented. I don't buy the "my book is better than your book" argument. That is what I do not buy into.

I don't remember even hinting that Christianity was "superior". I don't remember claiming my book was "better". It is as if you are interjecting a preconceived notion that all Christians feel that way, so you read something into my statement that simply was not there. This is an all too common perception of Christians - that we feel "superior" to everyone else. Again, this points to your lack of knowledge of Christianity. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could be further from the truth. This simple truth has been stated several times in this very thread, by knowledgeable Christians. Yet you defer to your dearly held missunderstanding instead.

I know many Christians and I know many non-Christians. I cannot objectively say that the former live more meaningful or better lives than the latter - even though of course most of the former are convinced that they do.

And yet again your personal missunderstanding of Christians and Christianity comes shining through. At least to us Christians; your fellow non-believers are probably all nodding in agreement. No one turns to Christianity for a "better life". If they have, they will soon be sorely dissapointed. It's just not there.

Who are you to determine how "meaningful" some one else's life is or is not? The kind of comfort that faith engenders is not on the outside for you to see. It sounds like you are confusing an outwardly "good" or "meaningful" life with the comfort and reassurance that comes through faith. What is outwardly good or meaningful in this life means less than nothing in one's spiritual life. Christians understand that. Their critics do not.

Kang had a post here a while back (about faith meeting needs) that summed up my views pretty well so I won't bore you with this.

I took issue only with what I referred to as the 'deliberate ignorance' of people who looked for absolute answers to a subject as genetically, psychologically, sexually, and socially nuanced as homosexuality.

That's it. That's where I lose respect.

I hope that clarifies my position.

I don't think the label "deliberate ignorance" is enlightened or fair in the least. You apparently do not understand why or how a Christian arrives at their moral values, their moral compass. It is different than how you arrive at yours. Is that what makes it "ignorant"? Because you cannot understand it? Because you dissagree with it? Why do non-Christians, when engaged in a discussion about Christianity, always insist on playing the "ignorance" card? Claiming explicitly (or implicitly) that anyone who believes that nonsense must be stupid? It is different than what you believe, but the fact remains, some very intelligent people (living and dead) believe it absolutely. They took an intelligent, informed, educated look around and decided that it is the only explanation for the way things are. And guys like you summarily dismiss all of us as being somehow less intelligent. So just who really has that superiority complex?