Originally posted by dj2becker
From whence comes humanity's universal moral sense?
If man is nothing but the random arrangement of molecules, what motivates you to care and to live honorably in the world?
How do you explain the radically changed lives of so many Christian believers down through history?
What do you say about the hundreds of scholarly books that carefully docum ...[text shortened]... that every alleged Bible contradiction has been answered in an intelligible and credible manner?
i don't necessarily consider myself an unbeliever, but regardless i see no need why these questions should be targeted to only said audience.
From whence comes humanity's universal moral sense?
i assume here (based on what i presume to be your intentions for starting this thread) that you are refering to some ability of humans to innately know good from evil. and i would further presume that you would endorse definitions of 'good' and 'evil' as being determined by the bible. but i would argue that some of the actions that the bible says are sins are not obvious to me -- for example, jesus states that it is a sin to lust after a married woman despite the fact that you do not act on such lust. i frankly find that ridiculous and don't consider such lusting to be morally irresponsible. i do think that most humans have a sense of right and wrong, but i could forsee arguments for thinking that this is learned over time. i would argue that babies and young kids do not have a sense of moral responsibility until they become cognizant of the implications of their actions -- perhaps it is this learning process that instills a sense of right and wrong. i don't see why the existence of god would be a necessary condition for this process to take place.
If man is nothing but the random arrangement of molecules, what motivates you to care and to live honorably in the world?
i don't understand the premise of this question. i don't see why the existence of god is a necessary condition for molecular order. given the second law of thermodynamics, i also don't see why the existence of god would be a sufficient condition either, on a long enough time scale.
How do you explain the radically changed lives of so many Christian believers down through history?
people can believe anything strongly, and strong beliefs in turn can change the course of action. if a person adopts any radical change in belief, then it is natural to think his life may change radically. i guess i don't see what you are driving at here.
What do you say about the hundreds of scholarly books that carefully document the veracity and reliability of the Bible?
i am not sure what books you are referring to, and therefore, i cannot attest to how 'scholarly' or 'careful'(ly) they are. in the end, though, they are just more books -- so what further books carefully document the reliability of these books? also list the books which further document those books. repeat cycle.
How did 35-40 men, spanning 1500 years and living on three separate continents, ever manage to author one unified message, i.e. the Bible?
Are you aware that every alleged Bible contradiction has been answered in an intelligible and credible manner?
it's remarkable how each question gets more and more loaded, not to mention arrogant. i find this thread-starting post to be most insincere. if you want to state your opinions and open the floor for debate on them, then just use declarative sentences. Using loaded questions is ineffective, since you are implicitly demonstrating disdain and close-mindedness for any dissenting opinion before i even formulate one. also, you could present some background and evidence for your claims so that i even know what you are referring to.