Originally posted by @bigdoggproblem Well, a confident person might answer such a question for several reasons: the hit they would take is minor, or they believe that they ought to answer questions about their own thinking when they constantly ask them of others, or they believe in fair and honest debate in general.
On the other hand, a paranoid person perceives loading in any question that is personal.
Confidence : That which is perceived from the outside .
Paranoia : That which any intelligent person recognizes without letting it rule them
Originally posted by @thinkofone One needs to decide whether or not one believes the gospel preached by Jesus during His ministry. I fully understand the you believe a different gospel.
'“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.”' (Luke 17:6).
I take it you interpret this to mean faith is not really important?
I'm also guessing you have no idea how many times Jesus told someone that their faith had saved/healed them?
Originally posted by @thinkofone What are you on about?
Er, asking you a question.
Edit: I'll simplify:
You said 'by and large' the words attributed to Jesus were reasonably sound and that 'by and large' what he preached was truth. I'm asking if 'by and large' is enough for you?
Originally posted by @thinkofone One needs to decide whether or not one believes the gospel preached by Jesus during His ministry. I fully understand the you believe a different gospel.
The only thing people need to wonder is why do people claiming that "real" Christians never sin never want to talk about their own supposedly "sinless" life?
Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke Er, asking you a question.
Edit: I'll simplify:
You said 'by and large' the words attributed to Jesus were reasonably sound and that 'by and large' what he preached was truth. I'm asking if 'by and large' is enough for you?
It wouldn't be for me.
I understood the question. I understood that it wouldn't be good enough for you.
Here I was hoping that perhaps there was a deeper underlying point to your vacuous post, so I invited you to to get to that point.
Evidently your only point is that it wouldn't be good enough for you, since you didn't elaborate and merely repeated what you'd written before.
I guess it's interesting that it wouldn't be good enough for you. Thanks for sharing.
As to the question I'm sure that if you really put your mind to it, you can figure out my answer.
Originally posted by @suzianne The only thing people need to wonder is why do people claiming that "real" Christians never sin never want to talk about their own supposedly "sinless" life?
Yet the same old ad hom as a way of avoiding actually addressing the issue. You've been called out on this many times before by both rajk999 and me. I know you're intelligent enough to understand what an ad hom is and why it is fallacious.
Originally posted by @dj2becker '“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.”' (Luke 17:6).
I take it you interpret this to mean faith is not really important?
I'm also guessing you have no idea how many times Jesus told someone that their faith had saved/healed them?
It's really interesting how FMJ, you and Romans1009 all so consistently jump to very similar, very illogical conclusions. If you aren't all the same person, you might as well be.
Originally posted by @thinkofone I understood the question. I understood that it wouldn't be good enough for you.
Here I was hoping that perhaps there was a deeper underlying point to your vacuous post, so I invited you to to get to that point.
Evidently your only point is that it wouldn't be good enough for you, since you didn't elaborate and merely repeated what you'd written be ...[text shortened]... s to the question I'm sure that if you really put your mind to it, you can figure out my answer.
If we were talking about buying a pair of curtains, and found a pair that 'by and large' were what I was looking for, I would happily hang them in my living room. (I could live with them not being completely what I wanted). But we are 'not' talking about a pair of curtains, we're talking about something that I presume is fundamentally important to your existence and spiritual outlook. 'By and large' you find the message from Jesus plausible.
Although I often agree with things you post, as likewise recognize the glaring contradictions, corruptions, and inconsistencies in the Bible as a whole, it is a massive weakness in your position that you maintain the argument that somehow (magically) the words of Jesus are (by and large) not similarly corrupt and unreliable. Great, you find the words recorded profound. But that alone doesn't get us very far.
Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke If we were talking about buying a pair of curtains, and found a pair that 'by and large' were what I was looking for, I would happily hang them in my living room. (I could live with them not being completely what I wanted). But we are 'not' talking about a pair of curtains, we're talking about something that I presume is fundamentally important to y ...[text shortened]... unreliable. Great, you find the words recorded profound. But that alone doesn't get us very far.
Compare and contrast what you've written here with what I actually wrote. Take the time to have a think on it.
Originally posted by @thinkofone Compare and contrast what you've written here with what I actually wrote. Take the time to have a think on it.
If you need a hint, let me know.
I'll take the hint, or better yet a genuine attempt to answer the question. (Which you never do when asked why the words of Jesus are somehow immune from the corruptions you happily identify in the rest of the Bible).
Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke I'll take the hint, or better yet a genuine attempt to answer the question. (Which you never do when asked why the words of Jesus are somehow immune from the corruptions you happily identify in the rest of the Bible).
Evidently you're not very big on taking the time to think.
This hint may be too oblique for you, but it'll be interesting to give it a go. Read the following. What do you make of it? Compare and contrast what you make of it and what you make of what I'd written earlier.
<<Because by and large, the words attributed to Einstein are reasonably sound and reasonably coherent within themselves. What's more, much of what was attributed to him is remarkably deep and quite profound. By and large, the words attributed to Einstein are Truth.>>