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Originally Posted by Bnonn  No doubt they do, but this does not mean that they have what the Bible describes as faith. |
They certainly use the word "faith" to overcome an inability to explain what to me are boundless reasons to doubt the existence of a caring God (they actually use the word
fé which is the Portuguese equivalent). I am not in a position, however, to decide whether they are truly justified in their use os this word although it does sound OK to me.
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if this person is unable to offer even an adequate defense for his faith, let alone destroy unbelieving arguments, then he is most certainly at best a poorly educated and thus immature Christian—and possibly not a Christian at all
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This suggests that only a very small minority of us humans are actually going to be "saved". This comes across to me as what I would expect from a cruel and unjust dictator rather than from a caring, loving father-like being that our "Western" God is reputed to be.
What about a child that dies young or somebody with mental deficiencies? Are they going to be condemned to eternal torment because they were unable to grasp the complications of theology?
I have to say that up to now, you yourself have been unable to "destroy unbelieving arguments" on my part. Does this, therefore, make you "possibly not a Christian at all"?
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I do believe this, because again it is the biblical position; for "the fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'"
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Just to clarify that you were here you were responding to my belief that you saw the majority of the inhabitants of planet Earth as imbeciles.
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Notice that the natural person, the unbeliever, is unable to understand the things of the Bible, because they are spiritually discerned, and he does not have this ability because of being non-spiritual, since he does not have the Spirit of God
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It seems, therefore, that I fall into this category of natural persons because I really do not understand the things of the Bible. I believe I can explain the whole need for religion as an attempt (very successful in many people) to overcome our instinctive terror of death.
The impression I repeatedly get from "devout" Christians is that you simply must put aside all rational, logically-based arguments in order to accept the word of God. Doesn't this imply becoming irrational and illogical? Or is this just my "natural person" manifesting itself again?
Quite frankly, up to now, despite my best efforts to understand this stuff, it really just sounds like undiluted hogwash.