AcrobatMan said:
Speedracer you still didnot get the point
1) The very fact that you think that your religion is better than somebody's else is wrong. A feeling of superioty is not a good thing to posses especially if its not proved. Not only it's wrong its not liberal thinking. Its a narrow minded thinking. Its not scientific. Noone is fooling anybody. You are just fooling yourself. I personally believe all religions are equal.
I ask you, what is your proof that all religions are equal?
Or your proof that all truth can be proven scientifically?
I am quite prepared to provide evidence for the truth of Christianity. Are you prepared to argue that all religions are equal? If so, I invite you to pm me or open a new thread.
And again, if it's wrong for me to argue my point, why is it okay for you to argue your point?
2) The question of taking hot bath or cold bath doesnot occur. the fact that your friends took cold bath or no bath doesnot make them great.
But it debunks your claim that missionairies have wads of cash with which to bribe converts, which was what I wanted to do.
3) Well you can believe whatever you can.. You can believe earth is flat. I am fully for freedom of belief. What you believe should be none of my business. Things started getting confusing when you try to impose your belief. You try by hook or crook. You try by love , you try it by hate. The sole objective - to convert. to chase and pursue anyone who doesnot believe it to believe something that cannot be proved. Can you prove that Salvation comes only from Jesus ? No dear speedracer you cannot. You just do it for your own selfish satisfaction that you've converted. I dont know what kind of fun or satisfaction is that. But be assured, its pure selfish reasons rather than trying to do something good. If you want to do something non-selfish, why dont you do something secular.
This is just spiteful. How do you know what my motives are?
Does hunger has a religion ? Poverty ? Water has religion? What about Blood ? If you can solve this problems without dragging in things you cannot prove, I appreciate that. If you cannot solve the problems , thats fair enough.
If Christians believe that this world is not all we get--that there is an afterlife that is infinitely more important than this present life--then it makes sense that Christian missionairies should devote at least *some* of their efforts to getting people to join them in the afterlife. If they refuse to believe, Christian relief workers will still continue to join with secular relief workers in tending to people's physical needs.
3a) I never said its okay for Taliban to take over Afghanistan and impose whatever. You dont understand the point. You are trying to avoid this issue. By saying that Mr X murdered 5 people and you only beat up 2 people, you are trying to justify your slapping of 2 people. I didnt know the level of logic & analogy would stoop to this low level.
The part about the Taliban was a straw-man argument; I just wanted to grill you for saying that "missionairies should be prosecuted by law." And you *did* say that.
And I don't know where I ever said that it was okay to kill people for the sake of my religion. I do believe that it is sometimes okay to kill people in defense, but that's another topic altogether.
You are willing to reject religion categorically because some people have committed atrocities in the name of their religion. Are you willing to reject government and the concept of nation-states altogether, and embrace anarchy? Governments are surely responsible for more crimes throughout history than religious movements are.
All your bunch of "those statements" are correct as per my beliefs as well. There is a concensus in most of the world on that. Those things are independent of any religion and you dont necessarily have to follow a religion to not murder or not rape. Also there are laws in every country that would prosecute you if you are found guilty.
My point was those statements have no basis in science, and yet everyone is willing to embrace them as true. This debunks your assertion that only what is scientifically provable should be considered to be true.
The bottomline you are trying to divert me to things that I have a consensus with you. The problem is ignored. You show me bigger problem to lessen the problem that exist.
The problem is in the mentality.
My intention is not to say things just for the sake of argument.
Speedracer, I just want you to think from an unbiased mind and not take anything thrown at you without a reason. I want you to be liberal in your think and broad-minded in your outlook.
Again, I have plenty of reasons for believing what I believe, and I'll be happy to share them with you via pm or in another thread.
Rather than saying God created the world and be dumb, try to study how the universe was created. No one knows everything everything about it. I dont know it myself but we should be in the right direction for the search of truth rather than saying " God created the world" and then trying to preach it.
I study the mathematics of string theory as my job. What is your profession?
Finally, you *still* have not documented any examples of unethical practices on the part of missionairies, and this seems to be rather crucial to your point.