Skwim
Veteran Member
According to Christian theology if I don't accept Jesus as my savior I will never make it into heaven and could likely end up in hell.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:16)
Christians say that if I don't accept Jesus as my savior it's my own darn fault. Okay, but consider. Why do we accept something or reject it? We do so because we're convinced it makes sense. I accept the fact that evolution is true because to me it makes sense. I reject creationism because to me it doesn't make sense. So, if I'm to accept Jesus as my savior, above all else it has to make sense that I do so. There has to be some kind of compelling rational, and without this rational it would be unreasonable to agree to the proposition. I certainly wouldn't find believing in faeries and gnomes to be sensible if the only reason given is that this is what many people down through the ages have believed. People down through the ages also believed the earth was flat. I would need a more compelling rational to accept faeries and gnomes as a reasonable belief.
So, whose fault is it that I don't? Is it my fault that my mind has been so constructed that it rejects the argument of "people down through the ages have believed"? Hardly. Other than perhaps exercising the mind to work a bit better, none of us chooses how it accepts or rejects information. So what I believe is dependent on the information making its impression on my mind. I don't choose how information X is going to be processed. This process is an automatic one. Perhaps fear is a huge motivating factor within the processing operation. No matter how outlandish a proposition may be, scare me enough and I'll believe it. Or perhaps reason is thee controlling factor within the processing operation. Proposition XYZ has to make sense or I'll reject it. The thing is, we don't choose how these factors weigh in on our conclusions. Just as one doesn't choose what they find attractive about other people. What we find attractive and don't find attractive depends on how our minds have been configured. And this configuration is not something we choose. In effect, our mind is compelled to operate in a certain manner.
Therefore, we can't be held responsible for how our mind processes information. So, if I'm to find believing in faeries and gnomes sensible, where would the responsibility have to lie? What's left are those influences outside myself. If I'm to believe in faeries and gnomes then someone or something is going to have to persuade those deciding factors in my mind that it makes sense, and it's what I should do. Now, I have very little influence over what kind of evidence or argument I'm presented. It might even be a case of GIGO. If the ICFB, the International Council of Faerie Belief, fails to scare me into believing in faeries and gnomes, that's their fault, not mine. If the ICFB, fails to present a persuasive enough case to accept faeries and gnomes, that's their fault, not mine. And this goes right down to those individual representatives of the ICFB. If my neighbor down the block comes knocking on my door trying to get me to accept faeries and gnomes and fails, it's his fault, not mine. Or, if no one presents any information on faeries and gnomes for me to consider, it isn't my fault either.
So, In as much as I can't help how my mind processes information, and I can't help if the tactics of Christians fail to persuade me that believing in the Son is the way to an everlasting life, why should I perish because of it? If any blame is to be laid it has to be on those presenting, or failing to present, the case for Jesus.
.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:16)
Christians say that if I don't accept Jesus as my savior it's my own darn fault. Okay, but consider. Why do we accept something or reject it? We do so because we're convinced it makes sense. I accept the fact that evolution is true because to me it makes sense. I reject creationism because to me it doesn't make sense. So, if I'm to accept Jesus as my savior, above all else it has to make sense that I do so. There has to be some kind of compelling rational, and without this rational it would be unreasonable to agree to the proposition. I certainly wouldn't find believing in faeries and gnomes to be sensible if the only reason given is that this is what many people down through the ages have believed. People down through the ages also believed the earth was flat. I would need a more compelling rational to accept faeries and gnomes as a reasonable belief.
So, whose fault is it that I don't? Is it my fault that my mind has been so constructed that it rejects the argument of "people down through the ages have believed"? Hardly. Other than perhaps exercising the mind to work a bit better, none of us chooses how it accepts or rejects information. So what I believe is dependent on the information making its impression on my mind. I don't choose how information X is going to be processed. This process is an automatic one. Perhaps fear is a huge motivating factor within the processing operation. No matter how outlandish a proposition may be, scare me enough and I'll believe it. Or perhaps reason is thee controlling factor within the processing operation. Proposition XYZ has to make sense or I'll reject it. The thing is, we don't choose how these factors weigh in on our conclusions. Just as one doesn't choose what they find attractive about other people. What we find attractive and don't find attractive depends on how our minds have been configured. And this configuration is not something we choose. In effect, our mind is compelled to operate in a certain manner.
Therefore, we can't be held responsible for how our mind processes information. So, if I'm to find believing in faeries and gnomes sensible, where would the responsibility have to lie? What's left are those influences outside myself. If I'm to believe in faeries and gnomes then someone or something is going to have to persuade those deciding factors in my mind that it makes sense, and it's what I should do. Now, I have very little influence over what kind of evidence or argument I'm presented. It might even be a case of GIGO. If the ICFB, the International Council of Faerie Belief, fails to scare me into believing in faeries and gnomes, that's their fault, not mine. If the ICFB, fails to present a persuasive enough case to accept faeries and gnomes, that's their fault, not mine. And this goes right down to those individual representatives of the ICFB. If my neighbor down the block comes knocking on my door trying to get me to accept faeries and gnomes and fails, it's his fault, not mine. Or, if no one presents any information on faeries and gnomes for me to consider, it isn't my fault either.
So, In as much as I can't help how my mind processes information, and I can't help if the tactics of Christians fail to persuade me that believing in the Son is the way to an everlasting life, why should I perish because of it? If any blame is to be laid it has to be on those presenting, or failing to present, the case for Jesus.
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