What if?

[Unveiled Artist]

Why are people afraid of What If questions?

I was told in a Christian chat that it's pointless to ask What If because it assumes something that is not true. Since there were new Christians in the chat room, they didn't want to pose questions that their could be other paths to the truth. Puting aside what is true and what is not, whats up with the What If questions?

I ask the religious. Of course, non-religious identifiers can answer too.

 

[sun rise]

Some maybe most "what if" questions are not really questions but statements in the form of questions. And even when they're not, they're challenges to someone's beliefs because they ask people to think about how they'd react if they would change their mind and that makes people uncomfortable.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Some maybe most "what if" questions are not really questions but statements in the form of questions. And even when they're not, they're challenges to someone's beliefs because they ask people to think about how they'd react if they would change their mind and that makes people uncomfortable.

True. If one is strong in their faith, what if's shouldnt hurt. I dont think.

 

[Valjean]

"What it" seems to me a rich vehicle for considering issues from other points of view and thinking outside the box.
What would these Christians have to chat about if all facts and opinions were already givens?

 

[sun rise]

True. If one is strong in their faith, what if's shouldnt hurt. I dont think.

True. But I've found two kinds of people who welcome what ifs: The first are writers who will use the internal what if question to fashion a novel, story or poem. The second are scientists who use the what if to construct an experiment to prove or disprove a conjecture. Most will react to "what if your belief is wrong" the same way they would react to "why is a mouse when it spins?"

 

[Demonslayer]

The more fundamentally religious someone is, the less they are willing to pose any questions at all about their beliefs. Many religious people I know take any question whatsoever as an attack.

After all, if you claim to know already how the universe started, who started it, the purpose for it, what happens after we die, and how the universe will all end...why would you have any need for questions? You know everything already!

 

[Jainarayan]

Why are people afraid of What If questions?

Personally, I'm not afraid of them, I just think they are irrelevant and illogical. What if cyanobacteria never existed to produce oxygen and life never got started? It doesn't matter, because they did and it did.The only time I think a what-if question is valid is when there's a choice to be made and I have to consider possible outcomes... what if I do this instead of that?

 

[savagewind]

What if the writer of scripture wrote something different than what 'you' believe was written? 'You' call it "God says", but what if God doesn't say what 'you' say God says?

 

[viole]

Why are people afraid of What If questions?

I was told in a Christian chat that it's pointless to ask What If because it assumes something that is not true. Since there were new Christians in the chat room, they didn't want to pose questions that their could be other paths to the truth. Puting aside what is true and what is not, whats up with the What If questions?

I ask the religious. Of course, non-religious identifiers can answer too.

Well, your Christian chat fellows do not understand logic. Which is not all that surprising.

There is nothing inherently illogical, pointless or absurd to assume (alleged) counterfactual hypotheses and see where they lead. If they lead to an internal logical contradiction, you can mark them as false. If not, then they are live possibilities.

We have a whole history in Mathematics and the sciences that show that huge progress has been achieved by taking seriously things, apparently counterfactual, just because they did not lead to any contradiction, when assumed. Negation of Euclid's postulate of the paralleles, followed by the development of non euclidean geometries and their impact on relativity, comes to mind.

When they tell you that it does not make sense to postulate something that is (for them) wrong from the start, they are not making a logical or rational statement. They are just afraid to accept "ifs" or "if nots". Period.

Why they are afraid of that, is left as a simple exercise to the reader.

Ciao

- viole

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Why are people afraid of What If questions?

I pose a lot of "what if" questions to get people to think about why adopting a vegan lifestyle is ethical, and, honestly, entirely justified if you're a responsible, Earth-loving human being who wants only the best for the planet and its inhabitants.

But just as you've said, my questions make people squirm, and they try to dismiss them as "irrelevant". It all has to do with people not wanting to look into the particular mirror you are attempting to hold up. Everyone wants to believe they are doing the best that they can - and when you challenge that, they almost always attempt to defend their honor to the very last.

 

[allfoak]

I have had my world view dismantled a couple of times because i was willing to ask the big what if question..
What if....
I am Wrong!

That of course is the problem.
Who wants to find out that they are clueless?

What if the only thing you knew for sure, was that you didn't know anything for sure?

I love What if.. questions.

 

[Sundance]

I myself am no stranger to the questions of what if. They are honest, challenging and very thought-provoking. They tap into a basic awe (and sometimes, fear) of the unknown. “What if there is no God?", “What if the Bible is actually a mixture of mythology, poetry, wise teachings, and history, rather than purely one or the other?". This latter question is one that's been on my mind as of late.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Well, your Christian chat fellows do not understand logic. Which is not all that surprising.

There is nothing inherently illogical, pointless or absurd to assume (alleged) counterfactual hypotheses and see where they lead. If they lead to an internal logical contradiction, you can mark them as false. If not, then they are live possibilities.

We have a whole history in Mathematics and the sciences that show that huge progress has been achieved by taking seriously things, apparently counterfactual, just because they did not lead to any contradiction, when assumed. Negation of Euclid's postulate of the paralleles, followed by the development of non euclidean geometries and their impact on relativity, comes to mind.

When they tell you that it does not make sense to postulate something that is (for them) wrong from the start, they are not making a logical or rational statement. They are just afraid to accept "ifs" or "if nots". Period.

Why they are afraid of that, is left as a simple exercise to the reader.

Ciao

- viole

Im keep rereading my OP and your post. Whyy post is so negative and then you smile? That, and explain why you say this:

"There is nothing inherently illogical, pointless or absurd to assume (alleged) counterfactual hypotheses and see where they lead. If they lead to an internal logical contradiction, you can mark them as false. If not, then they are live possibilities."

Either that or rephrase it.

The only reason it sounds illogical to me because people get defensive. If they explained why they dont like what ifs, Id understand and let it be.

What is wrong with What If questions?

If you do not care for the type of questions I ask, why answer? Skip the thread. Dont insult me.

Post 6 and 12 sums my opinion well.

 

[Demonslayer]

What if the Bible is actually a mixture of mythology, poetry, wise teachings, and history, rather than purely one or the other?"

Is there even a question about this? Certainly there are elements of all of these things. There are historical references to real places and times, you can pick some wise teachings out of there, there are examples of poetry/songs/chants, and as far as mythology goes, where does one start?

I think you can put this one to bed, the Bible is most certainly a conglomeration of these things and not purely one.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Has anyone asked other people What If questions or only Christians? Maybe they feel they are victims and thats why they dont answer?

 

[Sundance]

Is there even a question about this? Certainly there are elements of all of these things. There are historical references to real places and times, you can pick some wise teachings out of there, there are examples of poetry/songs/chants, and as far as mythology goes, where does one start?

I think you can put this one to bed, the Bible is most certainly a conglomeration of these things and not purely one.

Congratulations, dear Demonslayer! Your confirmation of this has just managed to change my entire worldview...

 

[Demonslayer]

Has anyone asked other peolle What If questions or only Christians? Maybe they feel they are victims and thats why they dont answer?

As an atheist the most common one I hear is "What if you're wrong?" The rest of it goes something like "if I'm wrong I'll never know but if you're wrong you'll burn in hell for eternity." aka Pascal's Wager.

 

[Demonslayer]

Congratulations, dear Demonslayer! Your confirmation of this has just managed to change my entire worldview...

Do I win a prize??

 

[Sundance]

Do I win a prize??

No, but you DO win the satisfaction of dismantling the idea of biblical literalism.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Why are people afraid of What If questions?

I'm not afraid of hypothetical questions, just too busy trying to answer the real ones.