12 Steps that Show Christianity is True

[Guest Robert]

1 hour ago, Yowm said:

When you are about to cross a street do you distinguish between a red light and a green light, or is that just 'an artificial overlay on reality'?

On that note: if one doesn't watch for a "distinction" in the lights, they may become an artificial overlay on the bumper of an oncoming truck.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Robert

[Apologetics Evangelism Guy]

20 hours ago, missmuffet said:

We do not need any steps that shows Christianity is true. We do not need proof. Just read the Bible.

Missmuffet, I totally understand where you are coming from. "Proof" can't lead people to believe in Jesus. Only the holy spirit can do that. However, giving reasons for the faith is something we are commanded to do in Scripture.

1. We are commanded to "Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within you..." (1 Pet. 3:15)
2. We are commanded to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the very knowledge of God." (2 Cor. 10:5)
3. We are commanded to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints." (Jude 3)
4. Paul reasoned with people about the gospel (Acts 17:16-17)
5. Paul refuted those who opposed the truth (Titus 1:9)
6. Paul commanded false teaches to be rebuked (Titus 1:13)
7. Jesus refuted false teachings constantly (Matt. 15:6-9)
8. Paul said he was set apart for the "defense and confirmation of the gospel" The word "defense" is the word apologia. It means to make a reasoned argument. It's where we get the word apologetics from. 

God teaches us to engage in apologetics, to give reasons, and to reason with people the way Jesus and the apostle Paul did. 

And Paul's two biggest proofs were fulfillment of Scripture and Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Almost every sermon Paul preached in Acts, you can see him using these two proofs.

Dylan

[noone]

On 11/20/2016 at 1:52 PM, Yowm said:

When you are about to cross a street do you distinguish between a red light and a green light, or is that just 'an artificial overlay on reality'?

If you look at it through the lens of subject-object duality, then a subject (you) appears to distinguish between two objects which are not you (red and green lights).  To distinguish anything, you have to consider it as something separate from “you the subject”, as in the phrases “your body” or “your mind”.   But there is nothing that reality isn’t, it includes every object and thought and process.  Your body, the colors red and green, their meaning in your culture, the traffic lights, the cars, the street, the people, the trees, the clouds, the stars, and everything else in the universe are all intimate, inseparable aspects of a single entity, and you crossing the street safely is a process of that entity.  There is no way for reality to distinguish a red light, because it is the red light.   Likewise for the green light.      

 

[Guest Robert]

22 hours ago, noone said:

If you look at it through the lens of subject-object duality, then a subject (you) appears to distinguish between two objects which are not you (red and green lights).  To distinguish anything, you have to consider it as something separate from “you the subject”, as in the phrases “your body” or “your mind”.   But there is nothing that reality isn’t, it includes every object and thought and process.  Your body, the colors red and green, their meaning in your culture, the traffic lights, the cars, the street, the people, the trees, the clouds, the stars, and everything else in the universe are all intimate, inseparable aspects of a single entity, and you crossing the street safely is a process of that entity.  There is no way for reality to distinguish a red light, because it is the red light.   Likewise for the green light.      

 

And if you fail to get out of the way of oncoming traffic, you end up an "intimate, inseparable aspect" of a semi's front fender.

Seriously, the idea of "everything and everyone is one and indistinguishable" is nonsense. Otherwise, your "single entity" would be suffering from the worst imaginable case of cognitive dissonance due to each person (whom you say is not individual but all one) all having their own thoughts, and would not be able to hold together cohesively in either thought or reality. What this truly sounds like is the argument "since everything is one and no one is an individual, no person can claim the moral "high ground" since there is no "god' and therefore no moral standard."

 

Oh wait...you can't have an argument. Arguments come from individuals, and individuals do not exist according to you.

[noone]

On 11/23/2016 at 9:46 PM, Robert said:

Seriously, the idea of "everything and everyone is one and indistinguishable" is nonsense. Otherwise, your "single entity" would be suffering from the worst imaginable case of cognitive dissonance due to each person (whom you say is not individual but all one) all having their own thoughts, and would not be able to hold together cohesively in either thought or reality.

It doesn’t suffer from cognitive dissonance because it isn’t cognizant of anything.   To perceive “something”, or be aware “of something”, you have to first mentally separate that thing from a conceptual “you the subject”, as in the phrases “my awareness”, “my mind”, “my sight”, “my respiration”.  This separation is not real, merely a product of the imagination.   So the single entity includes all the processes going on in the universe, including thought processes, but is not “aware of” any of them because they are indistinguishable from itself.       

Edited November 27, 2016 by noone

[Apologetics Evangelism Guy]

Noone,

This is very helpful to me - to hear your perspective. I'm a Christian now but used to be a raging skeptic. 

Are there any specific philosophers who have helped you form this perspective? I'd like to look into their work for an upcoming podcast and article I am writing. 

Dylan

[noone]

39 minutes ago, Apologetics Evangelism Guy said:

Noone,

This is very helpful to me - to hear your perspective. I'm a Christian now but used to be a raging skeptic. 

Are there any specific philosophers who have helped you form this perspective? I'd like to look into their work for an upcoming podcast and article I am writing. 

Dylan

There are a whole bunch of teachers of nonduality / nondualism.   That is what the basic idea is called.  

[noone]

12 hours ago, Yowm said:

You realize that is typical Eastern Mysticism, don't you? (We are god, we just haven't realized it yet due to the fragmentation of the One. etc.

How do you know that the illusion and deception doesn't rest with the ones who believe everything and everyone is basically one?

And that there truly is  good and evil, God and a devil, heaven and hell, life and death? 

Yes, eastern mysticism, that's a fair description.   How do I know...I don't know 100% but after evaluating the Bible I'm very certain that "God and devil"  and "heaven and hell" are straight out of Zoroastrianism, and that these concepts were assimilated by the Israelites from the Persians during the Babylonian Captivity.    Prior to the Babylonian Captivity, the Israelites were polytheists whose gods were in the Canaanite pantheon.   El is the head of the Canaanite pantheon (and his name is in the name IsraEL).   The rest of Canaanite pantheon consists of El's wife and their children.   Collectively, these are known in the Bible as "Elohim", the plural of El.  One of the gods in the this pantheon, Yahweh the god of war, usurped El as the primary god of the Israelites and then became a composite of both El and Yaweh.  Also, during the Babylonian Captivity, another god in the pantheon and son of Yahweh, Satan, came to be seen as a fallen "angel"...the idea of "angels" coming straight out of Zoroastrianism.   In Job, which was written prior to the Babylonian Captivity, Satan is written as a god.   The meaning of his name, "adversary" does not refer to him being the adversary of the Christian God, it refers to him being the adversary of Job, in the course of testing his faithfulness to Yahweh.          

Edited November 29, 2016 by noone

[noone]

13 hours ago, Yowm said:

How do you know that the illusion and deception doesn't rest with the ones who believe everything and everyone is basically one?

From experience.   Our sensory experience is seamless and not divided or categorized in any way, only thought makes it so.  

[Apologetics Evangelism Guy]

Hey everyone, thanks for the great feedback.

Here's my podcast episode dedicated to this subject. I used your feedback to fuel my response!

LATEST PODCAST: Truth about Reality is Knowable! (It's Undeniable) 

http://apologeticsevangelism.podbean.com/e/episode-013-step-one-truth-about-reality-is-knowable-its-undeniable/?token=5d7c26d74ee36cae3346c4871af1ec30