Oh PLEASE....that is absolute nonsense. I take time to craft answers as best I'm able...I've done it for years now....for you and many, many others.
Do note, I never suggested that you didn't take time to craft answers; in fact, if you look back through some of my posts, you'll note how I've thanked you for continuing to engage and trying to focus on the merits instead of proselytizing. It was you that said that you started keeping your answers to me brief. I merely suggested a reason. Maybe you disagree with my reason, but it's what I believe. Am I not entitled to my beliefs?
With some folks it gets to the point in which I've answered their objections repeatedly yet they keep spewing them out again and again in slightly different variations. Fine, you don't agree with me....I get it.
Sorry, but
thinking you've answered their objections is not the same as actually answering. If I ask "why is the sky blue?" then no matter how many times you scream: "God makes it blue!" you aren't giving an answer.
How many times do I need to repeat things? So for some I just start one lining things or keep answers to a couple of words. For most it's real simple....respond with a few words (which is preferred) it's ALWAYS deemed an insufficient reply. Respond with a thorough reply and it goes unread or gets a "meltdown" or "TL;DR".
Except I don't think I've even answered with "meltdown" or "TL;DR". In fact, my answers to you are elaborate and carefully crafted because I actually spend time thinking about the issues you raise and how to address them.
What I realized is that you and a few others are not after "an answer" because you've already figured it all out. You think you're just toying with lesser minds now.
I don't think I've figured it all out, although I certainly think that I've figured out that there's no God. Forgive me for not being an agnostic... you're welcome to try to use logic to convince me I'm wrong. Unlike you, I'm open to the possibility.
Even if I answer you thoroughly and correctly you'll just go to the ole "I'm still waiting for a cogent reply" crutch or you'll respond with a five word jab about "lesser intellects" (whatever it is).
There are plenty of people who have the IQ of tepid bathwater, and a lot are very opinionated and loud. If I come across such people I call them out, not to make myself feel better but because I don't think that one should engage with idiots.
Still for a time there I thought that there was a decent line of communication, but I was wrong...I admit that.
I thought we did pretty well.
It's not that you don't ask good questions or questions that require thoughtful consideration. You do. But you're not always correct in your theological assumptions....I've corrected you repeatedly and I've also told you that sometimes you give me things to think about (and I do). Yet I fully admit I don't have all the answers.....never will.
The problem is that your corrections usually require me to accept huge tenets of your faith and a particular interpretation. More than once you've suggested that in order for me to know God I must
first accept that he exists, that the Bible is his inerrant word and that through that, I can get to know him and learn about Jesus, through whom I can then know and commune with the Father.
Sorry... that's not how it works. I'm asking you to provide me
evidence of your God, and your response is to say: "well, believe first and then I'll give you evidence." But that's nonsense. If I believe, what's the point of evidence? In fact, if I believe,
anything is evidence, so that term becomes meaningless.
Regardless, it's the haughty atheists job to never admit to a theist that the atheist position was wrong (there's no such thing LOL) or that the theist was correct (there's REALLY no such thing). That notion doesn't comport with your worldview and it never will.....that's why it's a suckers game.....I was the sucker and I admit that. Still, it wasn't all for naught, but that's only for me.
I don't think being an atheist makes someone infallible. I openly admit that my atheism and the positions I take are based on my evaluation of observable facts and logical deductions. Is it possible I'm wrong? Of course. I never claim to be infallible. Now, let's flip the table because I'm curious about something: is it possible that
you are wrong, that God doesn't exist and your beliefs are unjustified?
It's fine if a person prefers to "line by line" things. Hate to burst your bubble, but you're not the only one that does that. And I'm not suggesting I respond to or even see every post....I'm sure I miss stuff. That's doesn't mean I can't respond to those things though or that I'm running away. I've repeatedly don't 8 versus 1 in threads and held my own. Then there are times when I'm just tired and need a break from the back and forth....I'm sure things get missed then.
We all get tired and need breaks. I don't think I suggested you need to answer every post on every thread. I never even suggested that you should answer most posts or most thread. I don't care how many you answer or not. I know you can respond and I was under the impression that you enjoyed the debate and the process of having your faith challenged and trying to challenge the positions and beliefs of others.
Yet, I still admit that I won't always have a sufficient answer, but that doesn't negate my faith or God or "religion"....yada yada. Problem is with this game any answer is automatically "insufficient" because in this game "answers" aren't the point....making the theist look foolish is the object.
I have no interest in making theists - or anyone else for that matter - look foolish, especially over the Internet. I have much better things to do with my time. I never suggested that you needed to have all the answers. All I tried to get you (and others) to do is to stop trying to pass off your beliefs as fact. I never suggested you stop believing and I never tried to convert you. In fact, if you remember I openly told you that once you bring in
personal, divine revelation the debate is over, because nobody can argue against that, but that you can't use that to convince others, since others have no way of knowing if what you experienced was personal, divine revelation or undiagnosed mental disorders - and that wans't meant as an insult.
That's why I don't respond to you at length anymore. Still if you feel good thinking you've taken me down....I'm a-ok with that....it was just a silly game.
Taking you down is of no interest to me.
