How To Handle Criticism
Unreasonable Faith is a great blog/website by skeptic Daniel Florien which covers religion, science, and current events for freethinkers of all ages and stages. I am now a daily reader and cannot get enough. He recently addressed a question I prompted and could not have done a better job answering it. The question discusses how to deal with criticism and can be found through the preceding link: unreasonablefaith.com
3 comments:
That's pretty good advice from that guy Mike--it really is. I agree with him that you should keep an open-mind. Research everything you say. Don't sell out in your mind to an anti-Bible, anti-Christian, anti-God, anti-Jesus perspective without really looking at the facts for yourself. It's easy to pick up arguments and perspectives from mis-informed people around you who use big words to make themselves sound intellectual. It's easy to laugh at Dawkins and Hitchens, they are funny guys at times; and because of that buy into their way of thinking. They make good money if you buy into it.
But find it for yourself. Have an open mind and critically think through things. Critically dissect Scripture (if you dare to do it), and don't sell out wholesale for someone else's "sexy atheism." In our culture where politics and faith have been mixed, and the God of Scripture has been tamed by those with their own agenda--it's easy to throw it all out and align yourself with people who criticize the Bible-belt for the joke that it often is. But don't allow yourself to dismiss reality for the sake of an image that isn't really thought through.
If you truly are an agnostic then you are not sure what you believe and you are exploring different details of various belief systems. If that's true--explore away. But don't just call yourself an agnostic because it's easier than selling out to being an atheist. I know a ton of people who once believed themselves to be Christians but have turned away from it and now don't believe at all and simply call themselves "agnostics" because it's easier to stomach. In reading this blog these last couple days, you're aligning yourself with some of the top atheist thinkers in the world today. Be careful about this. Don't allow yourself to divorce your mind from critically thinking simply by buying in wholesale to those who advertise themselves as "critical thinkers." Really research the Bible before you dismiss it. Most of what you say on these blogs betrays a lack of knowledge to the facts when it comes to Biblical criticism.
And just to let you know: "Biblical criticism" is an actual subject taught in graduate schools and seminaries--critical thinking and Scripture go incredibly well together--and those who discourage you from thinking because they are scared they're Bibles will be disproved are more narrow-minded than some of your atheist friends.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." If He is the ultimate truth and he is reality--then those who believe in Him and His word have nothing to be afraid of.
Study it man--don't allow yourself to be fooled by an image of reality, no matter how funny it is or how smooth it sounds.
I definitely understand what your saying, however, I think that religion is a fooled image of reality--it is usually opposes the natural order and laws of the universe. I understand your arguments and they do make a some sense, however, when I critically look at the bible I do see many inconsistencies that I cannot shy away from. I am a-theistic about the claims made in the bible and do not believe in a creator who sustains a personal relationship to his creatures--however I am agnostic regarding the God hypothesis. I could not say that a God does not exist, as I couldn't say that a flying teapot orbiting a distant planet too far for any man made telescope to see, does not exist. Of course it would be nice for some to believe that there is life after death, however, there is no reason for us to believe that there is.
I think many of the claims made about Dawkins and Hitchens could be said about religious people around the world. There is a lot of money in that industry, as well. One needs only to look at American society to see these multi-million dollar feel-good institutions.
Atheism has nothing to do with selling out either. I would rather not 'sell-out' and tell people I am a Christian to appease them and not be true to myself.
that's good man--you don't want to fake being a Christian--there are far too many of those in the world today.
I am interested in the inconsistencies you speak of in terms of the Bible. I would really love to hear some of these examples--I mean this in all honesty. The reason I say this is because I've heard this same thing many times from people before--they talk about "inconsistencies" or "contradictions" in the Bible, but a simple knowledge or study of context, historical context, genres, or original languages can explain most of these supposed discrepancies. That's why I'm very interested in your critical studies of Scripture. Where are the inconsistencies? I think I treated the Genesis one appropriately--it was a supposed inconsistency, but it didn't take into acount the genre of the narrative (redemptive historical in nature, but scientific), and even if it purported to be science, it still didn't betray proper botany in any way. The claim of that account is that God made plants--full-grown seed-bearing plants, just like later he would make full-grown seed-bearing humans.
So that's my biggest question--what's the source of your distrust of Scripture. I'd love to talk through this critically.
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