Obviously the praying part is not to be taken literally. I just had a conversation with my brother about christianity. He was once a skeptic, and coverted into becoming a believer. Anyway I asked him a series of questions for him to justify or explain the reasons why he believes. His answer, infuriated me! He subscribe to the its "True for me" philosophy. I said well why do you have faith. He replied, "Because that what I believe in." But why? I pressed on. He continued to say that he doesn`t believe everything happens by luck. When I asked him how that postulates the existence of a God he reverted to ,"That`s what I believe in."
How can I have an intelliegent conversation with someone that subscribes to this "It`s true for me" philosophy
We went into a series of circles because he said what he believes is what he believes, for no good reason.
How can I get him to question is faith, and how can I bring him out of the stupidity of religous dogma?
2007-09-16 10:23:36 · 21 answers · asked by Future 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
He may be lost for ever. It happens. You can only hope that he'll come to his senses in time.
Right now it appears that he's found an imaginary crutch that is helping him with some deeper problem. As we know, however, this particular pain-killer just leads to greater problems down the line.
He's shown that he's not willing to engage in serious logical discussion over it, so he probably needs the crutch. You might try to find out what's really bothering him, and see if you can fix it so he's ready to face reality again.
Good luck (whatever that is)
CD
2007-09-16 10:30:30 · answer #1 · answered by Super Atheist 7 · 5⤊ 2⤋
Do you have courage? Try this. Wait a few years and give your brother a chance to mature in his faith and then ask him the same questions. If he is truly a commited Christian he probably will have an intelligent answer to each of your queries. If he has not remained a Christian then I think you can rest assured that he will join you in Hell. Is that what you truly want? Do you have courage? Why not make your own intellegent study of whether Jesus is the Son of God and and make your own decision based on the real facts of the case. A good place to start is the Case for Christ a book written by former bigtime skeptic Lee Strobel. If you have real courage..... read it. If not I am deeply sorry for you. As Im sure you have surmised I am not an atheist , but I have already prayed for you. Come to Christ!
2007-09-16 17:47:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Actually the "it's true for me" philosophy isn't connected to religious dogma. That philosophy is bought into by both believers and non-believers alike.
I would say to support the issue with reason. Be able to support your arguments not the simplistic "Scientists say..." type of nonsense but actual arguments that stand on their own merit and don't appeal to the authority of some intellectual community.
If you don't believe in the existence of God, present those arguments to him and be able to support them.
The challenge is a difficult one since I have never heard a convincing argument for the non-existence of God.
2007-09-16 17:34:37 · answer #3 · answered by sickblade 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hello -
As a Christian who became a believer as an adult, let me share a couple of things.
Believing in the Bible is ultimately a matter of informed faith. As much as you want your brother to question his faith, he as ardently wants you to join him in it. What you call dogma, he calls truth.
It is ok to agree to disagree.
There are several areas of objective evidence for faith in the Bible:
bibliographic evidence -the Dead Sea Scrolls are an example
internal evidence - including the fact that all Biblical prophecy that has been fulfilled to date has been 100% accurate
external evidence- archeological evidence has affirmed the historicity of the Bible
But ultimately you either believe the testimony of Jesus Christ regarding the Word of God or you don't. Let your brother be, he is not crazy or brainwashed.
Sincerely- Redeemed
2007-09-16 17:40:50 · answer #4 · answered by redeemed 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Just put it to him bluntly. Just tell him how absurd his beliefs are.
Ask him if he has any evidence for his beliefs.
Get someone whom he looks up to to talk to him.
Tell him that organized religion has been distorted a lot over the years so wht he believes in is probably not what Jesus thought of the world.
Ask him "how can you know for sure, shouldn't you be agnostic?"
Tell him about Russel's Teapot.
Challenge him to read some books by Richard Dawkins (especially The God Delusion). Dawkins puts it nicely and he somewhat changed my own thoughts on life.
It will be hard to convince him if he just blindly sticks behind his beliefs, but these are just a few tips to answer your question. :)
2007-09-16 17:31:46 · answer #5 · answered by Whiz 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
It depends on how far he goes in his beliefs. Actually I don't have any experience in converting people to atheism, and that's not what I want to do either. Most of the time I just want them to give them another point of view, just to make them think about how outdated their way of thinking is if they think everything in the bible really happened, and that there is hell and things like that. Just like being an atheist, I think religion is also not completely a choice either. I think most of the time it comes forward out of a feeling of disappointment in reality because reality bites sometimes. Life's not always easy, and in times of disappointment, some people just need to have something that's beyond everything to hang on to. I think the best you can give is trust and truth from the people who are close to him, and fun.
2007-09-16 17:36:49 · answer #6 · answered by Batfish 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
An atheist who shoves their views down people's throats is just as bad as a religious person who does the same.
Live and let live. Love your brother. You don't have to believe in anything to love your brother.
Who can explain what happens to a person to make them believe or not believe? Not you, not scientists, not even the religious. I can't explain what took me from fundie, to liberal Catholic to quasi-deist, but here I am.
2007-09-16 17:38:01 · answer #7 · answered by Lady Geologist 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
HALLELUJAH!!!!! THANK YOU JESUS FOR REACHING OUT TO THIS GUY'S BROTHER AND MAKING HIM A BELIEVER. May you Bless him even more. : )
Let me tell you why you were infuriated.
It was because you could not carry out your fathers desires.
When I say father, I do not mean your earthly father.
I am talking about the father of lies.
The Children of the Devil
42Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
Did you read the last part? 47. He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.
You should believe without seeing. Have faith like your brother does. -He is smart.
May you open your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and surrender yourself. -I will also say a prayer for you.
-God Bless.
2007-09-16 17:41:21 · answer #8 · answered by †Evonne† 7 · 3⤊ 3⤋
The "it's true for me" argument then put all ideas on equal validity as long as someone believes them.
Ask him about how he feels about someone who believes in Shiva or Thor. Then help him realize that his belief (through faith) is on equal footing.
2007-09-16 17:29:04 · answer #9 · answered by skeptic 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
That's the problem with trying to have an intelligent conversation with a theist. They use circular logic to try to explain their beliefs, but they wind up explaining nothing.
2007-09-16 17:53:54 · answer #10 · answered by Two quarters & a heart down 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋