[net.religion] testing claims responses

bobb (04/10/83)

Due to being out of town, doing income tax, having a bad cold, and having
trouble logging in from home, I've not responded to comments on my posting
as I had intended. Well, better late than never. . . .

(To keep this short, I won't quote from my original article or the responses.)

Exception was taken to my statement that only Christianity claims a personal,
living God. One writer correctly pointed out that I had overlooked Judaism.
Others made the point that almost any religion could make the same claim.
I suppose that the ancient Greeks claimed that their gods were alive.I do not
know if other religions claim a God so interested in the individual
that the "hairs of your head are all numbered;" some may. What is unique to
Christianity is the claim that God, as distinct from a prophet or a good man,
lived as a man on earth. And, most importantly, Christianity and Judaism
represent God's attempt to reach man while other religions represent mans'
attempt to reach God.

A seemingly common opinion holds that if different religions make the same
claims, then those religions are equally valid. But in religion, as in any-
thing else, it is not the making of claims which proves validity. It is the
fulfillment of claims. The main point of my article was that religious claims do
not have to be (and should not be) accepted solely on the basis that they "sound
good." Like all claims, these claims can be tested. Christianity encourages 
such tests: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (I Thessalonians
5:21)."

To some, the sureness that comes from having put the claims of Christianity to
the test seems to be offensive arrogance. It is not meant that way. Don't
believe in Christianity because I, or anyone else on or off the net, says to.
Test it for yourself!

I would be interested in hearing of experiences which people have had in
testing religious claims. If you would rather share the experiences privately
than on the net, my address is !tektronix!tekcrd!bobb.

     Bob Bales
     Tektronix

tim (04/16/83)

	Reply to Bob Bales.

What is unique to
Christianity is the claim that God, as distinct from a prophet or a good man,
lived as a man on earth. And, most importantly, Christianity and Judaism
represent God's attempt to reach man while other religions represent mans'
attempt to reach God.

	Ever hear of a small and insignificant religion called Hinduism,
	Bob? Only a few hundred million adherents. Virtually all the gods
	in this pantheon have avatars (and all the major ones do). An
	avatar is a god born on Earth as a human. It's a very common
	concept. (There are also elements of this in Buddhism, but they are
	clearly Hindu borrowings.) Why do you cling to this weird notion that
	Christianity is unique?

To some, the sureness that comes from having put the claims of Christianity to
the test seems to be offensive arrogance. It is not meant that way. Don't
believe in Christianity because I, or anyone else on or off the net, says to.
Test it for yourself!

	I have often noted in Christians that they will attempt to get away
	with some otherwise offensive verbal utterance by claiming that it
	really isn't what it is. For instance, "I don't mean to seem holier-
	than-thou, but you're going to Hell while I sonbathe in Heaven."
	The fact that you claim you don't mean arrogance deliberately doesn't
	mean that it isn't there. It is incredibly arrogant to say that
	your experiuences with a small subset of a field qualify you as an
	expert on the entirety. It's as if someone were to master TRS-80
	BASIC and then claim to know everything worth knowing about computer
	languages.

Tim Maroney