Intelligent? Design

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
Where you are born makes no difference to your desire to search for truth. Those who seek it with all their heart will find it.

Where one is born makes a huge difference to what the majority of people believe religious truth is, which is the point under scrutiny here.

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
Anyone who actively seeks the truth and follows the prompting of the spirit of God will find the truth regardless of where they are born.

But people of any religion can say this about themselves, about the people around them, and about the local predominant religion.

Originally posted by FMF
Yes. And you can have Christians becoming Muslims in Christian settings. And you can have Muslims becoming Christians in Hindu settings. And Christians become Hindus in Muslim settings, etc. etc. etc. But how does this have any bearing on the surely uncontroversial statement that someone has a better chance of being a Christian if they grow up in a Christian setting than in a Muslim setting?

Yes or course, but from a Christian perspective those people that turn away from Christianity do it because they are suppressing the truth, and those that turn to Christianity do so because they have found the truth. If one religion were to be true, then the others would automatically be false, since all religions are mutually exclusive.

Originally posted by FMF
Where one is born makes a huge difference to what the majority of people believe religious truth is, which is the point under scrutiny here.

So what are you trying to say, if Christianity were to be true it would be unfair on someone born in a muslim family?

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
Yes or course, but from a Christian perspective those people that turn away from Christianity do it because they are suppressing the truth, and those that turn to Christianity do so because they have found the truth.

Your constant unsubstantiated claims and insinuations that what you believe is "the truth" and that other beliefs are not "the truth" - in harness with almost nothing else in terms of coherent argument or justification - doesn't make your half-baked and essentially evasive analysis of the geographical and contextual reality of retail religions any more convincing. You should bear that in mind because you rely on it so heavily.

Originally posted by FMF
But people of any religion can say this about themselves, about the people around them, and about the local predominant religion.

So for that reason you believe no religion is true?

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
So what are you trying to say, if Christianity were to be true it would be unfair on someone born in a muslim family?

What I am trying to say and what I want to know is clearly expressed in the statements, questions and observations I am making in my posts.

Originally posted by FMF
Your constant unsubstantiated claims and insinuations that what you believe is "the truth" and that other beliefs are not "the truth" - in harness with almost nothing else in terms of coherent argument or justification - doesn't make your half-baked and essentially evasive analysis of the geographical and contextual reality of retail religions any more convincing. You should bear that in mind because you rely on it so heavily.

But then again you are claiming to be the sole judge on what is a coherent argument, yet you cannot give me one coherent argument for your own religious beliefs can you?

FMF: But people of any religion can say this about themselves, about the people around them, and about the local predominant religion.

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
So for that reason you believe no religion is true?

I believe that what you said about your religion offers nothing significant to the discussion as it is like bromide, generic advertising copy that could be used by pretty much any religion. Your strange retort makes it sound as if you don't want to discuss what we are discussing. Rather than address what I said - which was a direct discursive response to what you said - you ask me a tangential question instead.

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
But then again you are claiming to be the sole judge on what is a coherent argument, yet you cannot give me one coherent argument for your own religious beliefs can you?

When it comes to contributing to a debate and discussion message board, I have never claimed to be anything other than the "sole judge" of what my opinions are and what I should and shouldn't argue/ask in the course of discussions, that much is undeniably true.

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
If one religion were to be true, then the others would automatically be false, since all religions are mutually exclusive.

But, of course, this does not constitute evidence that your religion is "true" and that others are "false". Furthermore, the assertion "all religions are mutually exclusive" has the added disadvantage of not necessarily being true.

Originally posted by FMF
But, of course, this does not constitute evidence that your religion is "true" and that others are "false". Furthermore, the assertion "all religions are mutually exclusive" has the added disadvantage of not necessarily being true.

How would you decide whether a specific religion is true or false? Do you believe all religions are false? If so it means you must have some basis of truth. So what is "truth" to you?

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
How would you decide whether a specific religion is true or false? Do you believe all religions are false? If so it means you must have some basis of truth. So what is "truth" to you?

This is one of your ripcord questions, yet again ~ covering things that we have discussed before. I am not interested.

On the other hand, I am interested in the take you and KellyJay have on the implications (for the credibility of your ideology) of the fact that people have a better chance of being a Christian if they grow up in a Christian setting than in a Muslim setting.

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
Where you are born makes no difference to your desire to search for truth. Those who seek it with all their heart will find it.

Sure, and perhaps they find that 'truth' in Buddhism or Islam.

Look chump (ad hominem) if you happened to have been born 400 years ago in Osaka Japan, you would 'almost certainly' have adhered to and practised the religions local to Japan, even if you were driven by 'truth.' - Christianity had made it to Japan in the 1600's but only a tiny percentage of Japanese were converted to it. Choice is heavily influenced by culture and geography and 'clearly' a person is more likely to be a Christian in a Christian country. - If God truly wants 'all' to find him then I think He would have made 'the truth' more readily accessible to everybody.

Originally posted by Ghost of a Duke
Sure, and perhaps they find that 'truth' in Buddhism or Islam.

Look chump (ad hominem) if you happened to have been born 400 years ago in Osaka Japan, you would 'almost certainly' have adhered to and practised the religions local to Japan, even if you were driven by 'truth.' - Christianity had made it to Japan in the 1600's but only a tiny percent ...[text shortened]... l' to find him then I think He would have made 'the truth' more readily accessible to everybody.

The limitation is us, how can anyone believe except they be told. Resistance is also given
to the spread of the gospel by people too.

Romans 10:13-15New International Version (NIV)
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”