Christian Answers Repository

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
Some Christian resources that are a tremendous blessing to me and I'd like to share them with the other Christians.
...

Hope my brothers and sisters in Christ enjoy these as I have.

God Bless.

Thank you, that's exactly the sort of response that the OP is about. Good list!

And then there are the old-fashioned books of course, too many to count.

Originally posted by SaberTruth

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
Some Christian resources that are a tremendous blessing to me and I'd like to share them with the other Christians.
...

Hope my brothers and sisters in Christ enjoy these as I have.

God Bless.

Thank you, that's exactly the sort of response that the OP is about. Good list!

And then there are the old-fashioned books of course, too many to count.

Felt bad cuz I promised my list on page one but haven't had the sit-down time to compile it.

A.W. Tozer FTW!!!

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
Felt bad cuz I promised my list on page one but haven't had the sit-down time to compile it.

A.W. Tozer FTW!!!

And Robert Wilson, the man who mastered 45 Semitic languages and dialects. What a gift!

Originally posted by SaberTruth

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
Felt bad cuz I promised my list on page one but haven't had the sit-down time to compile it.

A.W. Tozer FTW!!!

And Robert Wilson, the man who mastered 45 Semitic languages and dialects. What a gift!

Have you heard about Dr. Ivan Panin? He was a Ph.d Mathematics from Harvard who discovered/documented the heptadic structure of the scriptures which led him to Christ.

His work is astounding.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
Have you heard about Dr. Ivan Panin? He was a Ph.d Mathematics from Harvard who discovered/documented the heptadic structure of the scriptures which led him to Christ.

His work is astounding.

No I haven't but will check him out, thanks.

(Off-topic snippet: curious, isn't it, that if a Christian responds to an off-topic comment, we are deemed just as guilty as the anti-Christian who started it, but if we don't respond it means we can't deal with their arguments? Curious indeed.)

Attention...

Unless those participating in this thread would like it to resemble Swiss cheese by having their posts removed, it is kindly suggested that everyone remain on topic and civil. Consider this another fair warning.

reply to post by SaberTruth


I'm interested in the History of Christianity - specifically Catholicism. So i have a few questions...

Do you believe that Christianity would have retained as much influence if Constantine had not promoted it as a religion of the Roman Empire?

How literally do you take the supernatural claims within the bible; immaculate conception; ressurection, original sin? Is your answer similar to that of most Christians? (Calvinists or other demoninations)

Obviously we have many people with "vague faith" - So how literally do most Christians take extraordinary claims of the bible?

What do you make of commentaries on philosopher Aristotle made by theologian Thomas Aquinas? Do the majority of Christians share his views/thoughts regarding epistemology and/or philosophy?

Thanks in advance!

[EN]

Originally posted by ExistentialNightmare
reply to post by SaberTruth

 

I'm interested in the History of Christianity - specifically Catholicism. So i have a few questions...

I'd be happy to respond, but as it really isn't on topic and there have been several warnings to stay on it, we'll either have to start a new thread or talk via U2U. So just let me know which you'd prefer, though I have to say that U2U might allow us to talk more freely.

reply to post by SaberTruth


I thought this was a discussion of the common arguments against Theism, or God? "Christian Answer Repository" - I thought my questions were on topic; and would assist in developing answers for debates or discussions - perhaps i should try the "Christian think-tank" thread?

Peace.

Originally posted by ExistentialNightmare
reply to post by SaberTruth

 

I thought this was a discussion of the common arguments against Theism, or God? "Christian Answer Repository" - I thought my questions were on topic; and would assist in developing answers for debates or discussions - perhaps i should try the "Christian think-tank" thread?

Peace.

The OP here is just for Christians to share resources. But at the risk of having my comment removed later I'll go ahead and respond here.

Do you believe that Christianity would have retained as much influence if Constantine had not promoted it as a religion of the Roman Empire?

My guess would be that no, it wouldn't have. I read an excellent "forgotten history" on this and summarized/commented on it in my book site: The Reformers And Their Stepchildren. That book tells the story of the marginalized believers from about the second century to the Reformation, where time and time again the people who only wanted Jesus and not power or control were hunted and defamed. Though at times there was a brief period of peace, this was the norm. However, and ironically, the ideals of these marginalized believers did manage to have some influence among the enemies of the Reformers, and some important influences actually "stuck". Excellent book and not expensive.

How literally do you take the supernatural claims within the bible; immaculate conception; ressurection, original sin? Is your answer similar to that of most Christians? (Calvinists or other demoninations)

Literally, except that how I view original sin differs significantly from that of Calvinism and many Arminians, though I would place myself in the latter group for the most part. Miracles by definition are violations of natural law either in terms of speed or the laws of physics. To disallow them a priori because they are such would be begging the question. The best we can do is to apply the rules of legal evidence, considering the quality of the witnesses and the behavior of antagonists to the events. In that regard I find no reason to reject them.

Obviously we have many people with "vague faith" - So how literally do most Christians take extraordinary claims of the bible?

Of course I can't speak for "most Christians", but my own experience with the ones I've known is that they accept them literally. Since the Christian faith stands or falls on the literal resurrection of Jesus, which of course is a miracle, then to reject all miracles as being literal is to abandon the faith. Ergo, anyone not taking miracles literally would not be a Christian by the original, historical definition.

What do you make of commentaries on philosopher Aristotle made by theologian Thomas Aquinas? Do the majority of Christians share his views/thoughts regarding epistemology and/or philosophy?

I very much identify with some of the basics both shared, such as some basic concepts about the universe and existence. Where the two differ is fundamentally at the level of whether existence has any meaning in itself or only finds it through the reality of God (a bit rusty on the details, it's been a while since I studied them). But I can't say whether the majority of Christians hold to this, though historically it seems they did. Many competing philosophical views have been influencing western thought in the last few centuries, though personally I find most of them at odds with a coherent Biblical viewpoint.

Hope that helps.

reply to post by SaberTruth


You wrote:

["The best we can do is to apply the rules of legal evidence, considering the quality of the witnesses and the behavior of antagonists to the events."]

Rules of legal evidence are subject to 'interpretations', when used practically. And as can be observed, it often leads to feats of semantic gymnastics, even rhetorics.

The systematic methodology of 'objectivity' is far better and rather reliable a long bit of the road (until we get to hypothesis level), when used for reality-checking.

You are trying to justify 'miracles' without evidence as legitimate. That was the way of scholasticism, which eventually was exchanged by the methods of science/logic.

The answer-manual you refer to in OP, uses in the examples I've seen rhetorics, rather than 'objective' procedure.

reply to post by SaberTruth


Excellent resources, SaberTruth.
Thank you!
Vicky

Originally posted by LHP666

I believe that one has to be raised in this from the point of early childhood, when they are most vulnerable. Older people generally see how stupid it all is and aren't subject to the church;s programming.

So, how do you explain someone like me, who grew up in an atheist home and became a Christian as an adult? My brother and sister who did the same?
None of us were raised as Christians.
Vicky

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul

Does your repository have an answer to this summary dismissal of a Biblically literal deity?

Premise 1: If the Bible is literal, then all the actions performed within it attributed to the deity necessarily happened.
Premise 2: All of the physical evidence directly contradicts the first few chapters of the Bible.
Conclusion: A deity defined literally by the Bible necessarily does not exist.


Example: Flood story, tower o' Babel, both creation stories (which contradict each other, not to mention the physical evidence), the idea of a flat and circular earth, the idea of a solid dome sky, geocentrism, etc...all of that is false, therefore a literal interpretation of the Bible necessarily cannot define an existing deity.

You ought to know (and probably do) that not everyone takes the Bible literally, that it is not all meant to be taken literally, and that that fact has been known since at least the time of Augustine who wrote about it.

St Augustine thing. “Often a non-Christian understands things about the earth, the heavens and the other parts of the world, about the motions and orbits of the stars and even their sizes and distances .. and this knowledge (he) holds with certainty from reason and experience.. It is thus offensive and disgraceful for an unbeliever to hear a Christian talk nonsense about such things, claiming that what he is saying is based in Scripture. We should do all that we can to avoid such an embarassing situation, lest the unbeliever see only ignorance in the Christian and laugh to scorn.” From The Literal Meaning of Genesis, St Augustine ca 403 AD.

Originally posted by LHP666
reply to post by SaberTruth

 

Trolling attempts? lol

Disagreement does not equal trolling.

There are people with all sorts of worldviews here. There is no rule stating that only xtians can reply to xtian topics. And it doesn't matter if the OP tries to limit such replies to like-minded people only, or not.

So, when I first see this thread, why do I see that it's another wasteland? Half of SaberTruth's posts have been taken off, boys, and I have no difficulty knowing it's because you can't tolerate opposition. Typical! You guys do that all the time to Christian threads.
I expect you'll get your pet mods to take mine as well. Have at it! You just end up proving we're right.
Vicky

Originally posted by Vicky32

Originally posted by LHP666
reply to post by SaberTruth

 

Trolling attempts? lol

Disagreement does not equal trolling.

There are people with all sorts of worldviews here. There is no rule stating that only xtians can reply to xtian topics. And it doesn't matter if the OP tries to limit such replies to like-minded people only, or not.

So, when I first see this thread, why do I see that it's another wasteland? Half of SaberTruth's posts have been taken off, boys, and I have no difficulty knowing it's because you can't tolerate opposition. Typical! You guys do that all the time to Christian threads.
I expect you'll get your pet mods to take mine as well. Have at it! You just end up proving we're right.
Vicky

The 'waste-land' effect could be a result of the intrinsic content of OP, not a result of the 'persecution', which rather than the factual content of the answer-manual makes up most of the pro-theist comments.

Any effort to direct attention to the quality of the linked site in OP is seemingly a waste of time. It is as if this is of minor importance.

Originally posted by SaberTruth

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by LHP666

 

What is a "xtian"?

It's a derogatory term for "Christian", though originally it was a medieval way to save space. Same with "Xmas". Another popular anti-Christian term is "Jebus". This sort of vocabulary is a sure sign of a mocker. In my experience. For what that's worth.

Don't forget the zombie sneer!
That's one of their faves.
3rd line, mods.
Vicky (4th line, if you're counting.)