tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384746174357578256.post1512374335422278546..comments2023-07-27T09:24:49.868-04:00Comments on Cram & Ballwell !: Dan Merchant vs. Jury Of Your Fears: Exhibit AJerry Ballwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17708731712087404360noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384746174357578256.post-55089656578109602472010-12-14T00:47:03.778-05:002010-12-14T00:47:03.778-05:00"I think many of us believers have been confu..."I think many of us believers have been confused in our journey, forgetting it’s about getting to know God, not about justifying to others why I want to know God. Obviously, lots of believers have wasted lots of time trying to convince you they’re right and you’re wrong and – I’ve seen this – it almost seems as if they need YOU to validate their journey."<br /><br />It's definitely all about the journey.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384746174357578256.post-4283665028294471152010-10-26T22:11:18.585-04:002010-10-26T22:11:18.585-04:00"The truth only emerges from a particular per..."The truth only emerges from a particular perspective. Antagonism itself is the truth, not its obstacle." - this pretty much justifies free speech. Peace is not achievable with or without freedom, but at least freedom of speech acknowledges this and allows us to accept it. In order to fully appreciate freedom of speech, and in order to confirm it as a true freedom, we must allow it to be bombarded and we must allow it to be attacked, and we pretty much have to just hope that it withstands these attacks. It certainly won't withstand these attacks if we remove or silence the threat, because doing so would be the ultimate attack on the freedom. By honoring freedom of speech, we are certainly enabling other problems, including the problem of how to protect free speech... and by the way, I agree that these people you refer to don't believe at all. Most of them have never gotten to the point where they can distinguish faith from superstition. And I'm not sure it's fair to assume that many of them are even capable of making the distinction.Jury Of Your Fearshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17848236879190668742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384746174357578256.post-48040686778757418792010-10-26T18:23:12.926-04:002010-10-26T18:23:12.926-04:00First, I have to say, the attempt to depoliticize ...First, I have to say, the attempt to depoliticize religion and belief itself is doing liberalism no good. The attempt to form some ecumenical ground where everyone can have their private belief ignores that politics is about a for and against. This whole Jesus is an "includer" as opposed to a "divider" ignores the less pc-version that emerges on certain pages of the Bible. What about the Jesus that proclaimed "Do not suppose that I came to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword?" The ignorant fundamentalist posing of the us/them dichotomy is a response to this milktoast idea of some community in which everyone merely tolerates each other and where this is no longer any place for conflict. The more we yearn for peace the more we will continue to generate its opposite. I dont think we should be emphasizing hypocrisy with Christian fundamentalists because we all have contradictions within us, even the most rational. It may be better to point out that these people do not really believe at all. Belief is not certainty and is rife with doubt. When we look at the word and declare that it is positively the truth and remove the need for interpretation, we destroy belief...and reading. Belief is a wager and so is real politics. A wager that another world is possible. The one thing that fundamentalists get right is that this idea of some universal ecumenical position which accomodates all and contains the truth is bogus. The truth only emerges from a particular perspective. Antagonism itself is the truth, not its obstacle.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09164536436319843534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384746174357578256.post-67249808618469688842010-10-26T11:51:05.571-04:002010-10-26T11:51:05.571-04:00We experienced some technical problems with our po...We experienced some technical problems with our post, and therfore had to repost this morning. In the process, we lost a comment from a poster from Baltimore. Sorry about that!Jury Of Your Fearshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17848236879190668742noreply@blogger.com