Spartan, I personally stick to the Christians because those are the ones I have had encounters with my entire life. Hearing stuff like, "Do you know Jesus?" "Do you want to be saved" Do you know you can't be happy without accepting Jesus?" And on and on. It started when I was in my late teens and continued into my adulthood. I still get it from my sister. I can't possibly have the same peace in my life as she does because I don't have Jesus.
Mormons irritate the crap out of me, but I don't hate them for it and neither to I consider that every Christian practices their faith in that manner.
I don't hate anybody. And I'm fully aware that many Christians aren't so up front like that. But a
lot feel that it's their duty to witness to you so it's no surprise that we see a lot of that.As far as ignorance or lack of critical thinking? Yes, I think that people who believe that a man lived inside of a whale or that a woman was magically impregnated or a whole bunch of dead people rose from their graves in Jerusalem are lacking the ability to question things and examine them in an intelligent manner. Not all Christians believe that stuff but many do a I have met plenty of them. And I'm not talking about them saying, "It might be true." I'm talking about them saying, "It's in the Bible so it has to be true."
Yet you believe, or at least consider the existance of aliens, Bigfoot, Ghosts etc and so forth.
To me that is just different sides of the same coin. There are people who think such beliefs
ridiculous. That does not make you ignorant or lacking in thought, just means you and they
have a different view on life.
Not even close to the same thing.
My view that there's interesting evidence to look at may be wrong. I am willing to let the science
lead the way. It's a very slow process since most scientists won't touch these subjects with a ten
foot pole. It's taboo. Do the Christians who take the Bible literally accept that they may be wrong?
Do they accept that Jesus may have just been a man? Do they ever question the logistics of
the Biblical account of Noah? Was that even feasible? Or do they just say, "Bible says it. It's
true?" And remember, we're talking about the millions who take the Bible as the word of God
and take it literally.
That's the difference. ZERO critical thinking.
Their blind faith won't allow them to consider looking at any of that stuff with a scientific eye.
Science is not the be all end all but it shouldn't be shunned. Eventually, science will help
prove or disprove a theory. Tons of religious people rely on faith and shun science. That's
ignorance, IMO.
Sorry if I'm going to come across as a jerk here but...
It's not even close to the same thing. I've explained this numerous times and you say the same thing.
I don't know if you're doing it on purpose or you repeatedly fail to grasp my position on the subject.
I'll try one more time.
The only reason I even consider the ET/Bigfoot stuff is because I have looked at the evidence and feel
that further study is warranted. I didn't just read it in a book that features stories that are a few
thousand years old. Most of this stuff I didn't have an opinion on until I started looking at the
evidence. And after looking at the evidence, I wanted to see more evidence before I came to anything
resembling a conclusion. That's where I am now.
That's a far cry from "The Bible says so so I believe it." That's not critical thinking and shows zero
skepticism. It wreaks of brainwashing from an early age. "Well, I was taught such and such at an
early age and I never questioned it." It may not be intentional brainwashing but the effect is
the same.
How can you compare the Jonah in whale story to a UFO case that has: witnesses that we can
cross examine, radar hits on multiple types of radars, trace evidence and in some cases, video
evidence? I never say "alien" when a UFO case pops up. But some people do. I avoid those
people. They "believers" and don't use one ounce of critical thinking or skepticism. And
once again, I'm not claiming ET or any other origin for the UFO cases that appear to
be physical in nature. We can look at the evidence and go from there.
Show me a witness that we can talk to that was around when Jesus was supposedly born.
Show me a witness that saw Jonah in the whale. Show me a witness to Moses making
the Red sea split apart. And then let's talk to them and see if they appear credible and
if there are other witnesses to back up their story. And let's see if they have tried
to make money on their story. Since all of the Bible stories are thousands of years old,
we can't do that. Obviously. So the comparison you make is not one that should
even come into play here.
Show me some physical evidence that we can examine that would suggest that those
events, or something interesting, happened. The only thing that I know of is the Shroud.
That's still being studied. Maybe it will help the Christians. Maybe it won't. Too early.
Show me where any radar evidence or footprint (Bigfoot) evidence has been found.
I'm not saying I have proof of anything. But there's plenty of evidence to examine
and peruse. What one makes of that evidence is another story. It's nice finally
having a scientists (Jeffrey Meldrum) look at the Bigfoot evidence and give an
educated opinion on what it represents. He feels that they left over Miocene
Apes.
All of the stuff I talk about can be studied scientifically on some level. But the Bible
stuff? Jonah? Holy Spirit impregnating a woman? Moses and the sea? How do we
examine data to back up any of those stories? That's the difference.
If you want to compare the Biblical true believers to the UFO true believers, I'll
go along with that. No critical thinking from either group.
I don't think either of us are in those groups.
