Delusions of Superiority?

[Zzyzx]

.
Some members seem to have the mistaken attitude / opinion that they occupy a superior position in life or in debate by virtue of their religious beliefs; perhaps because they are ‘saved’ or ‘chosen’ by one of the proposed ‘gods’ – or because they claim to have been given wisdom and/or knowledge by a ghost.

One might be cautious about claiming (or even thinking) they have been granted special knowledge or wisdom or ability. Unless they are exceptionally capable, claiming to have help getting where they are suggests they started in a deep hole and/or have required assistance to become mediocre.

Apologists often convey the notion that Non-Christians cannot understand the Bible – as though religious belief conveyed special understanding of the written word. This conveniently ignores the fact that Christians themselves cannot agree on their ‘understanding’ of the Bible (as evidenced by tens of thousands of Christian denominations with different beliefs about the Bible). It also ignores the fact that many present Non-Christians are, in fact, Ex-Christians (some devout believers for decades before concluding the religious beliefs are based on hokum).


Edited to add question for debate since thread has been moved to C&A

Question for debate: Does theistic position confer a superior position in life and/or in debate?

[bjs]

[Replying to post 25 by Eloi]


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[Eloi]

I was not trying to answer your post, since you were not who opened the thread. Are you trying to obligate me to answer all your posts?

[Tcg]

I was not trying to answer your post, since you were not who opened the thread. Are you trying to obligate me to answer all your posts?

You aren't obligated to respond in any way to any post. I'm simply trying to determine which post you are responding to given that you seem hesitant to clarify.


Tcg

[Zzyzx]

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I still don't know what is the "question" to debate about.
Can you be more specific?

Those who do not know what the debate is about are welcome to attempt to debate elsewhere.

Remember that a debate originates from an approach that must be demonstrated or refuted, not a question. To start a topic with a question is to "place" it in the "general discussions" section.

Is it delusional to dictate how the site should be run after one whole week of membership?

Maybe somebody should teach others what a debate is ... cause some do not have the slightest idea of what that is.

Oh yes. Some of us are new to debate and to the Forum.

Perhaps those who fancy themselves as having superior knowledge of debate will enlighten all of us. They might start by demonstrating ability to debate.

Or maybe I am wrong.

Yes, maybe you are wrong.

[Bust Nak]

Even magicians can make believe that an illusion is reality without being. What can be made to look like real, is not necessarily real, the same to beliefs that to non-beliefs. Non-believers have absolutely nothing that makes them superior to believers.

In the context of this analogy, why doesn't being better at creating illusions count as superior?

[Overcomer]

Holy Spirit aside, do you not think that someone who has studied Greek and Hebrew, hermeneutics, literary devices, history/archaeology, the socio-cultural milieu of the Ancient Near East, philosophy and theology are not better equipped to understand the Bible better than someone who hasn't studied any of those things?

Every field has its experts. The person who has studied the poetry of Pablo Neruda or the history of French Revolution or the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard or entomology or economics or podiatry or whatever is going to know more than the person who hasn't. This is just common sense. I don't see that a sense of superiority is necessarily involved in one person being more learned in one area than someone else is.

[Jagella]

Question for debate: Does theistic position confer a superior position in life and/or in debate?

If one's god is real, then yes, speaking for that god would have obvious advantages for the "prophet. " Presumably the god would grant knowledge and powers to the prophet that humans normally do not have. So the prophet would enjoy a kind of superiority over others including "false" prophets. The story of Elijah calling down fire from heaven in 2 Kings 1:9-11 killing the men sent by Ahaziah is a good example of the principle of a prophet demonstrating superiority over others in a fashion that is not humanly possible.

Unfortunately, we have only such stories about these true prophets. No prophet, at least nowadays, can demonstrate the power of God. God evidently has left the miracle business.

[Eloi]

[Replying to post 46 by Overcomer]

It is not like that in things related with God. Knowledge is not wisdom.

[Jagella]

I can say exactly the same about atheists or agnostics. I think it is worst an atheist or agnostic who thinks he has a special knowledge than a person who at least can talk based on the Scriptures, since these (atheists and agnostics) have not a thing to being guided by ... not a stable, secure or definite guide to follow.

Most of my knowledge isn't "special" but is readily available to all.

[Eloi]

[Replying to post 49 by Jagella]

Mine too. As somebody said:

We all are very ignorant. What happens is that not all ignore the same things.