dilemma

[Mydian]

I am in the process of trying to garner knowledge of why a person would choose to believe in god. A friend of mine knows a christian who is apparently very extreme, at least from what he has told me about this person. So I mentioned I would like to talk to him. My friend tried to set this up but the person does not want to meet face to face and would rather talk over the phone or through text messages. I know i do not know enough that would swade him from his belief but i am curious as to what type of argument he can come up with. I am by no means as good at debate or even have the knowledge that most of you posses on this forum but i am trying to learn hehe.

I want him to challenge me so that i can further solidify my own thinking. I just think that doing it over the phone or through text would be limiting at best and easy for him to get mad and just hang up.

I do not want to be antagonistic but i do want to be logical. Perhaps I am thinking of this wrong. If any of you have an opinion or think I am totally wrong please feel free to respond. I know i could post here but but i feel inadequate in my knowledge base and would rather talk to someone face to face first to see if my thinking has any merit or if i am going down a wrong path of reasoning.

Thank you in advance for your advice and comments.

[Mydian]

I am in the process of trying to garner knowledge of why a person would choose to believe in god. A friend of mine knows a christian who is apparently very extreme, at least from what he has told me about this person. So I mentioned I would like to talk to him. My friend tried to set this up but the person does not want to meet face to face and would rather talk over the phone or through text messages. I know i do not know enough that would swade him from his belief but i am curious as to what type of argument he can come up with. I am by no means as good at debate or even have the knowledge that most of you posses on this forum but i am trying to learn hehe.

I want him to challenge me so that i can further solidify my own thinking. I just think that doing it over the phone or through text would be limiting at best and easy for him to get mad and just hang up.

I do not want to be antagonistic but i do want to be logical. Perhaps I am thinking of this wrong. If any of you have an opinion or think I am totally wrong please feel free to respond. I know i could post here but but i feel inadequate in my knowledge base and would rather talk to someone face to face first to see if my thinking has any merit or if i am going down a wrong path of reasoning.

Thank you in advance for your advice and comments.

It's good that you want to learn but the problem would boil down to what does one go by to accept something. From my experience, argumentation has changed little from atheism to Christianity, but it has rather been experience or wanting to experience God that has led to some atheists or non-believers in general, switching to Christianity. Although, technically, the Bible mentions that God opens the heart of the non-believer to come into the faith. I usually try to contend with an atheist, why go by only intellect and not also experience (especially any supernatural or spiritual) and your heart. Those may have faults but so does does intellect, that's why I think going by all of them together or in proper perspective and context would lead one to a fuller picture of their experience of reality and subsequently perhaps to being open more to God up to the point of accepting Him.

Really surprised this topic still garners interest hehe. While i do believe experience can in of itself be "proof" to an individual it by no means is "proof" to everyone. As an atheist I require more than subjective proofs. Something more tangible than just "I know" or "I have felt" etc. These are emotional appeals and lack any solidity in logic.