Calvinism?

TexasStateAtheist
TexasStateAtheist's picture
Posts: 5
Joined: 2010-06-14
User is offlineOffline
Calvinism?

Does anybody else think that it's odd that there are Christians that say they believe in free will, but justify unanswered prayers by saying it was God's will?


 


cj
atheistRational VIP!
cj's picture
Posts: 3330
Joined: 2007-01-05
User is offlineOffline
It's not odd, it's normal

It's not odd, it's normal for them.  Logic has no place in religion.  Inconsistencies abound.  I usually point out the inconsistencies, watch them struggle to justify, then shrug and move on.

-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.

"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken

"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.


Whatthedeuce
atheist
Whatthedeuce's picture
Posts: 200
Joined: 2008-07-19
User is offlineOffline
cj wrote:It's not odd, it's

cj wrote:

It's not odd, it's normal for them.  Logic has no place in religion.  Inconsistencies abound.  I usually point out the inconsistencies, watch them struggle to justify, then shrug and move on.

 

QFT. It is not even a little bit odd. Sometimes instead of struggling to justify, they will even directly state that logic does not apply to religion.

I don't understand why the Christians I meet find it so confusing that I care about the fact that they are wasting huge amounts of time and resources playing with their imaginary friend. Even non-confrontational religion hurts atheists because we live in a society which is constantly wasting resources and rejecting rational thinking.


TexasStateAtheist
TexasStateAtheist's picture
Posts: 5
Joined: 2010-06-14
User is offlineOffline
The fact that otherwise

The fact that otherwise intelligent people will throw logic out the window is what frightens me about religion.


nigelTheBold
atheist
nigelTheBold's picture
Posts: 1868
Joined: 2008-01-25
User is offlineOffline
That isn't too odd, really.

That isn't too odd, really. The propositions that people have free will, and god has free will, are not mutually exclusive.

I just don't see how free will and prophecy are compatible.

"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers


butterbattle
ModeratorSuperfan
butterbattle's picture
Posts: 3945
Joined: 2008-09-12
User is offlineOffline
It's more or less odd

It's more or less odd depending on what free will means.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare


robj101
atheist
robj101's picture
Posts: 2481
Joined: 2010-02-20
User is offlineOffline
You have the free will to do

You have the free will to do what god has deemed you will do. Makes perfect sense.


Rich Woods
Rational VIP!
Rich Woods's picture
Posts: 868
Joined: 2008-02-06
User is offlineOffline
robj101 wrote:You have the

robj101 wrote:

You have the free will to do what god has deemed you will do. Makes perfect sense.

 

Hahahahaha  Exactly.


Kapkao
atheistSuperfan
Kapkao's picture
Posts: 4121
Joined: 2010-01-12
User is offlineOffline
robj101 wrote:You have the

robj101 wrote:

You have the free will to do what god has deemed you will do. Makes perfect sense.

I have secretly decided it is better to roast in hell for an eternity....

“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)