*lightbulb on*

“do onto others as you would have them do onto yourslef”

…do you want others to try to convert you?
…do you want others to tell you that you are going to hell if you dont change your beleifs?
:imp: :imp: :imp:

No. So please leave us believers alone.

Thank you.

Oh course tho if someone had the one peice of information that could save you from eternal damnation, you would want them to share it.

what makes you so certain you have the right information? What if the muslims are right and you’re wrong? what if the mormons are right?

What if the jews are right?

what makes you so sure you’re right?

No, I wouldn’t want someone to convert me to whatever religion. I don’t want to be told I’m going to hell because I don’t believe what they believe. Following the Golden Rule, I wouldn’t do that myself.

Now, if someone were to express their beliefs and that expression of belief were to move me into questioning my beliefs, that’s a different story. That’s not forcing someone into your religion. That’s leading by example. And I don’t see anything wrong with that, nor do I see how that would break the Golden Rule.

K

Do you tolerate advertising? It tells you what you must do to satisfy a desire and gives you biased examples as to why you must convert to its truth. Can you always believe what appears as an expression of belief?

Do you want to be converted by advertising and if not, how can it be avoided?

To me, advertising would be “Hey, look at me, I’m so great, I’m so happy. And this is why: it’s because I’m [insert your choice of religion here]”
That’s still trying to get people to convert to your religion being the main reason of your actions. And I wouldn’t tolerate that. I strongly disagree with trying to change someone’s beleifs.

hug

.

Yes, and Yes. Now what?

HELL(O) F(R)IEND(S)

Let me rephrase your second question: Do you want others to tell you that you are going to fall in the hole if you don’t change your direction?

If there was a big hole around the corner of the street that you can’t avoid unless someone told you about it… Do you want others to try to CONVINCE you? Wouldn’t you want that person to convince you that there is a hole so you won’t fall in and hurt yourself? He is converting you of your disbelief about the hole.

What is my slef? :stuck_out_tongue:

Conversion and preaching that if you don’t change your lifestyle you will go to hell is consistent with the golden rule–it is consistent with the logic. They are doing exactly what the person(s) warning you about the hole did… doing unto you as they would have you do unto them. If somebody is willing to warn me of the hole I think I would not mind if they convince me for my own sake. Now, if I turn walk across the street and there is no hole… that’s a different story, then I’m pissed for going out of my way.

Embracetrees… how could you miss that? Are you simply trying to get a rise out of POR? Are you simply trying to attack religion (Christianity in specific)? If you are, you should probably work a lot harder at it because you are not helping yourself with these posts. <—that is not intended with cruelty.

-Thirst

embracetrees,

I really have to agree with thirst4metal on this one. I’m an atheist myself, but I recognize that we can’t just blindly attack religion simply because we don’t like it. If our arguments are not sound, they strenghten the position of the opposition. PoR is certainly an example of this, only in the opposite direction. He’s becoming the prototype that many will associate with christianity after having spent some time at this forum—and christianity in general will have to suffer.

I’m not saying that christianity is sound, only that arguments against it should be well thought out before we speak them. In the course of the two thousand years that christianity has existed, it has had to respond to just about any argument you can possibly think of. If you just take an argument out of blue sky, a seasoned christian is likely to already have an answer handy. If you want to “attack” christianity, study the arguments that has been made against christianity in the past, then look at the responses from christians, and then you determine which arguments are the strongest. These are the ones you should use—and believe me, they do exist.

celox

Exactly so. You do skepticism and Christianity both a favor by putting your best foot forward all the time.
However, perhaps there’s a hidden logic here, celox. Perhaps embracetrees didn’t put forward a good argument because it would be too much like a conversion attempt, and since embracetrees doesn’t like people trying to convert him/her, putting forward a good argument would be in violation of the Golden Rule.

You might be right about embracetrees, Ucc! Maybe it’s all just in her plan to follow the golden rule.

Then again, I caught her elsewhere trying to convert people to the belief that President Bush is the equivalent of Adolf Hitler.

So I’m not sure what to think.

Jerry

Oh, sure you are. You’re just sketchy about saying it publicly outside of the Rant House. :slight_smile:

:laughing: