I lost my touch with Christianity, I have lost my faith. What are some intellectual approaches to Christianity one can look up ? Would reading Kierkegaard get me interested in it again ?

File: 29 KB, 315x375, SKC-1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:13:14 2013 No.4018244 [Reply] [Original]

I lost my touch with Christianity, I have lost my faith.
What are some intellectual approaches to Christianity one can look up ? Would reading Kierkegaard get me interested in it again ?

>>	Tallis !!DxrlCMGAS2J Sat Aug 10 17:15:14 2013 No.4018252 Why don't you stop following nihilistic religions and become human?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:16:13 2013 No.4018263 >>4018252 REAL HUMAN BEAN

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:16:14 2013 No.4018257 >>4018244 You haven't lost a thing. Look forward, not backward.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:16:14 2013 No.4018260 >>4018244 Hes your best shot besides all of medieval philosophy

>>	Sunhawk !M9PhF5nIzs Sat Aug 10 17:17:13 2013 No.4018264 >>4018252 >nihilistic wat

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:17:13 2013 No.4018265
File: 982 KB, 1662x2200, based jesus.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>4018252
I do believe that the Christian institutions are somewhat nihilistic, but the teaching of Christ still intrigue me.
>>4018257
I am still interested in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:19:13 2013 No.4018271

>>4018264
What else would you call a death cult, desperately looking to the end and masturbating over annihilation, constitutionally incapable of moving beyond the muck they wallow in? When all can be forgiven with naught but faith, what meaning can anything hold?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:19:13 2013 No.4018273 Read Thomas Aquinas and the Confessions of Saint Augustine.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:20:14 2013 No.4018275 >>4018252 How can the belief in an objective morality and purpose be nihilism?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:21:14 2013 No.4018278 Consider some works of Michael Heller, a polish cleric / phisicist, who earned a phd for his works on cosmology. Some interesting perspectives he has on religion and science.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:21:14 2013 No.4018279 >>4018265 >I am still interested in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Thats unfortunate. Then again, my place isn't between you and your stolen god. Just keep in mind that Jesus is to faith what 50 Shades of Grey is to Twilight.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:21:14 2013 No.4018282 >>4018271 >death cult >desperately >masturbating over annihilation >muck they wallow in Can you use less loaded terms?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:22:14 2013 No.4018284 >>4018279 Do you feel enlightened by your own intelligence? Are you euphoric?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:22:14 2013 No.4018285 File: 51 KB, 600x800, me irl.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4018279 >Thats unfortunate. Then again, my place isn't between you and your stolen god. Just keep in mind that Jesus is to faith what 50 Shades of Grey is to Twilight.

>>	Tallis !!DxrlCMGAS2J Sat Aug 10 17:23:14 2013 No.4018289 >>4018264 see >>4015179 ; >>4015156 ; >>4015092 and >>4015063 .

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:23:14 2013 No.4018292 File: 119 KB, 640x480, GK-Chesterton-Large-640x480.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] G. K. Chesterton. You will be a catholic after reading his books.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:23:14 2013 No.4018293 >>4018282 apparently a cult acknowledging death makes it a death cult

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:25:13 2013 No.4018300 >>4018289 >Because [the view that there is a purpose and meaning to everything] is a reaction to the void of the worldly human condition. This is only true if 'this view' is false.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:25:13 2013 No.4018301 >>4018282 I could, but I don't see the point. No one here is going to have their minds changed. Thats not even really the point. >>4018284 Heh... >>4018285 Yes, I must be a fedora sporting atheist. Thats the only possible answer.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:26:13 2013 No.4018306 Can you read Kierkegaard without reading any prior philosophy or does he make references back to Plato and Aristotle etc ?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:28:13 2013 No.4018313 >>4018289 >Kierkegaard was simply a coward who couldn't be christian and couldn't be atheist Wouldn't he be a coward if he was dishonest about his beliefs in order to avoid being called a coward for the reasons you called him one?

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:28:13 2013 No.4018314

>>4018293
There is a difference between acknowledgment and obsession. I know I'll die some day, it scares me, I wish it wasn't so, I haven't anchored my faith on the desperate hope that I might somehow outrun the inevitable in time to see my enemies tortured for their sins.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:28:14 2013 No.4018316 >>4018301 >fedora sporting atheist >Not worshiping Fedorus, God of the lesser men.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:28:14 2013 No.4018317 >>4018313 Wouldn't that make him a double coward?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:29:14 2013 No.4018322 >>4018317 How would he be a coward if he was brave enough to tell his honest position? Just because he doesn't neatly fit into a category doesn't mean he is a coward, it means that is how he believes. How is he not a Christian?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:34:13 2013 No.4018338 >>4018289 wow tallis do you feel euphoric

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:34:13 2013 No.4018340 why would you still cling to the religion you don't even have any faith in? why are you still interested? you should cut your losses and move on.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:38:13 2013 No.4018363 Faith dependent on reason is not faith, it's a rationalization.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:40:13 2013 No.4018370 >>4018340 Because I am still not 100% whether I have lost my believe and faith in the outward societal projection of the religion/true faith or really the faith in general.

Tallis !!DxrlCMGAS2J Sat Aug 10 17:43:13 2013 No.4018381

>>4018338
>Active atheists (by opposition to passive ones) are all nihilists, and nothing else. Christianism is a nihilism as it is a will to nothingness - being one with god, paradise, etc, is just an instinct of death, a deep pathos, tension, will to void - yet atheism's supposed validity relies on the following affirmation: christianism is saying "no" to life, saying "no" to christianism's "no" is a "yes". This position is absolutely delusional. Will an atheist dare stand up and prove to me how responding to nothingness with nothingness (the atheist responds to what he considers as the void [christianism] by the void) creates something? How saying "no" to a negation of life produces life? Atheism is a nihilism

>When an active atheist, not having enough of his profound nihilism and pathos, starts attacking the church and other religious institutions, he is everything low and wrong with this poor world: he is excusing his nihilism by his own set of morals, resentment morals. Religious institutions are the works of men, and thus perfect - man is the measure of all things - in its quality of human domination; they dominate the weak and the stupid, yet this is a right that every single form of organized human systems have - imposing their will onto someone else's. Are you gonna cry and bring up your own morals because the church is "wrong"? What's the difference now between you and a christian crying over Rome's abuses? None - you're using resentment morals; just shut your whore-ass mouth.

>Saying "no" to christianism's "no" is a deeper, more intense form of nihilism. There is nothing as low as this, it is the ultimate, final form of will to nothingness, as it answers to emptiness with emptiness, hoping to create something. What a delusional position that atheism is! Worse than christianism!

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:43:13 2013 No.4018382 >>4018370 A purely utilitarian approach to religion is meaningless and blasphemous in the case of Christianity

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:45:13 2013 No.4018383 >>4018244 The Kingdom of God Is Within You >Christianity is 4 plebs

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:46:13 2013 No.4018388 Maybe it's time for you to buy a fedora

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 17:56:13 2013 No.4018408 >>4018382 I just want to view it from another angle, that is why I am asking here.

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 18:09:13 2013 No.4018428

>>4018381
>Christianism is a nihilism as it is a will to nothingness - being one with god, paradise, etc
this is like saying that to splice a frame into a film reel is a nihilism because you're destroying the frame's unique being
a soul isn't something you merely have and give up to God when you die; a soul is only a part of you, but it must remain a part of you because it is you

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 18:13:14 2013 No.4018437 >>4018292 >dat fedora

FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FE(...) Sat Aug 10 18:16:13 2013 No.4018446 [DELETED]

FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 18:21:14 2013 No.4018461

Why don't we all just stop this dick-measuring contest and realize that slandering one another with illogical arguments and derogatory statements isn't amounting to anything? We have all read into religeous idea right? Or at least know the basic philosophical principles? Good. Now everyone can shut the fuck up and realize that belief in a divine being requires a leap of faith just like not believing in one does. This entire argument leads to no greater understanding of the external world other than insight into human belief systems, and that seems to be only for the people lurking that don't care.

FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FE(...) Sat Aug 10 18:23:13 2013 No.4018465 [DELETED]

>>4018461

>FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA FEDORA

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 18:30:14 2013 No.4018480 >>4018306 All philosophy is a reaction to prior philosophy.

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 18:53:13 2013 No.4018531
File: 182 KB, 456x1372, kierkegaardChristTeachingQuotes.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>4018265
>I am still interested in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I'll provide you with some quotes by Kierkegaard on this very subject.

There are times when Kierkegaard does praise Christ's teachings, but he never praises them above faith in Christ. The point is not to admire Christ or admire his teachings, the point is to believe that Christ is the real messiah, the real incarnation of God, and that he is your salvation. That is more important than his teaching, or, if you like, that IS the main tenet of his teaching.

Kierkegaard criticized the "admiring" of Christ. He said that Judas Iscariot was a typical "admirer".

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 20:02:18 2013 No.4018665 Highly recommend C.S. Lewis's "Screwtape Letters", "The Problem of Pain" and "Mere Christianity".

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 20:13:18 2013 No.4018689

>>4018314
if you fear death you probably should attempt to gain more religious knowledge (religious knowledge in this context meaning non-human perspective)
it's also pretty stupid to describe christianity the way that you've done, given that you (self-admittedly) lack the spiritual maturity to make sense of anything biblical
peace

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 20:31:19 2013 No.4018745

OP, Rene Girards theory of sacrifice and memetics was a pretty good defense of christianity for me.

Christ allowed himself to be killed as a scapegoat so that we could become aware of scapegoating and prevent ourselves from destroying each other through mimetic rivalries.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 20:35:18 2013 No.4018753 >>4018381 Why did you answer that response rather than the others that actually asked questions? They are same posts that you ignored in the original threads. Coincidence?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 20:52:18 2013 No.4018786 Aquinas is mentioned a lot as a good place to start, but do you really expect someone to haul out the Summa Theologica and start with page 1?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 21:04:18 2013 No.4018808 Read Flannery O'Connor. it'll either solidify your unbelief (not what O'Connor wants) or convince you that the grace of God is found in the most ironic places.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 21:06:18 2013 No.4018811 >>4018786 Yes you ph4gg0t, you're the one who wanted to be a christian no matter what. Fuck you

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 21:08:18 2013 No.4018815 >>4018811 That post was my first in the thread.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 21:45:18 2013 No.4018898 >>4018265 Teachings of Darwin= way better. Read "Of Human Bondage" by W.S. Maugham for a touching story of someone growing the stones to leave faith behind.

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 22:03:19 2013 No.4018935

>>4018786
You're not going to get anything out of the Summa if you've got no idea about Aristotle or Plato. I recommend The Last Superstition if you want to get a good understanding of Aquinas and his relevance to modern philosophy and the failings of Dawkins, Hitchens et al. as well as Descarte and Hume.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 22:18:18 2013 No.4018956 >>4018244 > I have lost my faith. What caused it?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 22:23:19 2013 No.4018964 >>4018898 The Catholic Church believes in evolution. In fact many of the modern Thomists/Scholastics criticize 'Intelligent Design"

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 22:27:19 2013 No.4018978

If you're interested in the teachings of Jesus maybe have a look at some early Islamic writing on the subject of Christianity, or just in general really. They recognise Jesus as a prophet but without all the garbage that was piggy backed onto Christianity well after his death, Trinity etcetc

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 22:43:18 2013 No.4019009 >>4018244 cs lewis, read the screwtape letters and mere christianity

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 22:50:18 2013 No.4019017 St Augustine's Confessions.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 22:54:18 2013 No.4019024 >>4018292 Ah Chesterson. Wonderful as sort of a religious Oscar Wilde. He loves being clever. The Man Who Was Thursday is a fun read.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 22:55:18 2013 No.4019027 >>4018428 what you said is dumb. tallis is 100% right.

Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:01:19 2013 No.4019039

Not a Christian, but teach yourself mathematical logic and read Plantinga et al if you ever want to *actually* defend Christianity

Though after learning symbolic logic, you might as well (i) realize how absurd the idea of Christianity is and (ii) how almost no one in the academia pays attention to the defenders of it (Plantinga etc.) and (iii) embrace something less absurd than that.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:10:19 2013 No.4019055 >>4018745 Sounds legit. Why hast thou forsaken me?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:12:19 2013 No.4019059 >>4018978 Rumi has some nice poems about Jesus.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:28:14 2013 No.4019090 >>4018244 http://www.amazon.com/A-Summa-Thomas-Aquinas/dp/089870300X Try that book. It's basically a condensed version of the Summa Theologica.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:37:18 2013 No.4019109 >>4018808 She's Harmony Korine's favourite writer. I've got her complete stories and The Violent Bear It Away. Where should I start?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:40:18 2013 No.4019114 >>4019109 harmony korine reads books?

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:41:18 2013 No.4019120 >>4019114 y-yes

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:42:18 2013 No.4019124 >>4019120 sure fucking looks like it, lol

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:45:58 2013 No.4019130 >>4019124 > not placing Gummo firmly in your personal canon of the American 20th century sublime Nah, kidding. His films are retarded. I don't know what Herzog sees in him.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:52:58 2013 No.4019143 >>4019039 >Reading a protestant's work OP, don't listen to this fool. Read something by a Thomist like Feser, Gilson, Geach or Anscombe for something actually interesting. Then you can shit all over the worshipers of St David Hume.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:54:59 2013 No.4019148 File: 22 KB, 244x310, 3q4fyr.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:55:59 2013 No.4019153 >>4019148 Man, I love Dawkins. His ignorance or intellectual dishonesty was what finally lead me out of atheism.

>>	Anonymous Sat Aug 10 23:58:58 2013 No.4019162 >>4019109 Complete stories. Doesn't surprise me that Korine likes her. >>4019130 Probably because Herzog has a more genuine approach to art than your average insecure twenty-something.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:01:58 2013 No.4019175 >>4019172 can you have a belief without believing it?

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:01:59 2013 No.4019172 >>4019153 Fuck you for thinking your belief is correct.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:03:58 2013 No.4019182 >>4019175 We are not eliminative materialists. Well I least hope we aren't.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:04:59 2013 No.4019184 >>4019172 What belief?

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:07:58 2013 No.4019191 >>4019182 I eliminated some material just a few minutes ago. The bathroom still stinks.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:07:58 2013 No.4019192 >>4019191 >typical /pol/ user

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:16:59 2013 No.4019211 >wilfully seeking confirmation bias The only intellectual approach to Christianity is to discard it in favour of science. Go read some Dawkins or something like all the edgy ex-Christians.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:30:58 2013 No.4019233 >>4018244 >What are some intellectual approaches to Christianity one can look up ? Hesychasm. http://archive.org/details/Philokalia-TheCompleteText captcha: Monastic rmsvyle

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:32:58 2013 No.4019238 >>4019143 Well, Plantinga was just an example as I know of no other Theists; there are of course others; hence the 'et al' and 'etc.' Read more carefully.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:38:58 2013 No.4019249 >>4018244 >two thousand and thirteen years since the birth of our lord >being religious

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:53:58 2013 No.4019274 File: 2.30 MB, 218x233, 1375050036306.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4018461 angry christian detected

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 00:54:58 2013 No.4019277 >>4019274 Is there any other kind?

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:07:58 2013 No.4019300

>>4018363
This
And you'll find more truth in faith than in reason.

I recommend reading Nature by Ralph whoever, and maybe some kierkengard, but don't be reading to find reason, be reading to find faith. That is if you are looking to find Christianity again.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:10:58 2013 No.4019308 >>4018383 That is not the book to read to regain your faith.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:12:58 2013 No.4019312 >>4019211 >Dawkins People on /lit/ actually like Dawkins' poor critiques of Aquinas' arguments?

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:15:59 2013 No.4019318 >>4018244 Read the Bible. That's what it's about. Take it or leave it. Don't dither about with philosophy.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:17:59 2013 No.4019324 >>4019318 Fuck off, protestant.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:22:59 2013 No.4019327 >>4019324 Haha, nope. Animist here.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:24:59 2013 No.4019332 >>4019327 >Animist May as well be a protestant. Lay off the DMT.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:25:59 2013 No.4019333 >>4019327 BOO!

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:25:59 2013 No.4019334 >lost faith When did you last use it?

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 01:27:59 2013 No.4019336 >>4019333 ...ghosts...?

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 02:06:03 2013 No.4019407 >>4019332 >Implying Catholicism isn't the most animist of the Christian sects

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 02:07:03 2013 No.4019416 >>4019407 How is it?

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 02:14:04 2013 No.4019428

>>4019407
Not dogmatic Catholicism, but folk Catholicism for sure. No other sect blended as well in areas where the prevailing pre-Abrahamic religions were animist. For example, see Ireland, Scotland, All of Latin America. Catholicism is excellent at co-opting animist pagan traditions because the canon of saints already draws much of the power away from the almighty. Folk catholics pray to particular saints, often derivative of figures from their own culture who were well-connected to nature, for particular purposes. The idea of the trinity implies that God cannot merely be an abstract concept, but must also be made flesh and blood (Jesus), just like us, and have the intangible spirit of nature(Holy Ghost) in order to be a complete God. Finally, transubstantiation could not be a batter example of how animist Catholicism is. You are taking what is off the earth and turning it into the body of christ, and yes, that implies that you are bringing part of god into the wheat of the earth, but only the part which it does not by itself possess.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 02:15:04 2013 No.4019430 >>4019428 better example of the earth

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 02:16:04 2013 No.4019434 >>4019428 Answer this question >Do you think the "who made God" objection to the Cosmological argument is a good one?

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 02:25:04 2013 No.4019451 Existentialism is never the answer. If you want a good, rational (but still false) argument for God, look no further than Kant's Critique of Practical Reason.

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 02:26:03 2013 No.4019452

>>4019434
My answer is inevitably gonna be shallow because I don't have the erudition to back it up, but personally, no. The "who made God" objection is recursive. There had to be a self-originating being in Plato's assumptions about the Cosmological argument, and if the people who put forth the "who made God" question are ignoring this assumption, even with a constructivist framework. Beyond that, they are also assuming that there ever was a time or space without God, in other words that God was created. There is no foundation for that argument because it assumes that God is fundamentally similar to us in that it is something constructable, which the Cosmological argument, at least in my readings on Christianity, do not. God inhabits the substance with unique and discrete existence, but this is only after that substance has been brought into existence.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 02:27:03 2013 No.4019454 >>4019452 readings on Christianity, *DOES not

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 05:51:13 2013 No.4019652 The TTC series Augustine Philosopher and Saint is well worth watching. Try reading some Perennialism too.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 06:23:13 2013 No.4019683 >ohboyanotheroneofthese >>>/pol/ is that way, go masturbate over William Lane Craig and all the other Christian "intellectuals" over there

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 06:43:14 2013 No.4019700 Catholic of ~5 months here. I recommend reading Oscar Wilde's essays on the subject

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 07:08:13 2013 No.4019727 >>4018264 >hasn't read the fred

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 07:52:39 2013 No.4019772 File: 30 KB, 560x363, wlc.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4019683 Except that WLC wipes the floor with any atheist who tries to debate him, Christianity is simply a lot more concise and logical than Atheism.

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 08:09:13 2013 No.4019791
File: 352 KB, 1000x466, wlc salvation.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>4019772

This psychopath doesn't "wipe the floor" with anyone. This is a fucking retard who thinks he understands relativity better than Einstein and who thinks it's okay to slaughter kids, but you should feel sorry for those who do the slaughtering because god knows how emotionally taxing it must be on the soldiers doing it. The same guy who says that "we know there are objective moral values because, deep down, we know this."

If you sincerely think this guy has any credibility whatsoever, you need a fucking wake-up call. This guy is fucking retarded and you're embarrassing yourself by trying to act smug and superior by brining up, of all people, THIS jackass.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 08:18:13 2013 No.4019797 >>4019700 Assuming you converted from non-belief, how can you intellectually justify converting to a specific belief, such as Catholicism?

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 08:21:13 2013 No.4019800 >>4019791 He was also schooled by a soap opera actor on youtube after acting like a pretentious dick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRn-mVPIl60 And the two following videos.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 08:21:13 2013 No.4019801 File: 539 KB, 642x477, surprise.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4019791 all my fucking lel what a fucking psycho

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 08:31:13 2013 No.4019812 >>4019791 That's creepy as fuck if true.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 08:34:13 2013 No.4019818 >>4019801 >>4019812 Yep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ugf9OxUC4s And here he is making an ass of himself on relativity and getting ridiculed as he deserves. The fact that ANYONE takes this guy seriously is beyond me.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 08:37:13 2013 No.4019820 >>4019818 >that boxing segment I fucking lol'd hard

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 08:39:13 2013 No.4019824 >>4019791 Woah. Talk about damaged goods.

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 10:23:13 2013 No.4019949

OP, I fuckin love Kierkegaard and I'm not even christian. I suggest you read fear and trembling, either/or, and concluding unscientific postscript. The first will show you an alternative way of viewing faith, the second is a damn good book as well as illustrative of Kierkegaard's spheres of existence, and the third tells you exactly how he thinks about Christianity and belief in the impossible (as well as being practically the prototype for existentialism)

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 10:34:13 2013 No.4019958 If you want to regain true faith I'd recommend reading books written by eremitic Christian monks such as the Philokalia or the Imitation of Christ.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 10:42:13 2013 No.4019971 File: 37 KB, 495x461, 1375616676805.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4019949 Mah nigga

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 12:16:19 2013 No.4020152

>>4018381

But you fail to recognize that nihilism is not a substantial position, as lacks a substantial rational basis, and lacks a substantial meaning/definition. And, consequently, any response to nihilism is equally insubstantial. This is, chiefly, because nihilism is a subjective, value-based belief, based on how one views "life" or "existence" as a whole. Additionally, it is necessarily transcendent, as it claims to take this very object of "life" or "existence" as an object of possible experience, and as such no solidly rational basis could even CONCEIVABLY be given for it. So that means that everything concerning nihilism - and indeed any view concerning the quality of "life" as a total, monolithic entity (such as existentialist and absurdist views) - is entirely outside of the sphere of philosophy, and should not be discussed, or, at the very least, should not be discussed while pretending to engage in deep philosophizing.

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:05:19 2013 No.4020258
File: 101 KB, 900x600, wizard_of_oz_book_sculpture_by_wetcanvas-d5hl2gd.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>4018244
This might be obvious but:
- CS Lewis - no better modern apologist
- G. K. Chesterton - brings a lot to the table and is not afraid to cast the net widely

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:07:19 2013 No.4020259 >>4020152 lol you just accidentally have a resounding argument for nihilism

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:10:18 2013 No.4020269 >>4018271 hate much?

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:10:18 2013 No.4020270

>>4019949
the dude is super wack though his writings have the perspective of a kid who likes to smoke weed but is scared for his mom to find out and he's trying to justify smoking weed except all along his mom knows and doesn't give a shit so he wouldn't ever get in trouble anyway. he writes like he thinks he sucks

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:14:18 2013 No.4020276 >>4018978 Yeah, the followers of a false prophet writing about a true prophet would provide lots of great insight. Also, any religion writing about another is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:15:18 2013 No.4020281 >>4019039 >actually defend Christianity as a Christian, I would never defend Christianity

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:18:18 2013 No.4020291 >>4018244 Read Paul Tillich, Vladimir Lossky, and then go back to the Desert Fathers and Mothers and the early Christian writings (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/index.html)), some catechisms, go to Kierkegaard and wherever you like from there.

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:25:18 2013 No.4020305 File: 17 KB, 250x330, chembarassing.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4020276 >Yeah, the followers of a false prophet writing about a true prophet

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:30:18 2013 No.4020312
File: 13 KB, 350x342, big_smile.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>4020305
and I'm not even trolling bro

I know it's considered ignernt to state something like that and intellectual out of fashion, but fuck it, that's how I roll

liek mark knophler sang, two men say they're Jesus, ONE of 'em must be wrong

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 13:30:18 2013 No.4020313 >>4020312 >intellectual intellectually damn spell check

>>	Anonymous Sun Aug 11 16:03:18 2013 No.4020579 Read anything and everything by Thomas Merton.

Anonymous Sun Aug 11 16:24:19 2013 No.4020643

>>4020259

How so? I think I have AN argument (perhaps not a resounding one; I'm still only a novice when it comes to philosophy) against the whole debate concerning the quality of "life", but I think that even the most resounding "argument" for a positive view of life is just as fucked as any sort of nihilistic/absurdist/whatever view. They're fucked in exactly equal amounts.

Advanced search
Text to find
Subject [?]Search by post subject. Leave empty for any.
Username [?]Search for user name. Leave empty for any user name.
Tripcode [?]Search for tripcode. Leave empty for any.
Email [?]Search by email. Leave empty for any.
Filename [?]Search by image filename. Leave empty for any.
From Date [?]Enter what date to start searching from. Format is YYYY-MM-DD
To Date [?]Enter what date to start searching until. Format is YYYY-MM-DD
Image hash
Search in	All Posts OPs Only
Deleted posts	Show all posts Show only deleted posts Only show non-deleted posts
Internal posts	Show all posts Show only internal posts Show only archived posts
Order	New posts first Old posts first
Capcode	All Posts Only by Users Only by Mods Only by Admins Only by Developers
Results	Posts Threads
Action	[ Simple ]

/lit/ - Literature