[lbo-talk] Appeal to Ignorance

Jeffrey Fisher jeff.jfisher at gmail.com
Sun Jun 12 15:09:51 PDT 2005


On 6/12/05, Michael Pugliese <michael.098762001 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 6/12/05, W. Kiernan <wkiernan at ij.net> wrote:The Rapture Cult
> appears to have no religious substance at all. All Rapture Cultists
> own Bibles, which none of them have read.
>
> Oh really, heh! In my conversations, outside a megachurch in Arvada,
> CO. attended by over a thousand, Bible verses trip off their tongues
> as easily as the word fuck to a teenager. Go to a secular bookstore
> like Barnes and Noble, and there are hundreds of books of,
> "apologetics, " for a mass Protestant audience that help to defend
> their faith against other Christians and atheists.
> This author, Geisler, is a popular example.
> Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Baker Reference Library)
> by Norman L. Geisler

many of them have read their bibles, but most even of those don't understand them. see my story posted whenever it was in the last couple of days. they see more or less what they've been trained to see, because they know only one way to read the bible -- as prooftext. so even other often christians can't argue with them because they don't have the critical equipment -- they mostly want to prooftext, too, so it's a contest of prooftexting. atheists can't argue with them, because atheists often know squat about the bible (obviously there are exceptions to this :).

a good college friend of mine grew up strictly southern baptist. he used to run and hide when the jehovah's witnesses came by. why? because his dad would politely invite them in and proceed to kick their prooftexting asses. some people know the text better than others, and some are better at the prooftexting techniques than others. but it's still essentially prooftexting.

does that mean those people have "read" the bible? sure. and yet . . .

j

-- http://www.brainmortgage.com/

Among medieval and modern philosophers, anxious to establish the religious significance of God, an unfortunate habit has prevailed of paying to Him metaphysical compliments.

- Alfred North Whitehead



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