Need Some answers to questions - Doing a Survey for coursework

Started by AnHonestApologist, February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM

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AnHonestApologist

Hello folks,
                    I am doing a survey for my coursework. Please if you could answer questions below, I would greatly appreciate it.

1-How important is it that you have strong evidence for everything you believe?

2-How much evidence do you have to support your most important beliefs? (examples, if possible)

3-Do you think that there is evidence that the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ life are accurate; and how would you compare the evidence for Jesus with the evidence we have for other figures in the ancient world?

4-If a strong case could be made that the Biblical account of Jesus’ life is true, and that he rose from the dead after he was killed, would you want to know it?

Thanks for your time and help in advance.

Cassia

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM
Hello folks,
                    I am doing a survey for my coursework. Please if you could answer questions below, I would greatly appreciate it.

1-How important is it that you have strong evidence for everything you believe?
"Strong evidence" is subjective to the general public. Useless question. I require testable evidence. Belief is not required. Your brain could use recalibration.


2-How much evidence do you have to support your most important beliefs? (examples, if possible)
See 1.

3-Do you think that there is evidence that the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ life are accurate; and how would you compare the evidence for Jesus with the evidence we have for other figures in the ancient world?
Since the claims are extraordinary, the evidence is extraordinarily poor.

4-If a strong case could be made that the Biblical account of Jesus’ life is true, and that he rose from the dead after he was killed, would you want to know it?
Of course. However, there is no "Biblical account". There are conflicts between the books. BTW, your handle is an oxymoron.

Thanks for your time and help in advance.

PopeyesPappy

1-How important is it that you have strong evidence for everything you believe?

That depends on what it is you are asking me to believe. If you tell me you went to the grocery store yesterday and bought milk and eggs, I have no reason not to believe you. Assuming I don’t have previous experience of you lying to me about trivial shit. You tell me that your god created the first man from clay 6000 years ago when all the evidence supports our species evolving from a common ancestor with every other life form we know then yea, I’m going to need some evidence to support your claims.

2-How much evidence do you have to support your most important beliefs? (examples, if possible)

In the example above there is nothing in biology but evidence for evolution. I would say that is important. If you tell me the future of my immortal soul depends on my personnel relationship with a dead man, then I’m going to need some evidence.

3-Do you think that there is evidence that the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ life are accurate; and how would you compare the evidence for Jesus with the evidence we have for other figures in the ancient world?

Do you believe the Buddhacharita accurately portrays the life of Gautama Buddha? If not then why, and can you apply that same reasoning to the New Testament?

And yes, there is a shit ton more evidence for Alexander and Julius Caesar than there is for Jesus.

4-If a strong case could be made that the Biblical account of Jesus’ life is true, and that he rose from the dead after he was killed, would you want to know it?

Yes, but in my 60 years on this Earth no one has been able to make that strong case, and many have tried.
Save a life. Adopt a Greyhound.

the_antithesis

Another one? A lot of people doing term papers on atheism with questions that sound an awful sideways preaching.

Blackleaf

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM
Hello folks,
                    I am doing a survey for my coursework. Please if you could answer questions below, I would greatly appreciate it.

Sure thing.

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM1-How important is it that you have strong evidence for everything you believe?

I'm quickly seeing that we probably don't use the same definition of the word "belief." So I'm going to proceed with a very broad definition being: "an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists." Otherwise, my answers will all just be summed up as, "It's not a belief if there is evidence."

Evidence is important. The more important the question, the more important it is to come to a correct conclusion, using objective methods. I try not to take things for granted, or to believe something simply because my group believes a certain way.

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM2-How much evidence do you have to support your most important beliefs? (examples, if possible)

I'm not sure how to answer this question. What are my most important beliefs? The ones that are most relevant to my life? I'm very open minded when it comes to most things. I don't have strong opinions on things like gun control, where the answer is either subjective or beyond my expertise. There are philosophical questions, like whether or not reality is real. But since those questions are unable to be tested, I just go with what is evidently true. If I'm hungry, I eat, because that makes me stop being hungry. Doesn't matter if the food is real or just in my head.

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM3-Do you think that there is evidence that the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ life are accurate; and how would you compare the evidence for Jesus with the evidence we have for other figures in the ancient world?

There is no comparison. There are no contemporaries of Jesus who wrote about him. The closest we have is Paul, but he never met Jesus, and he was obviously a biased source, being a leader of the Christian church. Josephus is often brought up, but he wasn't even born until 37 AD, meaning he wasn't born until after Jesus' supposed crucifixion. Additionally, the legitimacy of his writings are debatable, as it's highly suspected by experts that they were tampered with.

I personally suspect there was a real man the Biblical Jesus was based on. However, that real man has been lost to time. Legends do not take long to grow, and there were several sects in the early churches, with very different beliefs. Some didn't even agree that Jesus was a real, flesh and blood person, but was rather a phantom. Some believed that there were two gods, that the god in charge of this world is evil, and that Jesus came to save us from that evil god. Those beliefs are no more or less valid simply because people don't believe them anymore.

Additionally, there are details about Jesus' life in the Bible which do not make sense. A census requiring people return to their hometowns to be counted? That's not how censuses work. The purpose of a census is to know how many people live where. If they wanted to know where you came from, they could just ask. Forcing everyone to travel to their hometowns would have caused mass chaos, and definitely would have been written about by many sources outside of the Bible. Details like this make it easy to dismiss the story of Jesus as so detached from reality that it's basically fiction. If any of Jesus' story is true, it's up to pure speculation to decipher what is true and what isn't.

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM4-If a strong case could be made that the Biblical account of Jesus’ life is true, and that he rose from the dead after he was killed, would you want to know it?

If something is true, yes, I would want to know it.

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AMThanks for your time and help in advance.

Pleasure. Hope your research goes well. In the future, try to provide working definitions for important concepts like "belief," to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Otherwise, the responses you receive may not be very useful.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

AnHonestApologist

Thank you all for taking time to view, read and posting replies. Much appreciated

aitm

A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Hydra009

1) Have you ever done something bad, consciously or otherwise?

2) Have you ever done something and forgotten about it?

3) Is it possible for you to murder someone and forget that you did so?

4) Hypothetically, if you murdered someone, would you turn yourself in?

Cassia

Yep, the apologist playbook is about twisting language and incorrect logical constructs until we get "THE JESUS", AMEN
Quote from: Hydra009 on February 16, 2022, 04:47:42 PM
1) Have you ever done something bad, consciously or otherwise?
Absolutely not
2) Have you ever done something and forgotten about it?
I can't remember
3) Is it possible for you to murder someone and forget that you did so?
I guess that's possible
4) Hypothetically, if you murdered someone, would you turn yourself in?
Oh damn, I better turn myself in now

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM
Hello folks,
                    I am doing a survey for my coursework. Please if you could answer questions below, I would greatly appreciate it.

1-How important is it that you have strong evidence for everything you believe?
I don't believe in everything, just important stuff. That needs support.
2-How much evidence do you have to support your most important beliefs? (examples, if possible)
Well, I spent 14 years at Purdue researching them, so "a lot" sounds right.
3-Do you think that there is evidence that the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ life are accurate; and how would you compare the evidence for Jesus with the evidence we have for other figures in the ancient world?
Evidence against is much stronger.
4-If a strong case could be made that the Biblical account of Jesus’ life is true, and that he rose from the dead after he was killed, would you want to know it?
Changing the rules of the operation of the universe is going to need a lot of evidence before I'd even consider the event true. Then we get to the Son of God thing, which needs an infinity of evidence by itself.
Thanks for your time and help in advance.

We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Shiranu

You're the first guy I remember coming in here and actually being pretty polite and chill about asking this, so appreciate that.

1. On a scale of 1-10 in everyday life, probably a 6 or 7; if contradictory evidence appears, a 10. I don't mind not having all the evidence (though I want a lot) when it comes to hypothesizes or speculation, but if there is concrete evidence proving/disproving it then that takes priority.

2. Like Blackleaf, I struggle to answer that question because (imo) anything that is a "belief", by its very nature, is lacking in evidence that still needs to be discovered or is something subjective. For example, philosophy; we can try to get it as close to objective as possible, but ultimately it's still a subjective concept.

3. To piggyback off of Pappy now, I believe the biblical account of Jesus like I believe the mythical accounts of Buddha being born of a white elephant coming to his mom in a dream and piercing her side to impregnate her... I don't doubt that a spiritual figure named Yesua travelled the Levant preaching a reformed and "next-chapter" version of Judaism much like the Buddha was almost certainly an actual Hindu Nepali noble who renounced his wealth and seeked Enlightenment/reforming the faith... it's just a lot of the stories about these two guys have been exaggerated to all hell.

4. Yes.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Hydra009

Quote from: Cassia on February 16, 2022, 05:03:17 PM
Yep, the apologist playbook is about twisting language and incorrect logical constructs until we get "THE JESUS", AMEN
Oh, so you're saying that you might have murdered someone?  Prosecution rests, Your Honor.

Dark Lightning

<looks up from haunch of baby, medium rare> Bugger off, dude.

Mike Cl

I don't know who you are--but I do question the 'Honest' part of your handle.  You feel like a drive-by.  Maybe if you took the time to introduce yourself and discussed some of your beliefs, I'd be more inclined to answer some questions for you.  But you feel like sooooooo many others that use (or try to use) your approach as a hook to try and force your belief system down out throats.  Convert me you cannot, so I'll pass.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Simoon

Quote from: AnHonestApologist on February 16, 2022, 09:48:57 AM
Hello folks,
                    I am doing a survey for my coursework. Please if you could answer questions below, I would greatly appreciate it.

Is this person still here?

I'll answer anyway.

[quote1-How important is it that you have strong evidence for everything you believe?[/quote]

Quite important, especially with regards to existential claims. The more evidence I have for a claim, the more confidence I place in that claim.

I want to have as many true beliefs, and as few false beliefs as possible.

Quote2-How much evidence do you have to support your most important beliefs? (examples, if possible)

Quite a bit with regards to existential claims.

I do hold some presuppositions, like: I exist, the outside world exists, I share that outside world with others, etc. While it is possible none of that actually does exist, it is what I am presented with (evidence), so I pragmatically accept it all to be true.

Quote3-Do you think that there is evidence that the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ life are accurate; and how would you compare the evidence for Jesus with the evidence we have for other figures in the ancient world?

It depends on which accounts you are referring to. It would not be the first time, that legends and myths were built around a historical person. That fact that Jesus might have been a historical person, does not in any way, give any credence for any of the supernatural and god claims about him.

It depends on the other historical people you are comparing him to. Most other historical people have tons more evidence for their existence than Jesus.

Quote4-If a strong case could be made that the Biblical account of Jesus’ life is true, and that he rose from the dead after he was killed, would you want to know it?

Of course I would. As I said earlier, I want to hold as many true beliefs, and as few false beliefs as possible.

But I guess it all depends on what you consider a strong case to be. No amount of texts, written decades or more after the alleged events, by anonymous authors who were not eyewitnesses, without any copies of the originals, would be a 'strong case'.