John Loftus is always good for writing something that is always such an example Facepalm-inducing failure.
David Eller makes the point in chapter one of The Christian Delusion that we cannot ordinarily reason believers out of their faith because they were never reasoned into it in the first place. I share his conclusion. I cannot reason with people who have faith because faith is an irrational leap over the probabilities.
And just where does Loftus get the definition that faith is an irrational leap over the probabilities? What probabilities are he referring to?
I must show believers that their faith is nearly impossible before they will ever consider it to be improbable, and that’s an utterly unreasonable standard. That’s the power of the delusion.
So...let's get this straight: He can't prove that Christianity is true only that it probably isn't true according to the standard he has in his mind. He is frustrated because believers won't stop believing if he can't prove that Christianity is impossible when he can't even truly prove that it is improbable. And he thinks we are the ones who are deluded.
I can dialogue with believers even with such a conclusion. This particular post is part of that dialogue. It is meant to shock believers out of their dogmatic slumbers. If they hear this enough times from former believers like me then it may sink in to a few of them. Therefore I must state my conclusion from time to time. The rest is education. I am an educator. So that’s what I do regardless of whether believers are listening in or not. I hope they do though.
Listen to what? I've been watching John Loftus' blogs for a couple of years now and I have yet to see anything that remotely proved that Christianity is improbable, let alone impossible. And as for a dialogue, he and many other atheists really only want monologue not dialogue.
In most cases it takes some kind of personal crisis for believers to do what they should have been doing all along, critically evaluating their faith as an outsider. When that happens then what I have written will sink in. I’m priming the pump so to speak, and providing believers with the information that will help them when they encounter their crisis.
My experiences and many others that I know have had an opposite experience. Personal crisis leads you to know God better. This is what the book of Job also demonstrates. From what I've heard of Loftus' personal crisis, he had a crisis of faith when refused to accept responsibility for sin when the church he was at tried to hold him accountable for it because he was one of the leaders in that church. Instead of repenting and accepting the correction from his church instead he rejected God's authority over his life by rejecting Him. This is true regarding all apostates.
Original source: http://freethoughtblogs.com/loftus/2012/01/10/the-power-of-the-delusion-is-so-strong-we-cannot-ordinarily-reason-believers-out-of-their-faith/
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