At What Point?

domer76 said:
So, at what point do we tell our children that there is no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny, or that babies don’t come from storks?

Where do we start providing them with critical thinking skills where they can begin to separate fact from fiction?

That people really can’t walk on water, that one boat can’t fit all animals, that rainbows are from the refraction of light, that people aren’t resurrected?

Where do schools draw the line on perpetuating myths without being at risk for offending someone’s theology?
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Two questions if I may:

Is there at least one GOD? (By "...at least one GOD" I mean "The entity (or entities) responsible for the creation of what we humans call 'the physical universe'...IF SUCH AN ENTITY OR ENTITIES ACTUALLY EXIST.)

If there is (are)...what limitations on what IT (they) can do are absolutely necessary?
 
Frank Apisa said:
Two questions if I may:

Is there at least one GOD? (By "...at least one GOD" I mean "The entity (or entities) responsible for the creation of what we humans call 'the physical universe'...IF SUCH AN ENTITY OR ENTITIES ACTUALLY EXIST.)

If there is (are)...what limitations on what IT (they) can do are absolutely necessary?
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Why do you believe god caused the universe?
 
domer76 said:
So, at what point do we tell our children that there is no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny, or that babies don’t come from storks?

Where do we start providing them with critical thinking skills where they can begin to separate fact from fiction?

That people really can’t walk on water, that one boat can’t fit all animals, that rainbows are from the refraction of light, that people aren’t resurrected?

Where do schools draw the line on perpetuating myths without being at risk for offending someone’s theology?
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you're right.....its time you learn.....there are NO rational lib'ruls.......
 
BidenPresident said:
And no discussion is permitted. I know. Why I never like Christianity.
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If you want a discussion ask for it, don't tear people down from the start and expect a response. Just ask a question. You asked one, so I'll oblige. The walking on water bit is basically what Cypress said an allegorical act. It has no scientific explanation that would suffice when explaining it to a non-believer
 
Jade Dragon said:
If you want a discussion ask for it, don't tear people down from the start and expect a response. Just ask a question. You asked one, so I'll oblige. The walking on water bit is basically what Cypress said an allegorical act. It has no scientific explanation that would suffice when explaining it to a non-believer
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Allegory requires actual, historical fact. Even Thomas Aquinas knew that.
 
domer76 said:
So, at what point do we tell our children that there is no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny, or that babies don’t come from storks?

Where do we start providing them with critical thinking skills where they can begin to separate fact from fiction?

That people really can’t walk on water, that one boat can’t fit all animals, that rainbows are from the refraction of light, that people aren’t resurrected?

Where do schools draw the line on perpetuating myths without being at risk for offending someone’s theology?
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The safe choice is to refrain from procreating and thus avoid having to deal with such decisions.
 
Jade Dragon said:
If you want a discussion ask for it, don't tear people down from the start and expect a response. Just ask a question. You asked one, so I'll oblige. The walking on water bit is basically what Cypress said an allegorical act. It has no scientific explanation that would suffice when explaining it to a non-believer
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BidenPresident said:
Allegory requires actual, historical fact. Even Thomas Aquinas knew that.
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^^ Militant atheists get mad when christians read the bible literally,
but then they also get mad when christians don't read the bible literally.

You can't win Jade. I think some atheists just like the idea of christians believing everything in the bible is literally true and historically factual. It's easier that way to stereotype world Christianity as a cult of dupes and morons.
 
Jade Dragon said:
What's with your piss and vinegar over the religious all the time? Not saying they don't dish it out but why play their game? Why are you so hellbent on showing off your anti-religiousness to a forum of maybe 50 regulars?
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Yeah, I’m thinking they probably should know that storks don’t make babies by 5th or 6th grade, don’t you?

How about Santa Claus? Should we let them find out from other kids, like we did about sex, or just break it to them?
 
Jade Dragon said:
I believe in God, and I follow Jesus's teachings.
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Both are good things. However, that wasn’t the question I posed.

At what point do we, as a society, and in our learning institutions stop perpetuating certain myths and teach critical thinking?

I gave a couple examples. There are more.

That evolution is science, not creationism.
That the Big Bang has a scientific basis, but Genesis does not.

And what is the tightrope educators have to walk before they endure the wrath, not of God, but of fundamentalist parents?
 
BidenPresident said:
Allegory requires actual, historical fact. Even Thomas Aquinas knew that.
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Post 12 says Matthew 14:22 to 34 is metaphorical.

Metaphor: "a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable"

"a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract"


Why is it so important for you to insist all christians read the bible literally and take it as historically accurate?

Is this the way that you can feel all christians in the world are your intellectual inferiors at best, foolish dupes at worst?
 
Cypress said:
Post 12 says Matthew 14:22 to 34 is metaphorical.

Metaphor: "a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable"

"a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract"


Why is it so important for you to insist all christians read the bible literally and take it as historically accurate?

Is this the way that you can feel all christians in the world are your intellectual inferiors at best, dupes at worst?
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I did not say anything about how you should read the Bible.

I cited St. Thomas Aquinas saying accounts of Jesus must be factually true in order to qualify as allegory. Otherwise, it is just a story or fantasy.
 
BidenPresident said:
And no discussion is permitted. I know. Why I never like Christianity.
Click to expand...

Frank Apisa said:
Two questions if I may:

Is there at least one GOD? (By "...at least one GOD" I mean "The entity (or entities) responsible for the creation of what we humans call 'the physical universe'...IF SUCH AN ENTITY OR ENTITIES ACTUALLY EXIST.)

If there is (are)...what limitations on what IT (they) can do are absolutely necessary?
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A couple of answers then.

There may be an entity that created the universe. I don’t know one way or the other. Nobody does.

Now, is there a personal, interactive god? One that answers prayers (or not)? One that we generally think of as the Christian god? I have seen ZERO evidence of that god. I’ll go as far as saying those that think they have are deluding themselves.
 
domer76 said:
A couple of answers then.

There may be an entity that created the universe. I don’t know one way or the other. Nobody does.

Now, is there a personal, interactive god? One that answers prayers (or not)? One that we generally think of as the Christian god? I have seen ZERO evidence of that god. I’ll go as far as saying those that think they have are deluding themselves.
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Why speculate on something with no research value? If god created the universe then we should ask how.
 
Cypress said:
I don't know what their doctrine is in Pentecostal and Southern Baptist churches, but walking on water is allegorical in other major Christian traditions.

We have to ask Jewish people about the Noah story, because that comes from the Torah.

The Resurrection seems medically impossible.
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Perhaps the Resurrection seems medically possible today. Hardly so, 2000 years ago. And hardly after death from crucifixion and a spear to the side. And hardly after three days.

I prefer the Dao or the Stoics for lessons on inner peace. They don’t rely on the supernatural.
 
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