The Church should respect tough questions

C

Cypress

Will work for Scooby snacks
Young people are hungry for environments where they can ask tough questions about faith.

“One of the things I want to challenge us as a Christian community [is that] rather than telling young people exactly what to think about everything, we [should] also teach them how to think. And that includes creating spaces where they can ask questions, where they can feel safe in church asking questions.”

“Jesus would pose questions to his audience, and Jesus took questions publicly. In his discourses, there would be questions, not just from friendly people, but people who were trying to trip him up publicly. So, Jesus welcomed questions to be asked of him, and he also asked questions of his audiences. This is an aspect of how Jesus taught that I don’t always see modeled in church."

“When all questions are welcomed and respected, all people are welcome and respected. This trains young people in the art of reconciliation.”


-- Erica W. Carlson, theoretical physicist, Purdue University


https://cfc.sebts.edu/faith-and-sci...tions-helps-students-faith-at-the-university/
 
I find it much more effective to label people who ask uncomfortable questions as "militant atheists" so that their position can be ignored.
 
Cypress said:
Young people are hungry for environments where they can ask tough questions about faith.

“One of the things I want to challenge us as a Christian community [is that] rather than telling young people exactly what to think about everything, we [should] also teach them how to think. And that includes creating spaces where they can ask questions, where they can feel safe in church asking questions.”

“Jesus would pose questions to his audience, and Jesus took questions publicly. In his discourses, there would be questions, not just from friendly people, but people who were trying to trip him up publicly. So, Jesus welcomed questions to be asked of him, and he also asked questions of his audiences. This is an aspect of how Jesus taught that I don’t always see modeled in church."

“When all questions are welcomed and respected, all people are welcome and respected. This trains young people in the art of reconciliation.”


-- Erica W. Carlson, theoretical physicist, Purdue University


https://cfc.sebts.edu/faith-and-sci...tions-helps-students-faith-at-the-university/
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I never heard of that happening anywhere.
 
Cypress said:
Young people are hungry for environments where they can ask tough questions about faith.

“One of the things I want to challenge us as a Christian community [is that] rather than telling young people exactly what to think about everything, we [should] also teach them how to think. And that includes creating spaces where they can ask questions, where they can feel safe in church asking questions.”

“Jesus would pose questions to his audience, and Jesus took questions publicly. In his discourses, there would be questions, not just from friendly people, but people who were trying to trip him up publicly. So, Jesus welcomed questions to be asked of him, and he also asked questions of his audiences. This is an aspect of how Jesus taught that I don’t always see modeled in church."

“When all questions are welcomed and respected, all people are welcome and respected. This trains young people in the art of reconciliation.”


-- Erica W. Carlson, theoretical physicist, Purdue University


https://cfc.sebts.edu/faith-and-sci...tions-helps-students-faith-at-the-university/
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STRAWMAN warning. Who is suggesting that they shouldn't ask tough questions?
 
Hume said:
I never heard of that happening anywhere.
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It hasn't. This is what is known as a strawman argument. It is made up, and then the author forces one to argue it.

A strawman is a fallacious argument that distorts an opposing stance in order to make it easier to attack. Essentially, the person using the strawman pretends to attack their opponent’s stance, while in reality they are actually attacking a distorted version of that stance, which their opponent doesn’t necessarily support.
 
Truth Detector said:
This is what is known as a strawman argument. It is made up, and then the author forces one to argue it.
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The author of the article is both a practicing Baptist and a well regarded theoretical physicist. She is reporting out her experience in the Christian community. I am almost one hundred percent positive she attends church far more frequently than you do.
 
Cypress said:
Young people are hungry for environments where they can ask tough questions about faith.

“One of the things I want to challenge us as a Christian community [is that] rather than telling young people exactly what to think about everything, we [should] also teach them how to think. And that includes creating spaces where they can ask questions, where they can feel safe in church asking questions.”

“Jesus would pose questions to his audience, and Jesus took questions publicly. In his discourses, there would be questions, not just from friendly people, but people who were trying to trip him up publicly. So, Jesus welcomed questions to be asked of him, and he also asked questions of his audiences. This is an aspect of how Jesus taught that I don’t always see modeled in church."

“When all questions are welcomed and respected, all people are welcome and respected. This trains young people in the art of reconciliation.”


-- Erica W. Carlson, theoretical physicist, Purdue University


https://cfc.sebts.edu/faith-and-sci...tions-helps-students-faith-at-the-university/
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Questions such as?
 
Cypress said:
I've heard plenty of people say that tough questions about the faith were discouraged in their congregation or Sunday school.
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One need look no further than this forum itself for plenty of examples of people getting bent when difficult theological questions are raised.
 
Yakuda said:
First, that Jewish teacher wasnt your ordinary Jewish teacher. Can you name a Jewish teacher whom was a contemporary of Jesus that we are still talking about 2000 years later?
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I'm guessin' you can thank the Romans for that.
 
Yakuda said:
First, that Jewish teacher wasnt your ordinary Jewish teacher. Can you name a Jewish teacher whom was a contemporary of Jesus that we are still talking about 2000 years later?
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I don't think that's the most important reason why anyone should care what Jesus taught.

My answer is that the values and ethics of western civilization are informed to a large degree by the teaching of Jesus, and our language is impregnated with the language of the New Testament, even when we don't realize it.

Anyone in the West choosing to be ignorant of this context cannot be considered competently educated and informed about western civilization and its heritage.
 
Cypress said:
I don't think that's the most important reason why anyone should care what Jesus taught.

My answer is that the values and ethics of western civilization are informed to a large degree by the teaching of Jesus, and our language is impregnated with the language of the New Testament, even when we don't realize it.

Anyone in the West choosing to be ignorant of this context cannot be considered competently educated and informed about western civilization and its heritage.
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I didn't say it was "most important".

Yes of course. Jesus has no contemporaries in this regard.

I agree. Id say a lot of atheists are intellectually lazy and ignore the context without serious investigation.
 
Obtenebrator said:
A lot of Christians are terrified of how well the atheists understand the faith.
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I'm not one of them. Many of the atheist I've run across are atheists simply because they're angry with God. Maybe they didn't get the pony they prayed for or they see things happen that they don't like and they determine theres no God or that God is "mean". Rare is the atheist that has spent time studying scripture and concluding there is no God or that there in not enough evidence for God. The easiest thing in the world to do is claim there isnt enough evidence for God.
 
Yakuda said:
I'm not one of them. Many of the atheist I've run across are atheists simply because they're angry with God.
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Thankfully that isn't folks like me. My atheism came after decades of thought, consideration and examination of my faith.

Yakuda said:
Maybe they didn't get the pony they prayed for or they see things happen that they don't like and they determine theres no God
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Again, that's not all atheists. Some atheists simply fail to believe in God.

Yakuda said:
Rare is the atheist that has spent time studying scripture and concluding there is no God or that there in not enough evidence for God.
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That's what I strove to be.

Yakuda said:
The easiest thing in the world to do is claim there isnt enough evidence for God.
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It is. I will agree with that. The harder one is providing evidence FOR God. Which, at the end of the day, is really all that matters.

I don't tend to believe something simply because someone said it.
 
Obtenebrator said:
Thankfully that isn't folks like me. My atheism came after decades of thought, consideration and examination of my faith.



Again, that's not all atheists. Some atheists simply fail to believe in God.



That's what I strove to be.



It is. I will agree with that. The harder one is providing evidence FOR God. Which, at the end of the day, is really all that matters.

I don't tend to believe something simply because someone said it.
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If only you could prove that

Repeat

Repeat

There's plenty of evidence for God.

I agree, like someone telling me, "My atheism came after decades of thought, consideration and examination of my faith."

I've challenged atheist for years to do one thing and if they could do it I would instant abandon my belief in God. Atheist like to say,nice God is omniscient then he would know what it would take to to make them believe. We know that's a lie.
 
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