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	<title>Comments on: Lee Strobel Answers Your Questions, Part 1</title>
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	<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/</link>
	<description>Atheism with Positivity</description>
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		<title>By: St. Eutychus &#187; Strobel light</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-351082</link>
		<dc:creator>St. Eutychus &#187; Strobel light</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:30:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-351082</guid>
		<description>[...] was so intrigued by Lee Strobel’s approach to talking to atheists at the Friendly Atheist, and so annoyed by a Facebook friend’s recent somewhat ill thought out Answers in Genesis [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] was so intrigued by Lee Strobel’s approach to talking to atheists at the Friendly Atheist, and so annoyed by a Facebook friend’s recent somewhat ill thought out Answers in Genesis [...]</p>
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		<title>By: St. Eutychus &#187; Let there be light</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-346972</link>
		<dc:creator>St. Eutychus &#187; Let there be light</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:03:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-346972</guid>
		<description>[...] can find them here, here, here, and here. It&#8217;s a great example of respectful dialogue between two opposing [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] can find them here, here, here, and here. It&#8217;s a great example of respectful dialogue between two opposing [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Call Out</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-262293</link>
		<dc:creator>Call Out</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:22:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-262293</guid>
		<description>Of course Lee would say such a retarded thing... poor Lee, lying though his teeth when he wrote it.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Of course Lee would say such a retarded thing&#8230; poor Lee, lying though his teeth when he wrote it.</p>
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		<title>By: Call Out</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-262269</link>
		<dc:creator>Call Out</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:16:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-262269</guid>
		<description>You can tell it&#039;s a fake letter! LOL HAHAH
Everything about it screams Christian propaganda... especially when he says things like &quot;oh, I studied neo-Darwinism, and the Miller experiment proved there is no God...&quot; or &quot;I was an atheist because I wanted to sin&quot; LOL HAAH

I love SHAMS! :)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You can tell it&#8217;s a fake letter! LOL HAHAH<br />
Everything about it screams Christian propaganda&#8230; especially when he says things like &#8220;oh, I studied neo-Darwinism, and the Miller experiment proved there is no God&#8230;&#8221; or &#8220;I was an atheist because I wanted to sin&#8221; LOL HAAH</p>
<p>I love SHAMS! <img src='http://friendlyatheist.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>By: hoverFrog</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-258357</link>
		<dc:creator>hoverFrog</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:42:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-258357</guid>
		<description>Apologies if someone in the previous 91 comments has already made this point.&lt;blockquote&gt;In light of the scientific evidence that points toward a Creator and the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus&lt;/blockquote&gt;What evidence?  Also even if there is evidence of a creator &lt;strong&gt;it does not follow&lt;/strong&gt; that this creator is the Abrahamic God\Christian Jesus.  It could just as easily be Odin who clearly made the world from the frozen bones of his slain father.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Apologies if someone in the previous 91 comments has already made this point.<br />
<blockquote>In light of the scientific evidence that points toward a Creator and the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus</p></blockquote>
<p>What evidence?  Also even if there is evidence of a creator <strong>it does not follow</strong> that this creator is the Abrahamic God\Christian Jesus.  It could just as easily be Odin who clearly made the world from the frozen bones of his slain father.</p>
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		<title>By: ishmael</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-257555</link>
		<dc:creator>ishmael</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:52:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-257555</guid>
		<description>I agree with most of what has been said above, even though I am not an atheist. I am most certainly a theist, but not because of any objective evidence like Lee. Rather, I believe because of my own subjective evidence which I freely admit is not good enough to convince anybody of anything. My beef is that there seems to be only way of being a theist, and that is the evangelical Christian way.  There are others of us out there who are not trying to trash science in order to legitimatize their own personal take on religion. 
Personally, I don&#039;t know if Lee is being truthful about is commitment to atheism or lack thereof before his conversion to Christianity. To me, it does not prove anything. I am sure that is possible for an atheist to become a theist and vice-versa, but in the end, it does not prove anything for anyone else.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I agree with most of what has been said above, even though I am not an atheist. I am most certainly a theist, but not because of any objective evidence like Lee. Rather, I believe because of my own subjective evidence which I freely admit is not good enough to convince anybody of anything. My beef is that there seems to be only way of being a theist, and that is the evangelical Christian way.  There are others of us out there who are not trying to trash science in order to legitimatize their own personal take on religion.<br />
Personally, I don&#8217;t know if Lee is being truthful about is commitment to atheism or lack thereof before his conversion to Christianity. To me, it does not prove anything. I am sure that is possible for an atheist to become a theist and vice-versa, but in the end, it does not prove anything for anyone else.</p>
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		<title>By: Procrastinate Now &#171; Decisively Uncertain</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-257489</link>
		<dc:creator>Procrastinate Now &#171; Decisively Uncertain</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:22:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-257489</guid>
		<description>[...] Monday, 5 January, 2009 in Share the LinksTags: Advertising, Alcohol, atheism, Blogging, Christianity, Limerick, Recession, Wind Power   Lee Strobel answers atheists&#8217; questions over at Friendly Atheist [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] Monday, 5 January, 2009 in Share the LinksTags: Advertising, Alcohol, atheism, Blogging, Christianity, Limerick, Recession, Wind Power   Lee Strobel answers atheists&#8217; questions over at Friendly Atheist [...]</p>
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		<title>By: I Don&#8217;t Heart Lee Strobel &#171; globalizati</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-257483</link>
		<dc:creator>I Don&#8217;t Heart Lee Strobel &#171; globalizati</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:39:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-257483</guid>
		<description>[...] props where they&#8217;re due: Strobel is engaging with Hemant Mehta and his readers at the Friendly [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] props where they&#8217;re due: Strobel is engaging with Hemant Mehta and his readers at the Friendly [...]</p>
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		<title>By: J. J. Ramsey</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-257469</link>
		<dc:creator>J. J. Ramsey</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:49:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-257469</guid>
		<description>PastorWay:
&lt;blockquote&gt;I would argue that rather than focusing on your imagined issue with dishonesty in Christianity, you should focus on helping your fellow atheists out by looking less like the stereotypical hateful, anti-God madman, and show a little of the compassion that many atheists say they have for the poor deluded Christians!&lt;/blockquote&gt;
You don&#039;t have to be a &quot;stereotypical hateful, anti-God madman&quot; to find that Christianity doesn&#039;t stand critical scrutiny. Furthermore, Aj not having done a good job of applying Hanlon&#039;s Razor isn&#039;t evidence of him being an &quot;anti-God madman.&quot; either. Save the complaints about atheists being stereotypically hateful for the cases where atheists really are being stereotypically hateful.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>PastorWay:</p>
<blockquote><p>I would argue that rather than focusing on your imagined issue with dishonesty in Christianity, you should focus on helping your fellow atheists out by looking less like the stereotypical hateful, anti-God madman, and show a little of the compassion that many atheists say they have for the poor deluded Christians!</p></blockquote>
<p>You don&#8217;t have to be a &#8220;stereotypical hateful, anti-God madman&#8221; to find that Christianity doesn&#8217;t stand critical scrutiny. Furthermore, Aj not having done a good job of applying Hanlon&#8217;s Razor isn&#8217;t evidence of him being an &#8220;anti-God madman.&#8221; either. Save the complaints about atheists being stereotypically hateful for the cases where atheists really are being stereotypically hateful.</p>
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		<title>By: Wes</title>
		<link>http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/comment-page-2/#comment-257454</link>
		<dc:creator>Wes</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:15:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-257454</guid>
		<description>PastorWay wrote:

&lt;blockquote&gt;(a) Atheists by definition can’t deal with unknowns. We Christians live by faith in Christ alone. Dealing with unknowns by faith, believing the Word of the knowable God is how we exist! Atheists instead refuse to bow their knees in humility and repentance to trust the God Who obviously created all things (Read Romans 1 and I John).&lt;/blockquote&gt;

That is simply a bizarre sentiment. You accuse atheists of being unable to deal with unknowns, and then defend this statement by saying that Christians deal with unknowns by putting blind faith in absolutes.  If anything, your comment is evidence supporting the claim that (at least some) Christians can&#039;t handle doubt and uncertainty, and lean on blind faith in absolutes as a crutch.

&lt;blockquote&gt;(b) Atheists can’t contemplate being a Christian because they have never been born again. Can you know what it is like to be a tadpole? Only if you are a frog. But a tadpole has no idea what it is like to be a frog… yet!&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Not only can I contemplate being a Christian, I used to be one myself. Unlike Lee Strobel, I don&#039;t have a generic by-the-numbers (de)conversion story.  A lot of factors, both intellectual and emotional, contributed to my very gradual move away from religion.  But when I was young, I was very devout.  I became especially devout after my grandfather, who was a minister, died when I was ten. I prayed regularly, read the Bible every day, and earnestly believed that I could look forward to joining him in heaven with God. I know how it feels to believe.


&lt;blockquote&gt;(c) Atheists don’t know what it’s like to be a Christian. Again, we are talking about a spiritual truth that is received, not by scientific or mathematic hypothesis and discovery but instead by humble heart repentance and faith.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

As I said, I know exactly what it&#039;s like. But the fact that something feels good to believe does not make it true. Sometimes the truth hurts, and is difficult to accept.

&lt;blockquote&gt;(d) The atheist’s “conclusions” are all in defense of UNbelief… rather than in establishing evidence for their unbelief! If fact, (again by definition) NO evidence is available, or CAN be given for your unbelief! It is a moronic idea. Atheists say, “I do not believe in it! Therefore I will argue a case against it!” You atheists surely spend a great deal of time trying to evangelize against a God you say you do not believe exists!&lt;/blockquote&gt;

That&#039;s utterly bizarre. You&#039;re saying it&#039;s &quot;moronic&quot; to argue against something you think is untrue? Then why are you arguing against atheism? Atheists argue against the existence of gods because they think the proposition &quot;God exists&quot; is probably false, and they wish to make their point and speak their mind. It is not irrational to offer counterarguments against claims one thinks is false.


&lt;blockquote&gt;Where exactly would you say the dishonesty in Biblical Christianity is made manifest?&lt;/blockquote&gt;

There&#039;s a fundamental dishonesty in deciding beforehand that the Bible MUST be true and then scrounging around trying to make all the facts fit your preconceptions. An &lt;b&gt;honest&lt;/b&gt; appraisal of the facts allows for the possibility that one&#039;s own beliefs might come out false. Biblical Christianity does not allow for this possibility, and is therefore intrinsically dishonest. 

&lt;blockquote&gt;I would argue that rather than focusing on your imagined issue with dishonesty in Christianity, you should focus on helping your fellow atheists out by looking less like the stereotypical hateful, anti-God madman, and show a little of the compassion that many atheists say they have for the poor deluded Christians!&lt;/blockquote&gt;

The above is so ludicrous that I lack words to describe it. You, sir, are in no position to lecture others about compassion, as your comments above demonstrate no compassion or understanding whatsoever for atheists. And your post indicates that you do not have the moral high ground when it comes to calling others hateful madmen. Your comments ooze with smug self-righteousness.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>PastorWay wrote:</p>
<blockquote><p>(a) Atheists by definition can’t deal with unknowns. We Christians live by faith in Christ alone. Dealing with unknowns by faith, believing the Word of the knowable God is how we exist! Atheists instead refuse to bow their knees in humility and repentance to trust the God Who obviously created all things (Read Romans 1 and I John).</p></blockquote>
<p>That is simply a bizarre sentiment. You accuse atheists of being unable to deal with unknowns, and then defend this statement by saying that Christians deal with unknowns by putting blind faith in absolutes.  If anything, your comment is evidence supporting the claim that (at least some) Christians can&#8217;t handle doubt and uncertainty, and lean on blind faith in absolutes as a crutch.</p>
<blockquote><p>(b) Atheists can’t contemplate being a Christian because they have never been born again. Can you know what it is like to be a tadpole? Only if you are a frog. But a tadpole has no idea what it is like to be a frog… yet!</p></blockquote>
<p>Not only can I contemplate being a Christian, I used to be one myself. Unlike Lee Strobel, I don&#8217;t have a generic by-the-numbers (de)conversion story.  A lot of factors, both intellectual and emotional, contributed to my very gradual move away from religion.  But when I was young, I was very devout.  I became especially devout after my grandfather, who was a minister, died when I was ten. I prayed regularly, read the Bible every day, and earnestly believed that I could look forward to joining him in heaven with God. I know how it feels to believe.</p>
<blockquote><p>(c) Atheists don’t know what it’s like to be a Christian. Again, we are talking about a spiritual truth that is received, not by scientific or mathematic hypothesis and discovery but instead by humble heart repentance and faith.</p></blockquote>
<p>As I said, I know exactly what it&#8217;s like. But the fact that something feels good to believe does not make it true. Sometimes the truth hurts, and is difficult to accept.</p>
<blockquote><p>(d) The atheist’s “conclusions” are all in defense of UNbelief… rather than in establishing evidence for their unbelief! If fact, (again by definition) NO evidence is available, or CAN be given for your unbelief! It is a moronic idea. Atheists say, “I do not believe in it! Therefore I will argue a case against it!” You atheists surely spend a great deal of time trying to evangelize against a God you say you do not believe exists!</p></blockquote>
<p>That&#8217;s utterly bizarre. You&#8217;re saying it&#8217;s &#8220;moronic&#8221; to argue against something you think is untrue? Then why are you arguing against atheism? Atheists argue against the existence of gods because they think the proposition &#8220;God exists&#8221; is probably false, and they wish to make their point and speak their mind. It is not irrational to offer counterarguments against claims one thinks is false.</p>
<blockquote><p>Where exactly would you say the dishonesty in Biblical Christianity is made manifest?</p></blockquote>
<p>There&#8217;s a fundamental dishonesty in deciding beforehand that the Bible MUST be true and then scrounging around trying to make all the facts fit your preconceptions. An <b>honest</b> appraisal of the facts allows for the possibility that one&#8217;s own beliefs might come out false. Biblical Christianity does not allow for this possibility, and is therefore intrinsically dishonest. </p>
<blockquote><p>I would argue that rather than focusing on your imagined issue with dishonesty in Christianity, you should focus on helping your fellow atheists out by looking less like the stereotypical hateful, anti-God madman, and show a little of the compassion that many atheists say they have for the poor deluded Christians!</p></blockquote>
<p>The above is so ludicrous that I lack words to describe it. You, sir, are in no position to lecture others about compassion, as your comments above demonstrate no compassion or understanding whatsoever for atheists. And your post indicates that you do not have the moral high ground when it comes to calling others hateful madmen. Your comments ooze with smug self-righteousness.</p>
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