I got your name from a neighbour who invited me to a talk by you at the STAG church tomorrow in Cambridge where I treated myself to one of their religious courses some years ago, so I thought I would see what you were about!
Having said that, it would be nice sometimes if an article such as this one would explain what it was going to discuss at the beginning rather than just diving in and writing apparently whaffley assertions about supernatural issues.
I fear such writing will not stem the flow of people away from the church, whereas some discussion of why intelligent people believe in a concept such as god, and some do not might get a wider audience.
As an atheist I have been to a lot of talks in Cambridge to try and look into this and very rarely do I find it possible to have a more in depth discussion about belief. It is usually just one question and one answer and so it is usually a waste of time! Therefore I thought why not put my current understanding on this subject to you which is that whether someone believes is down to how the brain works. This comes from scientific studies with people with damages frontal brain lobes which shows such damage leads to heightened religious experiences. I think this is something Prof Alasdair Coles has done work on (I've looked at his Test of Faith website) but I have not had the opportunity to go to any of his church talks where I could raise this. Just wondering what your views are?
Another fantastic read. I agree with you on quite a lot of theology James, it reassures me that I'm not stark and raving after all.
Here's another view on the aversion to Creeds. What happens when the Pulpit has absolute disregard for the Creed, what becomes of the Pew? When the Clergy do not hold to the sound theological and doctrinal basis of the Christian faith, what then is to be the fate of the Laity? The Shepherd ought to lead well or the Sheep are roast! All around us we continue to see that faithful Christians are having to suffer the leadership of Donkeys instead of Godly Shepherds and therein lies a devastating problem. If the Donkeys were even of Balaam's kind, it would be semi-bearable.
Lamp-stands will continue to be removed, the sifting of wheat from chaff will persist even as the Lord continues to preserve His remnant and purify His Church.
Hello James
I got your name from a neighbour who invited me to a talk by you at the STAG church tomorrow in Cambridge where I treated myself to one of their religious courses some years ago, so I thought I would see what you were about!
Having said that, it would be nice sometimes if an article such as this one would explain what it was going to discuss at the beginning rather than just diving in and writing apparently whaffley assertions about supernatural issues.
I fear such writing will not stem the flow of people away from the church, whereas some discussion of why intelligent people believe in a concept such as god, and some do not might get a wider audience.
As an atheist I have been to a lot of talks in Cambridge to try and look into this and very rarely do I find it possible to have a more in depth discussion about belief. It is usually just one question and one answer and so it is usually a waste of time! Therefore I thought why not put my current understanding on this subject to you which is that whether someone believes is down to how the brain works. This comes from scientific studies with people with damages frontal brain lobes which shows such damage leads to heightened religious experiences. I think this is something Prof Alasdair Coles has done work on (I've looked at his Test of Faith website) but I have not had the opportunity to go to any of his church talks where I could raise this. Just wondering what your views are?
Another fantastic read. I agree with you on quite a lot of theology James, it reassures me that I'm not stark and raving after all.
Here's another view on the aversion to Creeds. What happens when the Pulpit has absolute disregard for the Creed, what becomes of the Pew? When the Clergy do not hold to the sound theological and doctrinal basis of the Christian faith, what then is to be the fate of the Laity? The Shepherd ought to lead well or the Sheep are roast! All around us we continue to see that faithful Christians are having to suffer the leadership of Donkeys instead of Godly Shepherds and therein lies a devastating problem. If the Donkeys were even of Balaam's kind, it would be semi-bearable.
Lamp-stands will continue to be removed, the sifting of wheat from chaff will persist even as the Lord continues to preserve His remnant and purify His Church.