A Faith for Critical Thinkers | Rev. Adam Hamilton | Church of the Resurrection
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At the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, our purpose is to build a Christian community where non-religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. We have a vision to be used by God to change lives, strengthen churches, and transform the world. And we are on a journey to know, love and serve God.
Wonder! Thank you so much! 😊
One of the few things that gives me some hope for America is that church affiliation is on a downward trend. We really need to get past these outdated myths and engage with the real world that we know so much more about than the gospel authors could have imagined.
Faith is not critical thinking.
A man made Hebrew god that always existed and has a son is not reality.
Wow is that a bad sentence what you mean is a faith where critical thinking is not only not allowed but highly discouraged. What is that thing about don't let your intellect interfere with your faith
A faith for critical thinkers? If you're a critical thinker, you'd know that there is nothing - *nothing* - so crazy, so harmful, or so wrong that it _can't_ be defended by an appeal to faith. If you're a critical thinker and you actually care about the _truth,_ you'd be evidence-based, not faith-based.
This is all about emotion, of course. "Authentic." "Welcoming." "Compelling." There's no critical thinking in that. It's all about appealing to our emotions. And there's nothing wrong with feelings. We're not robots. We do have feelings. But if you care about the _truth_ of your beliefs, you should require more than just comforting feelings.
I've had lots of Christians tell me that they don't _care_ if their beliefs are true or not, because they want to believe this stuff, anyway. Well,... that's up to them. But I _do_ care about the truth. That's why I'm evidence-based, not faith-based. That's why I try to apportion my beliefs to the evidence. Evidence, after all, is how we distinguish reality from delusion and wishful-thinking.
So, how about one piece of good evidence, specific enough and in enough detail that I can judge it for myself, that your god is real, rather than just imaginary? Just *one,* please. Why is *one* to much to ask?
Alternately, since you're Christian, I'd accept *one piece of good evidence* that _any_ of the magical/supernatural stories in the Bible actually happened. Your choice. And I will _give_ you a guy named Jesus who was crucified by the Romans.
Sure, you were taught to believe this as a child, and you really, really _want_ it to be true. I understand that. And I'm sure you enjoy the fellowship of other members of your tribe. Emotion is important in human lives. But are your beliefs _true?_ Is there any reason to think that your religious beliefs are actually _true?_
Not that I've ever heard. And I've been surrounded by Christians all my life. (I was raised Methodist, in fact, although the particular denomination didn't seem to matter very much back before religion got so political here in America. These days, it's all politics, isn't it?)