Posted on 11/19/2007 6:06:14 AM PST by Kaslin
Actually, among the college professor, philosophy PhD types, Flew was recognized as the world’s foremost champion of a-theistic philosophy for decades.
Comparing Madeline Murray O’Hare to Anthony Flew is something like comparing Billy Graham to Alvin Plantinga.
O’Hare put a lot of Flew’s ideas out in the public forum; Flew was really an academic type, behind the scenes guy for most of his career.
Actually, there are 2 major branches of buddhism, and yes, one of them does place a lot of stock in those little bot-bellied idols.
Islam does not use the same book as I do.
Nor do I see atheism attacking it. See #20
Well, it’s not like he started off to Damascus to drag Christians to their deaths.
I know, I’m a glutton for punishment but I’m going to spend Thanksgiving with the family, militant atheist. I actually find him amusing most times because he has his anti-theology all mixed up.
He doesn’t believe in God but blames Him for a lot of things. So when he’s expounding on the non-existence of God I just say “whatever” and when he’s blaming God for bad things I just calmly say, “but I thought there was no God”. He usually shuts up then and we have a nice time.
There are abour 800 million more Christians than Moslems and Jews combined.
One should never combine Muslims and Jews.
Perhaps you missed Richard Dawkins' comment about "testosterone-sodden young men too unattractive to get a woman in this world" who are so desperate they are willing to execute a suicide mission for the promise of "72 private virgins" in the next life.
I'll admit that his writings are far more centered on Judeo-Christian tradition than on Islam, but his audience has that as their cultural background. You know very good and well that any Arabic translation of his works would get fatwas issued at lightning speed, and anybody carrying such a book in Islammunist lands would be subjected to even worse treatment than somebody carrying a Bible.
That's probably what would have happened in Europe five hundred years ago if his book had been written then.
Yeah - and it is not like he has started off to Rome evalislising all along the way (and writing parts of the Gospel too)...
Buddhism is a non-theistic “religion” so it would be hard for atheists to attack it.
Atheism always struck me as a waste of time.
Well, you certainly cannot find God if you don’t believe that God exists. For a former atheist to come to believe there is a supreme being responsible for creating all of this is huge. It rejects creation without a creator. It means recognizing that an incredibly powerful being exists that may have an impact on your life.
If he truly does keep looking at the evidence and hunting for the truth, he will find God. But you’re not going to look for God if you don’t think God exists. That’s why it’s such an important 180 on this guy’s part. He is open to the idea of God, that God exists, and that God can be found.
So you would call yourself Abuddhist? LOL So you are saying that half the Buddhists think that Buddha is God?
Islam does not use the same book as I do.
So what religion are you if you don't use the Old Testament?
Nor do I see atheism attacking it.
You haven't seen atheists attacking the God of the Old Testament? I thought mocking Noah, Joshua and the Creationists was part and parcel of it.
Atheists claim that none of the religions are true. Despater, Zeus, Allah, Elohim, etc. are all creations of mans imagination. You just notice when we attack Christ, because the truth hurts.
It has been my experience that atheists (at least the Western variety) attack Christianity while finding voodoo, Hinduism, animism and other variants of religion "interesting." They save their real vitriol for Jesus and God (YHVH) and adherents thereto.
I just finished Mr. Flews’ book last night and it was very good. It made me feel very sorry for the kids being force fed atheism at the Universities. They will never get exposed the a guy like this or C.S. Lewis just their lefty professors.
Yeah. Have you ever noticed that whenever atheists get around to making some comment about Islam, it’s always surrounded by twenty+ attacks on Christianity based on a non-existent moral equivalence between the two?
Oops, hit the wrong “reply” button. The above was meant for hunter112.
Finally, the Mahayanists completed the conversion of Buddhism from a philosophy to religion. Therevada Buddhism holds that Buddha was a historical person who, on his death, ceased to exist. There were, however, strong tendencies for Buddhists to worship Buddha as a god of some sort; these tendencies probably began as early as Buddha's lifetime. The Mahayanists developed a theology of Buddha called the doctrine of "The Three Bodies," or Trikaya. The Buddha was not a human being, as he was in Theravada Buddhism, but the manifestation of a universal, spiritual being. This being had three bodies. When it occupied the earth in the form of Siddhartha Gautama, it took on the Body of Magical Transformation (nirmanakaya ). This Body of Magical Transformation was an emanation of the Body of Bliss (sambhogakaya ), which occupies the heavens in the form of a ruling and governing god of the universe. There are many forms of the Body of Bliss, but the one that rules over our world is Amithaba who lives in a paradise in the western heavens called Sukhavati, or "Land of Pure Bliss." Finally, the Body of Bliss is an emanation of the Body of Essence (dharmakaya ), which is the principle underlying the whole of the universe. This Body of Essence, the principle and rule of the universe, became synonymous with Nirvana . It was a kind of universal soul, and Nirvana became the transcendent joining with this universal soul.http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/BUDDHISM/MAHAYANA.HTM
The people have those fat-bellied buddhas for a reason.
Islam does not view the old testament as an inspired book. They simply don’t. There are a few pieces of pieces of it they like. I’m sure they have great regard for: Israel is the nation of God.
>>It seems as people get closer to death - they think more of God. Wonder what he will do to “undo” the 60 years of damage he ha inflicted on those that believe in God...(especially Christians).<<
Sounds kinda like the apostle Paul. I wonder if there is a limit. ;)
Read the book. He does not say the Christian God in not real. He is very pro-Chrisian God as he says He is the best to fit the things that the Mind behind the Universe must be.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.