Dearest Bison,
You said:
To switch from religion to atheism is to swap one theory of the world for another. And the motives for making that switch, the motive for switching from any outlook to another are not as pure as people claim.
To which Prince responded:
And what do you think those motives are?
This was your answer:
To escape what incommodes them and to content their Inner Master.
Prince offered the following counter-argument to your claim:
Like leaving a religion where they are offered eternal bliss and an omnipotent, omniscient, merciful, loving, benevolent god to watch over them for the belief that they are as insignificant as everyone else and that they will grow old and die...? Because that one fucked me up pretty bad.
You refuted his argument thusly:
We all know that the distant promise of bliss is not as compelling a drive as the demands of the present. We know that we should put away more money for a rainy day, that we should excercise more than we do, that we should not drink so much, but the future promise of well-being is not as compelling a motive for action than the momentary to momemtary impulse. And I do not speak of merely Islam.
Alex, half jokingly, offered the dual argument to Prince’s:
We are motivated by pussy, but fear of jahannam makes us find a convincing comeback (ratiocination u call it, I believe) to rabbul'alameen on the something day.
You claimed you didn’t understand Alex’s point, although you were nice enough to commend his sense of humor.
Alex elaborates more
here. To which you gave an irrelevant response
here. Surprisingly, Alex just
let it go and chooses not to demand a proper refutation of his argument. What kind of power do you possess over the poor lad, Bison?
Here’s Alex’s dual argument again: Why would one seek to leave Islam, for whatever self-serving motive (as you put it), thinking that he might burn forever in Hell? Finally you said:
I contend that such is the manner by which most men, the vast bulk of men come by their convictions, secular or theological. They believe what contents their spirit. This can be easily proven by observing what happens when you try to breach the mental defences of a man who's taken up a new philosophy. Observe how the Truth-Seeker behaves when you offer heretical opinion. Consider yourself lucky if you get away with just a black eye.
I think you are a bit of a psychoanalyst, Bison. That sounds about right.
Btw, would it be OK if I quoted you in the future (even out of context) without giving you proper credit?
Topic: Existing theory of ex-Muslims