(05-07-2013, 01:49 PM)MarcRammer Wrote: I had a conversation with a Christian the other day... They were wondering what my beliefs were. I shared, and didn't shy away from exposing the fear based doctrine of hell. As they defended hell I proceeded to show through careful studying how the bible mentions no such thing. In my explanation, my wife said I seemed prideful.
There are lines, I believe: there are personal beliefs which cannot be proven or disproven, and there are facts on the outside which are necessarily true. I do not try to change beliefs, but if there are faulty facts that one wishes to impose on me, could I not offer my services in shedding light on the fault? To cross the line into changing another's belief is an abridging of free will, but to share reason and clear data and facts, is that?
Socrates' life seems to show a life of love for people. He loved people so much that he would shed light on illogical thought patterns and unreasonable ways of living. His service to mankind was not liked and, to me, he came across as arrogant at times. But after he was tried and killed, the world grew in reason and pursuit of truth. Was his way arrogant or an abridging of free will?
I wouldn't dream of going up to someone coming out of a church and blasting their bible beliefs. That would be violating their free will. But, if they start the conversation by proselytizing to me, or by joining an online discussion about religion/spirituality, or by bringing up the topic at a holiday gathering or whatever, then hey, they opted in! So on some level they are inviting me to share my views.
So it really depends on how the conversation is started, and whether the person continues the interaction. If they clearly are trying to get away, then the STO thing is to let them go. But if they persist, then they must want to hear what we have to say!
It's interesting that you told the Christian that hell isn't mentioned in the Bible. To me, that is still sharing the same basic premise: that the bible is some sort of an authority. Were I in that conversation, I wouldn't even try to use the bible to prove anything, but would question why one would want to believe ancient books, written by primitive humans, in the first place.