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the-alchemist.livejournal.com	Mon 2008-08-18 15:29
I don't see 'tending to see someone' in a particular way as very similar to 'writing them off'. For a start, writing someone off is a conscious decision, whereas 'tending to see' them in a particular way isn't something I can really help, though of course I have a choice about how I act on my tendencies, and I definitely try to act on them by telling myself that there's a valid argument that there are many kinds of thinking and they might be good at others. My head is always far kinder than my heart. Secondly, writing someone off is very strong and absolute, whereas 'tending to see them' in one way doesn't preclude having other, opposite tendencies, though obviously it implies these are weaker. Similarly, I don't see 'being unthinking' as the same as 'not being very good at thinking'. Perhaps it would have been more accurate to have said 'not being very good at at least certain types of thinking' though, if that helps. I also think that people who are bad at maths are not very good at at leat certain types of thinking. Music is more complicated, because it involves lots of skills, some of which aren't much to do with thinking. Though reading your last paragraph again, I think I might have misread it when I wrote my previous one. I really think there's no 'evidence' for the existence of God that doesn't have very solid arguments against it, and the solidity of these arguments isn't just a matter of opinion. I suspect many people are willfully deceiving themselves if they see it any other way. In fact, I'm pretty sure I used to do the same myself, and I also have a friend who has just stopped believing in God who said he did the same when he was a Christian. Furthermore, I think that acknowledging the fact that there is no convincing evidence is a vital first step in persuading atheists to consider stopping being atheists,* and as such it's probably quite an important thing for Christians to understand if they're going to be effective evangelists. (I say probably, because obviously people are convinced on the basis of supposed 'evidence', but that, being untrue, always seems to me like a very shaky basis for understanding Truth.) * Note for passing atheists. I have plenty of atheists in my life who are interested in talking about this with me and who start the conversations all by themselves, and they've filled all the slots in the 'making disciples of all nations' part of my timetable. This means you're not really in any danger of me trying to start an unsolicited Serious Chat about Jesus with you.
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