absurdity
Carl Geisik cgeisik@lanl.gov
Thu, 17 Dec 1998 08:02:25 -0700 (00913928545, 3.0.32.19981217080225.0096fb70@dxmail.lanl.gov)
At 12:45 AM 12/17/98 -0600, you wrote:
>In the past couple of weeks, I've seen things that
>I can't possibly overlook, even if I have some kind
>of emotional response to xtian beliefs.
>
>(1) Things Jesus said which make it so he can't
> possibly be God. (Refer to the "nor the Son"
> thread.)
>
>(2) False prophesy of the 2nd coming within listener's
> lifetimes.
>
>(3) Lineages which lead to a very solid conclusion
> that Jesus couldn't claim messiahship.
>
>(4) Dishonest use of the OT by the NT writers.
>
>Here's a weird effect though. Some of these things are
>so absurd, so clear, that I wonder how they could have
>been overlooked by so many for so long.
>
>It's kind of like that, "it's so unlikely that it must
>be true" thing.
>
>It's so *unlikely* that an omniscient god would say he
>doesn't know something that it *must* be true.
>
>It's so *obvious* that the two lineages in the NT are
>totally destructive to xtianity, xtianity *must* be
>true, since the NT writers would have left them out,
>or changed them.
>
>It's like one of those "mysteries of God" excuses.
>
>So the more *absurd* something is, the more it *must*
>be true?
>
>
>--
>chief blackfoot
>
>"A lie is best hidden sandwiched between two truths."
>
GEISIK
Good morning Chief...
You have repeated the thoughts of one of the greatest Christian "thinkers", Tertullian:
"The Son of God was crucified; I am not ashamed because men must needs be ashamed of it. And the Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed, because it is absurd. And He was buried, and rose again; the fact is certain, because it is impossible." Tertullian in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, by Roberts & Donaldson, Chapter 5, p. 525
So, let's see if this is right....because it is absurd, it must be true. Oh yeah, this is Christian logic at its finest!
Carl Geisik