Comment by James Kz on January 6, 2013 at 11:37pm

A thoughtful post on why the Satan-bomb gets thrown into conversations.

As you noted, Christians do not like to have (are afraid to have) their beliefs challenged, and have been inculcated by both their holy book and their parsons to believe that such questioning is the work of the devil.

On the other hand, 1 Peter 3:15 specifically requires the Christian to be able to give good reason for the joy of his faith, and commands him to know the scriptures to be able to give such good reason.

While we know ultimately there is no good reason for faith without proof, the command is there, and puts the onus on them. If they are unwilling to do so, or cannot, they are outside Peter's command. The S-bomb phrase is inappropriate if you have shown their inadequacy at apologetics. Shifting the blame to you (Satan is very reasonable) is shirking their own religious duty. You might point that out.

Comment by THE GRENADIAN FREETHINKER on January 7, 2013 at 7:09am

James you are indeed right. Most of these people normally demonstrate an inadequate understanding of their scripture. However, I think that giving good reason for why one's faith brings him/her joy, is different from demonstrating that what one believe is objectively truth, and this is where the S-bomb come into play.

Comment by Loren Miller on January 7, 2013 at 7:25am

To believe requires choice...

Wow, this one is news to me.  Fact is, I don't think I can choose to believe in any part of the bible than I can choose to believe that Dr. Who is coming to pick me up for a romp around the universe.  I suppose that I'm one of those wacky people who actually needs a justification to believe ANYTHING and more: said justification had better be rational and reasonable, or you can just forget about it.  It continues to be a truism that I am just LOUSY at fooling myself into believing something which is an obvious lie on its face, or so beyond any possibility of verity that my bullshit meter instantly pegs off-scale.

For those who can accept the word of any snake-oil salesman who comes down the pike, I have a reminder for them:

The opposite of skeptical is gullible.

Comment by John Aultman on January 8, 2013 at 9:33am

As a child growing up in the deep south and indoctrinated by Southern Baptists Satan and hell was used constantly used to keep us in line.  At fourteen I quit going to church after a lay minister/Sunday school teacher told my mother that I needed to stop asking questions and just believe. 

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