Re: Evidence for Christianity?

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:17:17 +0100, Gareth McCaughan put finger to
keyboard and typed:

[1] Which is how this came up; Dirk characterized Christians
as believing that Jesus "did magic" and others objected.

So, while I agree that the meanings of "magic" and "miracle" aren't
identical, the borders between the two are fuzzy, and Dirk's use
of the word to describe what Jesus is alleged to have done is
certainly rude but by no means clearly wrong.

I don't think it's wrong to define "magic" and "miracles" in such a
way as to make the latter a subset of the former (or possibly even
vice versa). It may, however, in some contexts, be rude to do so
without explaining your reasoning. But I do think it's wrong to use
the words as if they are synonyms, and it's both wrong and rude to use
them as if they are synonyms and pick the one that has the more
negative connotations. That was the gist of my initial response to
Dirk; I wanted to try and determine whether he genuinely saw no
difference between magic and miracles (wrong, and possibly rude as
well), whether he sees a difference but refuses to acknowledge it
(simply rude), or whether he sees a difference but is willing and able
to explain his preference for the term "magic" (neither wrong nor
rude, though possibly still unhelpful in the context of this group).
I'm not sure which of the first two is the real reason, but his
subsequent responses (and his contributitions elsewhere on Usenet)
have pretty much ruled out the third.

Mark
--
Blog: http://Mark.Goodge.co.uk Photos: http://www.goodge.co.uk
"Time is a valuable thing, watch it fly by as the pendulum swings"
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: how to recharge a whirlpool refrigerator: gd5nhgxkq01
    ... How rude! ... Christopher A. Young ... Learn more about Jesus ... A repairman came out this morning and diagnosed the problem as a ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: [PLEASE] Need freebie advice
    ... I did not know it was rude. ... >I am at a loss for words. ... > Learn more about Jesus ... > Would you be so kind as to give a free advice? ...
    (sci.med.dentistry)
  • Re: Jesus is God
    ... Typical Brenda, rude to the max. ... a quote from Jesus, ... Who says Jesus is only in the Bible? ...
    (soc.religion.christian)
  • Re: Jesus is God
    ... Typical Brenda, rude to the max. ... a quote from Jesus, ... Who says Jesus is only in the Bible? ...
    (soc.religion.christian)
Loading