How do I give myself over to GOD?

[mordant]

Originally Posted by Eusebius

Yes? And many evolutionists have given their entire lives to teaching evolution but that does not make their claims legitimate.

Not an argument I or anyone I'm aware of has ever mounted in favor of evolution. Though you just mounted it in favor of theology. Which is the actual point here.

Nothing -- theology, astrology, evolution, quantum electrodynamics, what have you -- is in any way validated by people devoting their lives to it, dying for it, etc.

[Eusebius]

Originally Posted by mordant

Not an argument I or anyone I'm aware of has ever mounted in favor of evolution. Though you just mounted it in favor of theology. Which is the actual point here.

Nothing -- theology, astrology, evolution, quantum electrodynamics, what have you -- is in any way validated by people devoting their lives to it, dying for it, etc.

You called what theologians do as "faux discipline." Of course it doesn't make what they say "true" just because they've given their entire lives in discipline in studying out important issues any more than it proves an evolutionary scientist to be correct just because he has dedicated his entire life to researching evolution.

Just quit with the "faux discipline" stuff.

[mordant]

Originally Posted by Eusebius

Just quit with the "faux discipline" stuff.

Theology is the study of god.

I have never seen anyone advance a falsifiable hypothesis for an invisible personal interventionist god.

Therefore they are studying ideas ABOUT god, which are asserted without evidence.

This means that god, and anything based on god, is whatever someone says it is.

Yes there are interpretive systems one can adhere to, and one can think in prescribed ways about how to apply one's scripture of choice to living life. One can study ancient Hebrew and Greek in an effort to gain insight into scripture. In that sense, it takes study and time to master. But it is all ideas about ideas about ideas about god, and at the end of the day, what does success look like if you're a theologian? No one can say if you are right or wrong, no one is any closer to actual knowledge of god. You have simply mastered an ideology and learned how to wield it against other ideologies. The only marker of success is that other theologians affirm what you write and speak about.

You don't invent anything or innovate anything, you don't fix anything about the human condition, you don't learn anything new. You don't contribute.

That is why I do not respect theology as an actual field of endeavor.

Where is a cure for cancer or the deflection of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth going to come from? Theologians?

In that sense, unlike science, education, technology or mathematics, or even ditch-digging, it is fair in my view to term it an affectation rather than an actual system of acquiring new knowledge and zeroing in on the true nature of reality -- or, at least, contributing useful work to the human endeavor.