Personally, I'm quite interested in looking at the Bible and its claims rationally. I don't see the Bible as demanding that I give up rationality. There are big challenges especially as there are a number of debates (origins, existence of God, morality) that are fiercely argued in a highly polarised debate. But I don't buy the claim that Christianity is a religion contrary to rationality. The claim is often made, but I don't think it holds up to scrutiny. I too desire to teach my children the importance of rational thought.
"All this without the slightest bit of proof!"
The whole point of these blog posts, especially part 2, is to discuss rationale for Christian belief that is outside the scope of the scientific method. The proof is in the Bible, unless you reject it outright for being outside the scope of the scientific method.
I'm not so much interested in religion as conceived by 64% of some group of people. Likewise I'm not interested in religion as embodied by some guy who claims to be religious and then does outrageous things. Such people don't speak for the religion of the Bible any more than the elections in Zimbabwe speak for democracy. For what it's worth, for the same reason, I don't see the benefit in pushing the argument that Hitler was just following evolution to its logical conclusion.
Personally, I'm quite interested in looking at the Bible and its claims rationally. I don't see the Bible as demanding that I give up rationality. There are big challenges especially as there are a number of debates (origins, existence of God, morality) that are fiercely argued in a highly polarised debate. But I don't buy the claim that Christianity is a religion contrary to rationality. The claim is often made, but I don't think it holds up to scrutiny. I too desire to teach my children the importance of rational thought.
The whole point of these blog posts, especially part 2, is to discuss rationale for Christian belief that is outside the scope of the scientific method. The proof is in the Bible, unless you reject it outright for being outside the scope of the scientific method.
As for eternal hell—that's another topic in itself.