I completely agree about having your beliefs challenged. If it's taken in the right spirit, that is not too personally, it can either be reassuring that you're on the right track or it can open the door to something better.
Regarding this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lychee  If someone is content in their belief (be it either that God does not exist or that fluoride in water is bad for you), they will not budge from that view. It's called belief. You can tell a religious man that God doesn't exist using XYZ arguments but if he sincerely doesn't want to change his view he won't. Similarly, if an atheist doesn't believe God exists and you try to prove it to him using XYZ arguments, he won't change his mind unless he is open truly to what you are saying. |
There are a couple inherent, fundamental problems with using logical arguments to influence people's beliefs. First, people tend to be heavily emotionally invested in their beliefs and typically no amount of logic will separate them from those beliefs. Second, you CANNOT use logic to prove or disprove the existence of God. There will always be assumptions that cannot possibly be proven and lead to logical flaws. God is matter of belief. Period. He may very well in fact be real, as I believe, but there's nothing we can say or do to prove it until we die and find out for ourselves. At that point, it's certainly too late to be of any influence on the living.
Getting back to beliefs, to change them, there are two conditions that must be met. The believer must have a willingness to change and the influencer must be able to demonstrate a real advantage to believing a certain way that overcomes the disadvantages and/or discomfort of abandoning a possibly long-held belief. If those conditions are present, you can change any belief.