It’s not perfectly clear to me what your purposes are in asking these questions. For instance, it could be some combination of:
helping them to see the error of their ways (if you’re right)
helping you to see the error of your ways (if they’re right)
demonstrating your intellectual superiority (if you’re right)
learning to understand theism and theists better, for the sake of getting along better with other theists
learning to understand theism and theists better, for the sake of defeating other theists more effectively
having a fun debate
watching smart people do something difficult (defending theism), to learn from them or just for fun
and several other things I can think of and probably several more I can’t.
If your objectives aren’t perfectly clear in your own mind you’ll probably get less from this exercise than you could. If they aren’t clear to us in this thread you’ll probably get less helpful suggestions than you could.
I should have been more clear. My purpose is “helping me to see the error of my ways, if I’m wrong.” If I am right, then I don’t care too much about converting them, but if I am wrong, I very much want to be converted. I’m basically trying to glean as much insight/wisdom from them as I can.
Any suggestions on how I can trade-off the other goals to maximize this one?
It’s not perfectly clear to me what your purposes are in asking these questions. For instance, it could be some combination of:
helping them to see the error of their ways (if you’re right)
helping you to see the error of your ways (if they’re right)
demonstrating your intellectual superiority (if you’re right)
learning to understand theism and theists better, for the sake of getting along better with other theists
learning to understand theism and theists better, for the sake of defeating other theists more effectively
having a fun debate
watching smart people do something difficult (defending theism), to learn from them or just for fun
and several other things I can think of and probably several more I can’t.
If your objectives aren’t perfectly clear in your own mind you’ll probably get less from this exercise than you could. If they aren’t clear to us in this thread you’ll probably get less helpful suggestions than you could.
I should have been more clear. My purpose is “helping me to see the error of my ways, if I’m wrong.” If I am right, then I don’t care too much about converting them, but if I am wrong, I very much want to be converted. I’m basically trying to glean as much insight/wisdom from them as I can.
Any suggestions on how I can trade-off the other goals to maximize this one?