“One of the most prominent intellectual errors of our day is in the belief system often called ‘evidentialism,’ which describes a conviction that knowledge can only be attained through sensory experience of concrete details.”
Actually, what you just described is empiricism. And empiricism has been and still is a valuable approach to theoretical hypotheses and proving or disproving same. But empiricism by itself can only take us so far (and sometimes that is all that is necessary), as it is pretty much limited to the physical. Empiricism does not suggest that it is the final word; it recognizes that its conclusions are based upon known stimuli and observable influences.
You mention “intuition.” That is nothing but an instinctive feeling, or sense; it does not require any conscious thought or reasoning process: It is often called a “gut feeling” (i.e., without any deliberation at all). Sans any measurable or provable evidence, that feeling is just that: a feeling experienced without rhyme or reason. You may just as well try and catch the wind.
“Belief that God created everything is properly basic.”
It’s obviously basic to YOU. To many others; not so much.
“In fact, atheism itself, though still uncommon, didn’t gain a following of higher than 1% of the world population until men like Darwin and Freud came along with what were essentially fairly weak intellectual foundations which had to be sold through prominence of stature and personality rather than strength of argument.”
Yeah, because it has been the easy way out for Man to explain the unknown by putting the responsibility on to someone or something greater than himself. Primitive Man knew no better; that’s why he created so many deities and had so many varied beliefs. And modern Man still does.
“The only reason anyone claims not to believe in the traditional God is in their desire to make their own rules. If they were to admit God is real, then they would have to deal with God’s moral law.”
What traditional God? You are talking about YOUR traditional God, which may not be the same God much of the planet recognize. So, who are you to say that YOUR God is the one and only? It is your BELIEF; and you have FAITH that your BELIEF is right.
I forget who first said it, but what can be claimed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. In other words, it is up to he or she who makes the claim to prove their claim; it is not up to someone else to disprove it. For instance, that is the very foundation of our judicial system here in the US.
Your profile page suggests that you subscribe to the Christian religion. If that works for you, that’s great. But recognize that there are billions of people on this planet who disagree with you; and, that’s great, too…for THEM.
Because religion is personal, and should be kept as such. And religion – of whatever stripe or denomination or belief – MUST be kept from holding political power.
In any event, the God of the Old Testament is not the God described in the New. So, if you take scripture, and the totality of the Bible as your ideal, you have to reconcile that.
But the God of the New Testament states in that document that he’s the God of the Old Testament.
It’s only your imagination that leads you to a different conclusion.
Here’s an intelligence test for you: If your reference to particular parts of Biblical text presumes to validate it, then it’s logically incoherent to consider other parts randomly invalid.
As for the value of intuition, Richard Feynman himself described it as a product of multiple, repeated experiential events. In other words, it’s a step up from simple empiricism. Intuition is the foundation of scientific hypothesis. But the low IQ cabal has devised an educational and social system which teaches us to disregard intuition. My advice to you is use your intuition.