Posted on 04/05/2009 8:10:35 PM PDT by betty boop
LOL Haven't read much philosophy, I see...
You can always choose to be loving and respectful to humanity. The problem is that people DON’T make that choice. That’s why we have the world that we have.
Religion must be based on both faith and reality. Of course, there will be an element of faith present.
However, any religion that strays too far from reality will be easily disproven.
Therefore, the best religion will be that which most closely aligns with reality, fact, and truth.
However, the truth of religion will primarily be the type of truth one searches for in history and archeology. I cannot prove to you, for example, that Lincoln is actually the mind that gave rise to the Gettysburg Address. He could have simply written as someone whispered words in his ear.
However, it is his handwriting. Is that 100% proof? Nope. But, it is logically true within a reasonable doubt.
With no rights given by God but permissions given by humans..
NO rights............ but merely privileges..
No, his followers did...
“He never commands people to worship Him.”
That’s exactly why I am comfortable being an atheist. No one promised me justice...you get that on earth if you get it at all.
“I can’t speak for the Miss but I am very uncomfortable with atheism. Technically I’m an agnostic but disbelief is disbelief. The main problem with a godless universe is that you are left without justice.”
The Bible speaks a lot about faith too. If it were all about proofs, it probably wouldn't have appeared as "foolishness to the Greeks". The paradox is that the things that can't be proven are more real than the things that can. Nothing can be more real to us than our sensory perceptions and our thoughts. The fact that we can't prove what the color red looks like or that we have a conscious mind or that we love someone doesn't make them not real. We experience the reality of these things concretely and immediately, so no abstract proof is required. Any attempt to prove them leaves you with something less real and less convincing than the thing itself. Look at God himself -- he doesn't bother with abstract proofs. He just says I AM and leaves it at that.
What the heck does this mean? What's the difference between "directly experience" and "perceive via the senses"?
You: Honestly, I have a hard time taking this answer seriously, what would you call that kind of need? I only know humans, I cannot be worried about being judged for having rational thoughts based on my experiences in life.
We are all creatures “in” space/time. We have very limited sensory perception and our mental abilities are finite. Space/time is finite.
Cosmic microwave background radiation measurements since the 1960’s consistently agree that space/time is expanding, that there was a beginning of real space and real time in this universe. That was the most theological statement ever to come out of modern science (Jastrow) – “In the beginning” (Genesis 1, John 1)
In the absence of space, things cannot exist.
In the absence of time, events cannot occur.
Physical causality requires space and time. Indeed, all physical cosmologies (multi-verse, multi-world, imaginary time, cyclic, ekpyrotic, etc.) rely on space/time for physical causation. That is the poison pill to atheism.
There had to be an uncaused cause of space/time and therefore, physical causation. And the only candidate for uncaused cause is God.
So even if a person has no spiritual discernment whatsoever – no “ears to hear” – still, if he is a rational thinker and cares to think about the evidence as objectively as he can, he will conclude that God is and also, that man cannot measure Him, cannot put Him under a microscope, observe Him with a telescope, draw pictures of Him or subject Him to mortal judgments, etc.
He might be Deist, he might think that God started it and then walked away or ceased to exist, he might rationalize Him in Platonic or Aristotlean terms or vague philosophies or mysticisms - but the evidence is so great, the rational man would not ignore it.
Those who do ignore the evidence are the type 1 atheists in my post #45. Marxism is fueled by them precisely because they are not rational thinkers.
What about The High Order of Proselytizing Atheists or the Anarchists United for a Stronger Government?
One cannot escape Reality....especially there is no escaping the One who is Ultimate Reality.
However, WHOSOEVER calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Thank you so very much for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!
Thank you so much for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!
Or how about thought itself? When you talk to yourself, who is "speaking"? Who is "hearing"? With what "ear" do you hear yourself think?
Imagine you have been given a powerful anesthetic that has left your entire body perfectly numb. You are then masked, equipped with a breathing tube, and placed in a sensory-deprivation tank, floating perfectly still in the darkness, masked and numb yet fully conscious as you lie suspended in body temperature salt water.
You cannot see, hear, feel, touch, taste, smell, or otherwise perceive anything with your senses -- yet you remain conscious, aware, and awake. Now, ask yourself: what can I know for certain while I am in this condition?
Those things which can be known for certain without recourse to the senses constitute that which is known by direct experience. As you float there in the tank, you can know certainly that you exist -- yet you know this by direct experience, not from your senses. You do not "feel" yourself existing, nor do you touch, taste, or smell your own existence; you simply ARE. You experience your existence directly. You do not "sense" yourself; you ARE yourself. Cogito, ergo sum.
Christianity is easily disproven. All of its prophecies have failed to materialize. Christianity doesn't have a single accurate verifiable prophecy that has been fulfilled. Christianity is falsified.
But like AGW alarmists, the falsification of their models makes them even more strident. Cognitive dissonance hurts. Cognitive dissonance is also why the Moslems hate the west.
I’ve heard some atheists say that the existence of horror and evil in the world “adds more flavor to life”. I find that to be a disgusting statement, I don’t know if you feel the same.
There are so many other challenges that humanity could be facing without having to deal with crime, poverty, and insanity. We could be traveling to the stars right now! It angers me that there is basically no chance whatsoever of one day seeing a civilization that treats all of its members with utmost respect and awe and whose only true concern is progress and adventure. That day will never come.
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