Betty, you had so much fun picking my comments apart, I almost hate to rain on your parade. But ...
In both instances where you ‘quoted’ ME, as though the ideas expressed were my own thoughts or beliefs, you were dead wrong.
The tip-off comes in your remark, “GOD must exist somewhere within such an infinity of Universes.” No He mustn’t — no more than Michelangelo “must exist” in the Sistine Chapel, or in his magnificent sculpture, David.
This was the point Aquinas was making: you wrote —
In the Universe, all things that exist are the product of other things that already existed. This progression cannot continue infinitely as there must be SOMETHING that existed as the first producer of whatever came next. This first producer ( ‘first cause’ ) we have all agreed to call ‘God’. Do you see the fallacy operating here ?
No, I don’t see the fallacy; I see logic at work.
In both instances, I was clearly paraphrasing or summarizing someone else’s ideas or arguments. In effect, you are arguing with the other guy( s) and leaving me out entirely.
In general, your entire response was an exercise in either willful or inadvertent misdirection. You were responding to what someone ELSE thought, which I quoted for reference, NOT to what I thought and clearly presented as my own thoughts, separately.
If you’re going to conduct a reasoned argument to somehow counter mine, please try to do a better job of construction and attribution. I don’t believe you actually addressed what I said and thus I don’t have any basis to respond other than as I just did.
Care to try again ? I AM still listening ...
21stCenturion
What part of what you wrote is your own thought? Where did you present your thoughts elsewhere, "separately?"
Do you normally cite authorities whose arguments run counter to your own? I got the distinct impression that you were citing those with whom you agree — that's why you cited them. As corroborating evidence, a it were.
We can correct all this — just tell me what YOU think, and then we can take it from there! (Or refer me to the clear presentation which clearly I must have missed.)
Thanks for your reply, 21stCenturion!