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To: Dutch-Comfort
I thought I had given you a syllogism, so I back-tracked and looked up the word in the dictionary:
Syllogism- a deductive scheme of a formal argument consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion (as in "every virtue is laudable; kindness is a virtue; therefore kindness is laudable")
2 : a subtle, specious, or crafty argument

My apologies, I perhaps was insufficient in my presentation. Allow me to try again. Let us start first with a hypothetical:

For the sake of discussion lets say that we have a stone of infinite size.

Major Premise: The smooth red Stone exists and its size is infinite (unknowable)
Minor Premise: We can feel its texture, see its color
Conclusion: Its possible to know the stone without knowing its size


Now on to the more complicated real life syllogism:

Major Premise: God exists, he transcends all understanding. He put skin on and came to earth to know us in the person of Jesus Christ, he divinely gave us his will in the Bible so that we can know him.
Minor Premise: We can know him because he was a person and walked a mile in our shoes, and because he speaks to us in his divine writings
Conclusion: We can have a personal relationship with the Living God, as the infinite reached down to touch us through the personhood of Jesus.


It may have been a mistake to bring in mathematics to the discussion, as it is so easy to get sidetracked on whole other topics. I brought it in because it seemed like a simple way to explain the concept. (I started it so I will finish it, but I will try not to go on too long)

I respectfully disagree with you that limits are finite. They are a mathematical method of assessing the infinite, yet by definition they are infinite.

An example:
sin(x) = (2 x / pi) ((4 - y) / 3)(( 16 - y) / 5) ((36 - y) / 35) ...(((2 n)^2 - y) / ((2 n)^2 - 1)) ....

The dots mean it goes on to infinity. Through analysis of limits mathematics we know it equals the sin of x.
Major Premise would be that the limit is equal to sin (x), minor premise would be we can assign a value to the infinite for practical purposes, conclusion it is possible to know the infinite to a degree (because as you point out it is an approximation.)

I must say, I was a little taken aback regarding your comment that I wasn’t familiar with the teachings of Christ, what the peace of God transcending all understanding has to do with it, and I confess I don’t know what issues you are talking about regarding the Talmud

I would like to close with a word picture type story (apologies if you have heard it):

Two men are vying for the affections of a wealthy man’s daughter. One man is a scientist, the other is an engineer. The culture is such that the father arranges the marriage, and the father just can not decide between the two....so he sets up a test. They arrange the wedding at a football stadium. the daughter is in her wedding dress in the home team’s end zone, standing just past the goal line. The scientist and the engineer stand on the visitors goal line. The father lays out the ‘test’ to allow the most clever man to be his new son in law. He lays out the rules: I will blow this whistle at which time each of you can move half the distance to the goal. The first man to kiss my daughter will be her husband. He blows the whistle once... the engineer moves to the 50 yd line, the scientist stays put. Blows it again, the engineer is on the 25 yd line, the scientist stays put smiling.

...so the father calls time out, goes up to the scientist and says:”Don’t you want to marry my daughter? what gives?” The scientist explains: “I am the most clever man. I can see the solution, that by moving half the distance, one will always be the half of some distance away, one will never get to your daughter that way; I wait here, as moving forward won’t get me to her, and you likely will bring her to me as the most clever man, as I have figured out your riddle”. So the Father asks the engineer, “what do you say?”..the engineer replies,” I will get there, for all practical purposes”

......I would surmise sir, that you are a scientist of some sort. Finite small beings like us may not be able to know the unsearchable depths of God, but I invite you to take a few practical step forwards through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and get to know him in a practical way.
103 posted on 10/30/2002 7:15:21 AM PST by Scarlet_Pimpernil
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