One of the premises is that God is omniscient (all-knowing). Are you or anyone else who takes the same position as you on this particular argument claiming to know more than a being who is premised to be all knowing? If there is a being who is all knowing then it seems pretty arrogant to argue...
If by "speak" you mean an external audiable voice, then I would say none of the above. Though I will say that I did have a very clear, powerful, and internal (seeing in my mind and feeling with my emotions) while accompanied by an external physical experience that solidified my current faith in...
There appears to be many underlying assumptions and undefined terms in your above comments. How is "justified" defined? Why do you state that justification is only to be found in the realm of reason? How can you say that reason is the only way to gain knowledge?
For those who may be...
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How can you be sure that this world with it's current suffering (which is a subjective condition by the way) is not a better world than one without the possibility of suffering in it? I suppose another way of asking the question is how do you know that this is not the better world to...
" ...to argue against a religious belief based upon reason alone simply will not due since by it's definition,a religious claim is one that is claiming the existence of, or non-existence of (see next sentence), something that exists outside of our natural senses and thus reasoning abilities as...
did you come to this conclusion by reason alone?
There are limits to reason, as your reply above actually implies. As you may know, Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason tells us why. Our reasoning is filtered through our experiences and natural senses (sight, touch, smell, ect...) and thus our...
After actually reading through this entire thread perhaps this is as good as any other comment to reply to. :shrug:
How can you be sure that this world with it's current suffering (which is a subjective condition by the way) is not a better world than one without the possibility of suffering...
Value yes, hold up as an absolute standard for gaining all knowledge about every possible thing that may or may not exist...?.
do you hold to the belief that by reason alone we are able to gain access to and come to an understanding about all of reality? In other words, do you believe that...
Again, thank you for the links. After spending some time reading the provided links as well as reading several other web site and sources on the subject of the Geologic Column from both young earth and old earth perspectives I am intellectually honest and humble enough to state on this forum on...
thanks for the links, give me some time to review these as well as other literature/sources dealing with the subject matter brought up in the provided links. :)
"For we know in part...but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me..." (1 Corinthians 13:9-11)
"Therefore let us leave the elementary...
After thinking a bit more on your comments I have a couple of more questions.
What is your epistomological belief? In other words, given your atheist assumptions, how are we able to come to know about the law of identity and other laws of logic for that matter if they are immaterial and exist...
A
These two questions are related and can be answered the same way.
The author of Hebrews in discussing the superior nature of the 2nd covenant (i.e. through Jesus Christ) over the 1st (i.e. old testament written laws) states the following:
"...I will put my laws in their minds and write...
Because you are the first atheist I have come across who actually believes in something that is immaterial and actually exists outside of the universe. To me, this seems one step closer to the theistic view of life and one step away from the traditional atheistic view. At least the view I have...
-Well, I am sure many would dispute this claim, but seeing as this is not the topic of the thread...:)
a point of agreement :)
Of course your conclusion of a God who is not good might be justified if it could be shown that absolutely no good what so ever comes about from/as a result of...
This is called a sweeping generalization. The funny thing is, is that it is not generally fear that motivates many Christians, but rather joy and thankfullness. Just about the opposite of your claim. Go figure. :)
- Ok, so you do acknowledge that some things are irreducibly complex, unlike other atheists I have engaged in conversation with.
- I would add however, that purpose must be included as a criteria to detect intelligent design. The hooks for example show purpose as well.
- hummm... so what...
By "designed" do you mean something that is not intelligently designed (i.e. determining with a good degree of probability that something was not designed by an intelligence/mind)?