Science limits itself to its proper role. Yeah, yeah, every now and then there are some trespasses – but never within five orders of magnitude of the trespasses by religion against science!
Shrug. Maybe so. Which church, by the way? Do the gods reveal themselves to Hindus, too? Do the Buddhists actually get the attention of the spirits by spinning prayer wheels? There are so very many religions, most of which are mutually incompatible. How does anyone know to pick the right one?
As I recall, you can feel it in your heart, that it is right.
I was with you till your last 2 sentences.
I don’t know what, if anything created the universe, and if it was god, what created god, but it is illogical for something to come to exist when nothing existed before. So till you can prove how the universe came to be, you cannot definitely say there is no god.
For all you know, a being created us, as we create cities and characters on a computer, but that leads to the question of what created that being, ad infinitum.
Once upon a time, my heart told me that a woman loved me, but it was wrong.
That’s simply wrong. You may not like the idea, but there’s nothing illogical about it.
I can say that there’s no god as definitely as I can say there’s no werewolves, Santa Claus, Sauron or goblins. Religion doesn’t deserve a special standard of proof just for itself.
Interesting. I’ve not had these experiences. Would you mind to describe the mechanism for this revelation as best you can? Perhaps illustrated with an example, as specific or general as you’d like.
Also, I understand intuition to mean direct perceptions of truth and fact, independent of any reasoning process. Do you mean that God delivers the correct answers to you, or that religious study enables one to make the correct decisions on their own? Or another meaning?
Can you definitely say there is a God, on this basis?
What you should do is ethics. Science does not claim to be able to make ethical decisions. On the other hand, if you wanted to study what people do in general in that situation, you could interview people who have made the choice, you can give people questionnaires, or you could run some kind of simulation studies. Every university has a human subjects board, which might look askance at using live ammo.
And, if someone claims that the answer lies in a book inspired by a god with certain characteristics and certain interactions with people can tell you if it is likely that these claims are true.
MIT, by the way, has a very good philosophy department, and I took ethics there.
Ah, but if God sent down lightning and killed the marines on the way up. it must be for the best.
On the other hand, it makes making ethical decisions easier both by giving people the knowledge they need to make a fact-based decision, and by increasing their options.
That’s where belonging to a church is important. It’s important that the church has a rational view of Christianity and helpful people. Once you start sharing your experiences with God, you begin to have a better sense of God’s nature.
And how do you know if a church has a rational view of Christianity?
pchaos, what is your current definition of the word “rational”? You’ve had trouble with the meaning of the word earlier, and I’d like to know what the current status is.
I understand that most people think of logical and rational as being somewhat similar. However, for me this is not helpful.
I modify the terms as follows:
What the vast majority of people believe is logical.
What a significant minority of people believe is rational.
What doesn’t fit into 1) and 2) above is irrational.
If this is the basis for your arguments, then there’s really no point in discussing anything with you. Your view of The Way Things Are is too warp… er… unique.
Perhaps, but it is rational as I’ve defined the terms.
What brand of church did Christ attend?
Have you ever actually opened a dictionary in your life?
Actually, I’m not sure. There are some that dispute that Jesus Christ even existed.
Thank you Humpty, that basically explains everything.
Are you some, or are you you? What is your opinion?