RE: The Kalam Cosmological argument.
January 6, 2024 at 12:05 pm
(This post was last modified: January 6, 2024 at 12:11 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
It would be extremely unwise to tie a cosmological argument to any specific brand of theism. For example, some Christian’s take a position on the Big Bang because they believe it supports their view of creation ex nihilo. It doesn’t…but let’s run with it. If it is on the force of this evidence that a Christian may believe, then would those Christian’s abandon Christianity for Hinduism or any of the many contemporary forms of paganism should the evidence for what caused the Big Bang lead to a cyclical universe?
To a great extent, that’s how the only successful argument gets there. By positing nothing about the nature of god or a list of its actions in the world. Each of those specific claims are vulnerabilities. Mortal ones, thus far. Did it create the universe? Unnecessary to the status of its existence. Out of nothing or something? Again, a sideline that adds nothing but additional avenues for defeat. Must things begin to exist, or begin to exist a certain way through explicit inference? Even more fundamental difficulties to argue on that one than the status of any whatsit in existence.
Does any of that really matter, though? Do believers actually consider these things when they…allegedly….rationalize their faiths? Or do “arguments for gods” serve the same social and cognitive purpose as cantrips, spells, and ritual incantation?
To a great extent, that’s how the only successful argument gets there. By positing nothing about the nature of god or a list of its actions in the world. Each of those specific claims are vulnerabilities. Mortal ones, thus far. Did it create the universe? Unnecessary to the status of its existence. Out of nothing or something? Again, a sideline that adds nothing but additional avenues for defeat. Must things begin to exist, or begin to exist a certain way through explicit inference? Even more fundamental difficulties to argue on that one than the status of any whatsit in existence.
Does any of that really matter, though? Do believers actually consider these things when they…allegedly….rationalize their faiths? Or do “arguments for gods” serve the same social and cognitive purpose as cantrips, spells, and ritual incantation?
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