(February 12, 2011 at 10:43 pm)OnlyNatural Wrote: [quote='Matthew' pid='117313' dateline='1297467323']
a belief that is arrived at immediately by God's revelation rather than by argument.
I'd love to know what form these revelations take, and whether or not there could be a more likely alternative explanation for them. [/quote]
So is wanting to defecate...any child can do that....are your "revelations like this?? If so then your whole notion of 'God revealing Himself' is a rather childish one
(February 12, 2011 at 10:43 pm)OnlyNatural Wrote: [quote='Matthew' pid='117313' dateline='1297467323']So when you say that belief in God is not rational, do you mean your own personal subjective standard of rationality? If so, why should it make any difference to me whether you think that my beliefs are rational? In other words, why have we had a conversation about rationality?
Like I said:
Quote:a core element of rationality is that rational beliefs correspond most closely to the actual structure of reality, and are grounded in as much evidence as possible.
The more this is true about your beliefs, the more rational they are. Is this really a subjective standard of rationality? I think you understand perfectly well what 'rational' means, except when it comes to your religious beliefs. Rationality must be twisted or suspended to accommodate such beliefs. [/quote]
This does seem plausible Mathew ...a further demonstration of the infantilism that is religious belief...alot like still believing in Santa Claus @ age 50
(February 12, 2011 at 10:43 pm)OnlyNatural Wrote: [quote='Matthew' pid='117220' dateline='1297436905']Quote:The point is that the basic belief of 'there is a God' is not necessary.Not necessary for what?
Mathew...are you stating here that you do not believe in a god??
(February 12, 2011 at 10:43 pm)OnlyNatural Wrote: For anything. We can explain pretty much everything in a naturalistic way at this point in our history. And if there's something we don't yet understand, there's no need to fill in those gaps with God. We'll probably discover more about the world in the future. I think our tendency to jump to conclusions and look for an absolute answer that explains everything is probably because we're uncomfortable with uncertainty.
Would agree there...for some reason humanity want absolute assurances that today will be exactly the same as yesterday....funniest thing about life ...THERE ARE NO GUARENTEES
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
