(April 6, 2016 at 12:25 pm)robvalue Wrote: I don't think any debate between us is going to be productive. We don't share enough common ground with the most basic assumptions...It's nothing personal.
I understand. I'm not particularly interested in convincing anyone or winning a debate. This may not apply to you specifically, but many AF members, atheists and theists alike, end up talking past one another simply because they have completely different starting points - not about God's existence or the authority of Scripture per se - but the underlying pre-commitments they hold even before those questions come up.
Lately, I've been more interested in recognizing those differences about fundamental assumptions, because without a shared understanding of the basics, you are right, nothing much will be accomplished. At the same time, you seem to believe that you have outlined all the reasons why, for example, you think Aquinas fails. Those conclusions may rightly follow from a specific set of assumptions other than those made within the Scholastic tradition. You would not make those objections if you did not believe your fundamental assumptions were better ones, true? As for me, I always ask if the assumptions I make in one area, like theology, have wider implications to other areas like science, ethics, and aesthetics. You may not believe this but I was not always a believer, much less a student of Swedenborg. I changed to have a somewhat cohesive philosophy of life. I try to use the same basic assumptions across the board which is why I am no longer an atheist.
