(November 6, 2016 at 4:25 pm)ParagonLost Wrote: One thing I don't understand is your constant rejection of God.
That term is confusing. I do not constantly reject God. I came to the realization that he does not exist and have not found a reason to change my mind.
As for defining terms, it seems to me that for most people God is a person, a living being with a mind and personality all his own. He exists outside of our reality but he can interact with our universe because he created it. He created it with humanity in mind and is concerned with how we behave in this life so that he can determine how to treat us when we die and cross over into another realm of existence.
The other concepts of God seem much more personal in nature and don't seem concerned with what we do in our bedrooms or what we teach our children in Biology 101. Those aren't the Gods that wrote the books that tell us that killing is bad except when it's okay (and similar pearls of wisdom) nor are they the Gods that people shout out to when they're flying airplanes into buildings. I don't know if those Gods exist and I'm not interested in figuring it out because conventional religious beliefs are difficult enough to untangle even after thousands of years of concerted effort.
As for personal evidence or visions or dreams or similar things... David Berkowitz shot and killed six people because his neighbor's dog told him to. For all I know, he is convinced that this happened and that it is a rock solid FACT. I suspect that most people just think he's insane. Others may decide to interpret his visions for him and claim that it was a wicked spirit that made him see these things. But that just points out a problem with such "evidence." Paul warned the Christians of Corinth that Satan "masquerades as an angel of light" and that "his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness." How do you know your personal witness of God was not Satan's deception? I have no doubt that Christians of other denominations believe that you are following the wrong version of your faith and thus your evidence is false and planted by God's enemies to lead you astray. And many of them would be just as sincere and devout as you, and just as convinced that they're right.
How would I know which of you has received the testimony of Jesus Christ via such an experience, and which one has been mislead by a false angel?
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
