RE: On Hell and Forgiveness
September 5, 2018 at 3:45 pm
(This post was last modified: September 5, 2018 at 3:48 pm by Amarok.)
Quote:Depends on the nature of the witness and report. I've already noted a difference between witnesses for God and for garden gnomes.No you didn't you just pulled special pleading from out of your ass
(September 5, 2018 at 2:57 pm)polymath257 Wrote:Hilarious he goes on about assertions when that's Steve does assertions long winded smart sounding assertions then accuses you of being ignorant by displaying his own ignorance(September 5, 2018 at 1:36 pm)SteveII Wrote: Livy? Was he making claims about things of which he had personal knowledge? No. So...you don't have a comparison to the 27 books of the NT. You have only proved my point that you don't know what you are talking about in your offhand dismissal of the NT.
"To exist *means to be in the universe" ??? Really? That is a metaphysical claim that you can not know anything about.
If garden gnomes have magical abilities, you are positing contingent/emergent magical properties that the universe somehow caused but are not bound by the universe's laws. Science says that is impossible. Your own worldview says that is impossible. Why would I take seriously an impossible analogy? No offence, but between this and the "exists" comment, you don't seem to be equipped to argue metaphysical concepts.
Your last paragraph is just filled with assertions and proof that you don't know anything about the NT or early church history. It is a fitting end to your series of missteps in support of your 'delusion' argument.
On the contrary, the books of the NT were *not* written by eye-witnesses. Except for some writings attributed to Paul (but not all of them!), we have little knowledge of who actually wrote the texts. They were certainly not written by the attributed authors. So, no, they did not have personal knowledge. They were reporting what others said.
Let's ask the question: what does it mean to 'exist'? Give me an answer to *that* and we can then define the 'universe' and only then deal with your question.
How exactly does science say that contingent magical beings are impossible? What, precisely, is the role of contingency here?
My position is that any talk about contingency is a red-herring. It isn't something science actually *ever* deals with.
And my knowledge of the first 500 years of the Bible is decent (but certainly not perfect). I stand by what I said until you can give specific reasons to think otherwise.
Seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy -- myself.
Inuit Proverb
Inuit Proverb