(June 5, 2010 at 5:16 pm)Caecilian Wrote: I've numbered the points for easy reference.Ad 1. If god has no explanatory power, than the allegedly divinely inspired bible has no explanatory power since it is the word of god. So it cannot explain anything to the reader that was intended by god. Any explanation about the reality we live in, that the reader reads from it, must be delusional. That includes perceived understanding of the teleological nature of reality.
1. Does something have to have explanatory power to be meaningful? I don't really see how that follows.
2. Yeah...If 'god' is uncertain, then anything supervening on a description that includes 'god' is also uncertain. We end up being uncertain about way too much. In some versions ('god is the universe') we end up being uncertain about everything. Not good. Unsure how the mystical vapour would help here- looks like a lost cause to me.
3. Well, it turned out to be a correct guess, anyway.
4. Representing other peoples views is always a tricky business. Especially when you strongly disagree with the views that you're representing.
Ad 2. Let's be clear, it seems a basket case to me too, Caecilian. But gods are made of rubber. You can bend 'm any way you like, any time. My statement is that with the illogical characteristics of the supernatural as a basic tool *anybody* can twist any inconsistencies with reality to fit in no time. In fact this has been done all over the planet for centuries. You find million year old fossils? No problem, god stuck 'm there as old as they are. You say that the universe has a bigger radius than 4000 lightyears? No problem, god made it look that way to us. You say there is genocide in the bible? No problem, it's all just metaphorical. Any way, any time, no problem at all.
Ad 3. As for now. Still it is inconsistent with "no explanatory power".
Ad 4. Yep, I can only agree. And by the noble art of dodging, bending, strecthing it's easy to create a moving target that is even less easy to nail down.
"I'm like a rabbit suddenly trapped, in the blinding headlights of vacuous crap" - Tim Minchin in "Storm"
Christianity is perfect bullshit, christians are not - Purple Rabbit, honouring CS Lewis
Faith is illogical - fr0d0
Christianity is perfect bullshit, christians are not - Purple Rabbit, honouring CS Lewis
Faith is illogical - fr0d0