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Our role(s) as Christians on Atheist Forums
#45
RE: Our role(s) as Christians on Atheist Forums
The question rests on a couple of assumptions that I must address first to provide context for my answer.

The first assumption is that people form beliefs entirely in response to external inputs, as if, mental life was simply a reaction to the world and not a participation within it. I.e. the notion that someone does not, in any meaningful way, choose his beliefs; but rather, he is compelled by experience and reflection to hold certain beliefs.

For example, upon reading a book or watching an online video, and assuming the points made in them seem reasonable, he is led inexorably to draw the same conclusions as the author/maker and beliefs take root in his mind until displaced after someone else makes a more compelling case or upon further reflection he determines that the arguments are not as sound as they initially appeared. In other words, the question seems to exclude the possibility of choice in what one believes. The second assumption is that various ideas have definable degrees of certainty. Those deemed, by rational analysis, most likely to be true, dictate what one must believe. I reject both assumptions.

The human condition is such that everyone is at every moment confronted with his or her own existence must decide how to interact with a world that seems wholly Other. I completely agree with Sartre that “Man is condemned to be free.” As such, if I wanted, I could change any of my initial assumptions at any time for no reason at all. And if I did then I would have to face the subsequent nihilism entailed by making a different existential choice. So I ask myself if it would be wise to do so?

I have adopted a set of basic principles, specifically that the world has an intelligible order, that sensory evidence is generally reliable and self-correcting, and that human reason is effective. I have also chosen to accept my innate sense that there is a Divine reality with which I have an I-Thou relationship, i.e. I am not truly alienated from the world. None of the above beliefs are rational, in the sense that there is no rational reason to trust either reason or instinct. However, these beliefs are self-consistent and mutually supportive in a way that rejecting all or some of those foundational beliefs cannot be. And as such, I have come to believe that the existence of God logically follows from those initial beliefs.

So the direct answer is this. No demonstration, argument or evidence would be required to change my most basic principles. They are articles of faith that I have freely chosen and from which I reason. I am free to believe or not believe for any reason or no reason at all. That said, I am however, open to be shown that a world without God does not necessarily lead to nihilism. That would change the calculus.
<insert profound quote here>
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RE: Our role(s) as Christians on Atheist Forums - by Neo-Scholastic - May 14, 2018 at 1:35 pm



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