On Wed, Jun 11, 2003 at 09:04:49AM -0500, Ronn!Blankenship wrote: > At 12:25 AM 6/10/03 -0400, Erik Reuter asked: > >Does God exist? > > > > Yes. > > (The proof is left as an exercise for the reader.)
In other words, you have no evidence. That's irrational. > > > > >Does Allah exist? > >Does Zeus exist? > >Does Odin exist? > > > > I'm not saying that this is what I believe, or that it is the only > possibility, but could these perhaps be alternative names for the same > being, with the apparent differences between them perhaps being due to the > limited understanding of the men who described them? Most of them would not agree. And why did they get it so wrong and so different? The simplest answer is that it is all made-up fantasy. > If there is more than one being who holds the office of "God", why wouldn't > they cooperate rather than compete? Because many religious people have said they compete? You've never read about Greek and Roman gods? > Based on what I know, I believe so. But you presented no empirical evidence in the form of a repeatable experiment that anyone can do. So this is just your irrational fantasy.. > (Besides, there's always Pascal's wager to consider.) Absurd. I say there are thousands of entities who will give you an afterlife, but only if they are the strongest when you die (they are always competing for top dog/god and the places flip-flop) . Unfortunately, each entity requires a separate and often conflicted tribute during your life in order to get the afterlife. Of course my version is absurd too. That's the point. There are an infinite number of such possible wagers, and you have no empirical evidence to show which one is correct. > > >Does God listen to your prayers? > > Yes. If He's really busy, you'll get His voice mail and He'll get back to > you. Can you provide empirical evidence and a repeatable experiment that I can perform to verify your assertion? Otherwise you are essentially claiming the same as that invisible pink unicorns that are undetectable roam around us all the time and listen to what we say. Absurd and irrational. > >Is God immortal, omnipotent, and omniscient? > > > As different people use those terms in different ways, you will have to > define them more precisely before the question can be answered. Take the first dictionary definition you find (i.e., the one labeled 1. in the most handy dictionary) and use that. I'm sure that will adequately define it. > >Did God create the world? > > Yes. Lots of others, too. And you can determine this in a repeatable experiment? How do you know it wasn't created by a bunch of white mice who are really super-intelligent? > Obviously He did, as that is the way it appears. It doesn't mean that > those things aren't as they appear, either. Only obviously to a irrational person. Considering the infinite variety of untestable "creation" fantasies that have equivalent expletive power. > > Big Bang best explanation? > So far as we know now, yes. Many religious people have claimed otherwise. > >Did Christ die and come back to life? > > Yes. Irrational. These things just don't happen in the world we live in. > >Have you ever eaten a part of the body of Christ or drank of his blood? > > Probably, along with atoms which were once part of the bodies or blood of > numerous other historical figures. Cute. Surely you knew the intent of the question. And you surely know that many literalists claim that they have. > > Do you have an immortal soul? > Last time I checked, I did. (So do you, FWIW.) Irrational. It is unreasonable to say that a specific type of an infinite number of possibilities exists, and you know it, but you have no repeatable experimental test of it. > >What are its other properties? > > I don't know what the physical properties of the spirit are. About all I > do know is that if I encountered the spirit of someone I had known while > they were alive in mortality, I would recognize that person. Irrational. > >Are Christian Scientists who refuse proven medical treatment for > >their child's chronic illness behaving rationally? > > They think so. Personally, I believe that God approves of doctors, > and indeed has made it possible for some wo/men to become doctors and > to learn how to care for the bodies we have while in this stage of our > lives. Yes or no question, but apparently you are afraid of the answer? I guess it is tough for one irrational person to say that another person is irrational. Shame. > >Do miracles (i.e., phenomena that cannot be explained scientifically) > >occur? > > Sometimes, with the caveat that science does not claim to be able to > explain everything at the current time. Your caveat doesn't answer the question, because it didn't say "are currently explainable scientifically". It said "cannot be explained scientifically". Let me make it more clear, since you are obviously trying to wiggle out of it. "will never be able to be explained scientifically" > >Did God disapprove of Galileo? > > IMO, no. So it was irrational behavior for the church to treat him as it did. > >Should a woman be allowed to be a priest? A bishop? The pope? > > If you are asking about the Catholic church specifically, I have no > opinion, having never been a Catholic. I don't see why it matters whether you are in the Catholic church or not whether you have an opinion on whether women should have equal rights to men. But you surely see the intent of the question. Substitute the authority figures for your church and then answer the question. > If you are asking whether women will ever be ordained to the > Priesthood: if and when God decides that that should happen, He will > inform the appropriate authorities of His wishes. How do you determine whether someone is the appropriate authority, and whether they are correctly relaying god's will to you? > I suspect that there are some parts which qualify as both, as Jesus > often used parables to teach important truths when He was preaching > while He was here in mortality. How do you know which parts are which? -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.net/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
