Quote:
Originally posted by IROC
The point is that there is physical, measurable evidence that air exists. There is no physical, measurable evidence that god exists. It would be illogical to believe that something exists for which there is no physical evidence. Unicorns, for example. Alot has been written throughout history about unicorns, but there is no physical evidence that they actually exist (or existed). I, myself, have come to the conclusion that unicorns probably do not exist. Can I prove that? No.
Lots of people have "faith" in things, but that doesn't make it true. Can I prove them wrong? No. Can I prove that Scientology is wrong? No. Does that make it true? No.
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Your analysis is correct as far as it goes, but I respectully submit that you are missing something and that you rely more on faith than you realize, even as you demand physical evidence on which to form your beliefs.
As I discussed a few pages back, the only thing that humans can prove is that we exist. This truth is self evident because we have to exist in order to form the question of whether we do exist and to be curious about the world around us. Anything beyond that requires us to rely on our perception of reality, which may be faulty.
We can't prove that we are not in The Matrix where all of our perceptions are controled by computers. It is unlikely this is true, and we are able to form opinions and make judgments based on our perceptions, but it requires a leap of faith to even rely on those perceptions.
So the best that is available under the human condition is to observe what we perceive around us and make deductions from those perceptions to arrive at our final judgment on all of the issues that are presented to us.
Some people deduce the existance of the physical world around them and stop there because they do not perceive evidence of anything beyond what we know of this physical world. Others divine the existance of a higher being from the same set of data. Neither can be proven to the satisfaction of the unconvinced.
I personally think I can deduce the existance of a Christian God from my perceptions of the world around me. My theory is that God put us here in part to give us the chance to figure it out. Perhaps we are in a pupa stage now and we have to go through death to metamophasize into whatever we turn into for eternity, and what we are next is based on what we believed and how we judged ourselves and others here in this world.
I believe it because it makes sense to me. Others think I'm a screeming looney, although I rarely screem (in public) and I don't usually explain my philosophy in detail, so most people base their judgment of me on my Porsche obsession. They may be right, but I also believe that doubt is a necessary element of faith, and that God wants us to question and have doubt because the more we wrestle with the question and still come up with the right answer the more valuable our decision is.
By the way, my Christian tradition is Methodist on both sides of my family. Other than being cold water temperance folk, its a pretty well adjusted religion. You might want to look into Methodism if you are troubled with many of the excesses attributed generically to "The Church" and wonder how thinking people could seriously join an organized religion and be believers. I've had a fair amount of experience with some Southern Baptist congregations and Catholic Churches. All I have seen are excellent; as the Good Book says, My Father's house has many rooms. Some are filled with doubters who still believe.