Subject: Re: Music, religion, etc.
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Date: Tue Jan 11 2000 - 08:12:23 EST
In a message dated 1/10/00 10:50:39 PM Eastern Standard Time,
erespess@nji.com writes:
> "God put it there" is only simple to you, Jim, because you were
> raised to believe in God and live in a culture that supports that
> belief. Robbie (I think) made a good point in saying that believing
> in an all-supreme being that existed before existence and created
> something out of nothing is not a simple solution at all unless it is
> already part of your world view. I believe that there is an
> Unknowable Essence which some people refer to as God, but I agree
> with Robbie on this point.
Nah, the origin of a belief is pretty well irrelevant, especially in this
culture. I went to CCD until I was three, took my first communion, and was
an atheist at 12.
My point has to do with the "number of steps required to account for the
phenomena." That's the point of Occam's razor. We move quite simply back to
some kind of First Cause (Aristotle) and stop there. As opposed to modern
scientific theories.
Funny that the man who came up with the razor was an avowed Aristotelian
himself...
Arguing from experience only works one way, btw. You can't argue from
"non-experience." I haven't experienced George Thomas in Minnesota. But I'd
bet you there's at least one up there, and that he exists :) In other words,
lack of experience isn't proof of non-existence in the same way experience is
a proof of existence. And if you haven't had an experience, you can't
declare irrational the beliefs of those who do (as Robbie was doing).
Rather, you need to account rationally for the widespread, almost universal,
nature of the experience...
Jim
>
> >But I don't think belief in a God should be seen as "necessary" for any
> >reason until your personal experience requires you to believe.
>
> That is why I believe. I believe what I have experienced. So does
> Robbie. So does Jim. So does Lucy-Ruth (hi Lucy-Ruth). At least we
> all agree on that much. No one is telling anyone else what they have
> experienced. Let's try to keep that up, okay? I like this
> discussion. Hey JD, if you're reading, what do you believe?
>
> Elizabeth
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Mon Feb 28 2000 - 08:38:06 EST