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Author Topic: Atheism and Christianity II
DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490

posted 03 November 2004 01:29 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Continue from here.
From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
remind
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6289

posted 03 November 2004 01:51 AM      Profile for remind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Main Entry: om·ni·scient
Pronunciation: -sh&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: New Latin omniscient-, omnisciens, back-formation from Medieval Latin omniscientia
1 : having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight
2 : possessed of universal or complete knowledge
- om·ni·scient·ly adverb

Main Entry: om·ni·pres·ent
Pronunciation: -z&nt
Function: adjective
: present in all places at all times

Energy which enlivens "all" things containing protons, electrons and neutrons. Energy which self determines ITself, that is indestructable and cannot be created.

All this is based upon infinite or eternity, a concept that the human mind can barely conceive of, as exampled by comments ascribing human characteristics upon a label of absolute energy some call God.


From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
Rufus Polson
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3308

posted 03 November 2004 08:07 PM      Profile for Rufus Polson     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Well, the continuity loss seems to have quieted this down a lot. Shamelessly putting fuel back on the fire, I'd like to repost something.

Contrarian had said

quote:
As I will continue to repeat; God is not a material being, and you are not going to find physical evidence that She exists, because She is not a material being. The idea is that God created all material things, but God Herself is not material, but spiritual. You can decide whether or not to believe in God, but don't expect physical proof.

And I responded:
This always strikes me as protesting too much. Both the new and old testament derive much of their force from their claims of large scale material interventions on the part of God. From smiting cities to floods to rains of blood to loaves and fishes and water to wine, not to mention stars accompanied by choirs of angels telling all the shepherds to go see so they could testify later, the religious texts have God doing all kinds of material stuff.
The medieval tradition was equally strong on material intervention as a basis of belief, with stories of miracles in the lives of saints a staple of religious understanding (and entertainment).

But nowadays it's always "Oh, God would never do anything so gauche as give evidence of his existence. Please! This religion business has some standards, and actual evidence would undermine faith!"
Well, it never seemed to bother anyone back in the old days when it was hard to debunk any wild tales anyone might spin. Then it was all "Yeah, and God's a big deal 'cuz he smites major league, and when he's in a good mood he feeds people, and his son came around and brought a guy back to life and stuff!"

To this day, you find spiritual healing and miracles dominating faith-based approaches to religion anywhere that standards of evidence aren't very good. In places where miraculous claims are readily debunked, faith-alone approaches predominate and religion becomes much more civilized. But it also becomes a smaller part of society, as people increasingly don't find that to be enough reason for strong belief--or perhaps conclude that if personal faith is the basis of religion, then organized structures are irrelevant to it. Or both.


From: Caithnard College | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Phileas Fop
recent-rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7100

posted 03 November 2004 09:13 PM      Profile for Phileas Fop     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Question
If God is not a material entity as is quoted, then how is it possible for God to have a gender?
And why would God, an all powerful spirtual whatever require a gender.....unless....
Does God do the dirty thing? Huh?

From: aloft | Registered: Oct 2004  |  IP: Logged
DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490

posted 04 November 2004 01:40 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
It's likely due to our (humans') limited viewpoints. The majority of us are born with one gender or another; this contributes to the binary gender paradigm through which much of society views things. So God is seen as "She" or "He", rather than "It".

Conceiving of a dual-gender God creates confusion in language.


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Rufus Polson
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3308

posted 04 November 2004 04:09 AM      Profile for Rufus Polson     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yeah, plus "it" is a pronoun not normally associated with sentient beings, so people may feel it's vaguely impolite to use it for the Top Being.
From: Caithnard College | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Briguy
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1885

posted 04 November 2004 09:08 AM      Profile for Briguy     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
We should remember that it has a very thin skin.
From: No one is arguing that we should run the space program based on Physics 101. | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged
remind
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6289

posted 04 November 2004 11:24 PM      Profile for remind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
IT is an acceptable title.

And really what is sentient? Everything most certainly knows what IT is! Except perhaps humans.


From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged

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