Before God...
91 wrote:
Vigilans wrote:
That's interesting. This is part of my problem with the Theistic explanation, or at least the Christian one. God cannot exist as a result of a contingent event, therefore creation starts with him. That still does not answer "why" however, which is the root of my intentions with this thread. A lot of theists describe the scientific explanation as not satisfactory because it does not answer "why", but I do not see how "God is necessary for existence" is a "more interesting answer" as many tend to put it
This is a very different question, I am sorry I did not see it in the OP. For myself, the answer 'God necessarily is' certainly does not answer the 'why' question at all. It provides the logical terminus to contingency and we have good reason to think that God, if he exists at all does so from brute necessity. When I probe the 'why' question the answer certainly is unsatisfactory, we may not be able to understand it, but that does not mean we cannot try. For myself, I like the view put forward by Richard Swinburne in 'The Intrinsic Probability of Theism'; he puts forward two sorts of necessary existence for God. The first, that God exists, because he must, that if he exists in one time, he therefor by definition ought to exist in all times. His other option is that God exists, because aside from his initial necessity, at all points after he exists contingently upon his continual choice to do so; that God furnishes himself with a purpose to continue existing. Both views are logically coherent and have their defenders and I am not sure which option I would pick.
@jackmt
I think the quotes in your post above are a bit messed up.
Is this directed to me? What quotes? How? Or is this just another ad hominem?
jackmt wrote:
Is this directed to me? What quotes? How? Or is this just another ad hominem?
The statement in your post above says '91 wrote' but I did not write it, it is actually from vigilans. I am not attacking you or taking issue with your comment, my point was purely procedural and I am just pointing out that the 'quote' bars in your post are inaccurate. My apologies if this was not immediately clear.
_________________
Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Before God there was the universe and everything in it, everyone going about there business, information being processed until it finally became self-aware and said let there be light. Endlessly repeating process. What's interesting is, while I learned this on an acid trip, it fits Roger Penrose's beautifully elegant idea that when the universe has reached maximum entropy after billions and billions of years it effectively becomes a point because without matter space loses dimension. As the last proton decays into energy, the big bang happens. Very very clever.
91 wrote:
This is a very different question, I am sorry I did not see it in the OP. For myself, the answer 'God necessarily is' certainly does not answer the 'why' question at all. It provides the logical terminus to contingency and we have good reason to think that God, if he exists at all does so from brute necessity. When I probe the 'why' question the answer certainly is unsatisfactory, we may not be able to understand it, but that does not mean we cannot try. For myself, I like the view put forward by Richard Swinburne in 'The Intrinsic Probability of Theism'; he puts forward two sorts of necessary existence for God. The first, that God exists, because he must, that if he exists in one time, he therefor by definition ought to exist in all times. His other option is that God exists, because aside from his initial necessity, at all points after he exists contingently upon his continual choice to do so; that God furnishes himself with a purpose to continue existing. Both views are logically coherent and have their defenders and I am not sure which option I would pick.
The fault would be mine then, for not being more apparent in my OP. Ultimately I just do not see a guiding intellect as a necessary element to existence. In some ways I see this as a form of solipsism. All of these metaphysical propositions about the nature of God and existence are interesting, but I do not see them as more satisfying then a scientific explanation that is subject to change; furthermore it is clearly outside the realm of science as I can think of no way to actually test and observe whether there is a God or not. Anecdotes can be made but proving a guiding intelligence is behind it all seems to be something that absolutely has to be taken on faith
jackmt wrote:
I withdraw
That is unfortunate as I had hoped to continue our discussion. Merry Christmas to you, in any case and I did read your post before, I apologize if I offended you with my reply earlier. My point however, I believe, stands, in that claiming "it requires more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe in God" is erroneous at best
_________________
Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu
Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many -Machiavelli
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do
I should have titled this thread "If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around..."
_________________
Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu
Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many -Machiavelli
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do
91 wrote:
jackmt wrote:
Is this directed to me? What quotes? How? Or is this just another ad hominem?
The statement in your post above says '91 wrote' but I did not write it, it is actually from vigilans. I am not attacking you or taking issue with your comment, my point was purely procedural and I am just pointing out that the 'quote' bars in your post are inaccurate. My apologies if this was not immediately clear.
Sorry, I was being too sensitive. I get that way every now and then and it sometimes takes me a while to recognize it.
fraac wrote:
Before God there was the universe and everything in it, everyone going about there business, information being processed until it finally became self-aware and said let there be light. Endlessly repeating process. What's interesting is, while I learned this on an acid trip, it fits Roger Penrose's beautifully elegant idea that when the universe has reached maximum entropy after billions and billions of years it effectively becomes a point because without matter space loses dimension. As the last proton decays into energy, the big bang happens. Very very clever.
Can you share out some of that acid please?
fraac wrote:
Before God there was the universe and everything in it, everyone going about there business, information being processed until it finally became self-aware and said let there be light. Endlessly repeating process. What's interesting is, while I learned this on an acid trip, it fits Roger Penrose's beautifully elegant idea that when the universe has reached maximum entropy after billions and billions of years it effectively becomes a point because without matter space loses dimension. As the last proton decays into energy, the big bang happens. Very very clever.
- That violates the second law of thermodynamics.
- Proton decay isn't known to occur. It has never been observed.
Vigilans wrote:
The fault would be mine then, for not being more apparent in my OP. Ultimately I just do not see a guiding intellect as a necessary element to existence. In some ways I see this as a form of solipsism. All of these metaphysical propositions about the nature of God and existence are interesting, but I do not see them as more satisfying then a scientific explanation that is subject to change; furthermore it is clearly outside the realm of science as I can think of no way to actually test and observe whether there is a God or not. Anecdotes can be made but proving a guiding intelligence is behind it all seems to be something that absolutely has to be taken on faith
Metaphysical concepts are also subject to change. I don't think a metaphysical position can be validated in the way that the scientific method talks about validation. I do think that discovered phenomena can reinforce a premise within an argument, making it more persuasive. There was a time, not all that long ago, that theology and philosophy was considered the most interesting of sciences. I personally think that post-modernism, rather than theism, did far more to change that. People I know of who have given up on philosophy have often done so because they don't think it is the pursuit of the objective; I would personally disagree. There is however, very little you can do, if someone builds a wall around 'science' to protect it from the post-modern concept that everything is subjective, people then tar theistic philosophy and theology with the same brush and it is a shame. The theistic view, that there are objective facts and that we are meant to discover them, does, in my view, support, 'The Intrinsic Probability of Theism' as discussed by Richard Swinburne.
_________________
Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
dmm1010 wrote:
fraac wrote:
Before God there was the universe and everything in it, everyone going about there business, information being processed until it finally became self-aware and said let there be light. Endlessly repeating process. What's interesting is, while I learned this on an acid trip, it fits Roger Penrose's beautifully elegant idea that when the universe has reached maximum entropy after billions and billions of years it effectively becomes a point because without matter space loses dimension. As the last proton decays into energy, the big bang happens. Very very clever.
- That violates the second law of thermodynamics.
- Proton decay isn't known to occur. It has never been observed.
Oh? I thought you knew? Before the universe there was the great brane that thought it would be immensely clever to create several great brains.
