Subject:
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Re: Critical Thinking
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 6 Dec 2000 04:44:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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796 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Jon Kozan writes:
> > > snippage
> > > Those of us who accept God, also recognize that me force you to accept
> > > anything, but rather, will engage in discussions to attempt to explore your
> > > positions with you, and too - help you see the cars that we see.
> >
> > If someone has a completely adequate understanding of theology, and remains
> > agnostic or atheist, IMHO it is pointless to continually badger them about
> > the reality of God. Ultimately belief relies on faith, an irrational
> > attribute that should not be part of .debate discussions, although it may
> > inform the position that someone takes.
>
> That's precisely the position I'm arguing against. Faith is not a blind
> irrational element. Faith is based on the seen and experienced.
> If I have confidence in an object - say a chair - to support my weight, I have
> faith in it. The faith is not without both substance and belief.
I disagree. Faith, for me, is a subjective experience that only really makes
sense to the individual. An individual's faith may be based in religious
tradition or a community of worship, but ultimately belief depends on the
individual. Unless you believe the whole world is created as you imagine it,
you have faith in the chair because you can perceive it in the physical
universe. Because it has a tangible reality, other people can also perceive
it. Since God is not a part of the physical universe, and in fact it demeans
God to assert that God is, God cannot be described in the same way as
anything on the human scale of reality. Any "God-experience" is of a totally
different kind from our experience of the mundane (although our worldly life
may be enriched by our spiritual life), and God-faith and chair-faith are
qualitatively distinct.
--DaveL
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Critical Thinking
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| (...) That's precisely the position I'm arguing against. Faith is not a blind irrational element. Faith is based on the seen and experienced. If I have confidence in an object - say a chair - to support my weight, I have faith in it. The faith is (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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