Is There One Sound/valid Syllogistic Argument For The Existence Of God?

Don't hold your breath.


I actually understand that, which is why I don't jump on your comments and try to force you to apply them to the real universe.


I actually debated that in seminary, and managed to convince the audience that omniscience doesn't mean what they think it does.

I am not nearly as confused as I appear to be in this thread. I am deliberately not taking a position on a lot of things in order to not get forced into defending myself from all the people who came here only to attack the beliefs of others. The free will/omniscient paradox actually exists only if we assume that the universe is pre deterministic, which is not really supported in the Bible.

The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time. And that 100 years from now it will be highly probable that much of what we accept as probable truth now will be shown to be quite different than what we now perceive.
?

LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.

The problem I had with your first post was the statement that "The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time." That's an understanding, not a logical absolute, derived from the logical absolutes of human thought. From where I'm standing that's part of Q.W.'s confusion.

Well I probably didn't state it clearly. But my intention was to state the logical absolute that we know a tiny fraction of all that there is to know. In my opinion, that is far more than just an understanding. That's a fact.

Is it demonstrable? Of course not because we cannot demonstrate what we do not yet know. :)


Or quantify it, which means it pretty much cannot be a "logical absolute."
 
Don't hold your breath.


I actually understand that, which is why I don't jump on your comments and try to force you to apply them to the real universe.


I actually debated that in seminary, and managed to convince the audience that omniscience doesn't mean what they think it does.

I am not nearly as confused as I appear to be in this thread. I am deliberately not taking a position on a lot of things in order to not get forced into defending myself from all the people who came here only to attack the beliefs of others. The free will/omniscient paradox actually exists only if we assume that the universe is pre deterministic, which is not really supported in the Bible.

The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time. And that 100 years from now it will be highly probable that much of what we accept as probable truth now will be shown to be quite different than what we now perceive.
?

LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.

The problem I had with your first post was the statement that "The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time." That's an understanding, not a logical absolute, derived from the logical absolutes of human thought. From where I'm standing that's part of Q.W.'s confusion.

Well I probably didn't state it clearly. But my intention was to state the logical absolute that we know a tiny fraction of all that there is to know. In my opinion, that is far more than just an understanding. That's a fact.

Is it demonstrable? Of course not because we cannot demonstrate what we do not yet know. :)

That I can agree with! There seems to be something more wrong with Q.W.'s thinking about logic and philosophy as it relates to science but I can't quite put my finger on it. I'll have to think it about it more. :biggrin:
 
It doesn't look like you understand the point. Didn't you say this is happening independently of God before and that somehow all this shows that the claim in the first premise of the TAG is false? That doesn't follow. If anything you're arguing for Deism.
.
TAG's premises are naked assertions based on presupposition.

[1] They don't need to be debunked, they've yet to be supported.

[2] You don't go from we have knowledge, to we'd like for some knowledge to be absolute, to therefore god in any sound/rational way shape or form. It doesn't work

:lmao:

The TAG is not naked. M.D.R. already proved that and you're proving it right now. So the first statement is false and you did try to debunk it before without success. The second statment is something I know.
 
The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time. And that 100 years from now it will be highly probable that much of what we accept as probable truth now will be shown to be quite different than what we now perceive.
?

LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.

The problem I had with your first post was the statement that "The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time." That's an understanding, not a logical absolute, derived from the logical absolutes of human thought. From where I'm standing that's part of Q.W.'s confusion.

Well I probably didn't state it clearly. But my intention was to state the logical absolute that we know a tiny fraction of all that there is to know. In my opinion, that is far more than just an understanding. That's a fact.

Is it demonstrable? Of course not because we cannot demonstrate what we do not yet know. :)


Or quantify it, which means it pretty much cannot be a "logical absolute."

:lmao:You just proved the rules of logic again.
 
It doesn't look like you understand the point. Didn't you say this is happening independently of God before and that somehow all this shows that the claim in the first premise of the TAG is false? That doesn't follow. If anything you're arguing for Deism.
.
TAG's premises are naked assertions based on presupposition.

[1] They don't need to be debunked, they've yet to be supported.

[2] You don't go from we have knowledge, to we'd like for some knowledge to be absolute, to therefore god in any sound/rational way shape or form. It doesn't work

:lmao:

The TAG is not naked. M.D.R. already proved that and you're proving it right now. So the first statement is false and you did try to debunk it before without success. The second statment is something I know.

No, I don't agree with the silly canard used within the tag argument that appealing to logic means appealing to god.

Again, that is not a supported conclusion - it is a naked assertion.
 

LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.

The problem I had with your first post was the statement that "The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time." That's an understanding, not a logical absolute, derived from the logical absolutes of human thought. From where I'm standing that's part of Q.W.'s confusion.

Well I probably didn't state it clearly. But my intention was to state the logical absolute that we know a tiny fraction of all that there is to know. In my opinion, that is far more than just an understanding. That's a fact.

Is it demonstrable? Of course not because we cannot demonstrate what we do not yet know. :)


Or quantify it, which means it pretty much cannot be a "logical absolute."

:lmao:You just proved the rules of logic again.

Which is fine, except it doesn't mean what you think it means. Joke's on you.
 
LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.

The problem I had with your first post was the statement that "The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time." That's an understanding, not a logical absolute, derived from the logical absolutes of human thought. From where I'm standing that's part of Q.W.'s confusion.

Well I probably didn't state it clearly. But my intention was to state the logical absolute that we know a tiny fraction of all that there is to know. In my opinion, that is far more than just an understanding. That's a fact.

Is it demonstrable? Of course not because we cannot demonstrate what we do not yet know. :)


Or quantify it, which means it pretty much cannot be a "logical absolute."

:lmao:You just proved the rules of logic again.

Which is fine, except it doesn't mean what you think it means. Joke's on you.

You made an argument that assumed God's existence and that the rules of logic are absolute. You just don't get that. I do. Looks like you believe in a deistic god.
 
It doesn't look like you understand the point. Didn't you say this is happening independently of God before and that somehow all this shows that the claim in the first premise of the TAG is false? That doesn't follow. If anything you're arguing for Deism.
.
TAG's premises are naked assertions based on presupposition.

[1] They don't need to be debunked, they've yet to be supported.

[2] You don't go from we have knowledge, to we'd like for some knowledge to be absolute, to therefore god in any sound/rational way shape or form. It doesn't work

:lmao:

The TAG is not naked. M.D.R. already proved that and you're proving it right now. So the first statement is false and you did try to debunk it before without success. The second statment is something I know.

No, I don't agree with the silly canard used within the tag argument that appealing to logic means appealing to god.

Again, that is not a supported conclusion - it is a naked assertion.

Whatever you say, Deist. What amazes me is that even some of the theists still don't get what Kant proved and what M.D.R. is trying to tell you guys. We can say that the first premise in the argument may not be true in the ultimate sense outside our minds but we can't say that it's not true in our minds by an axiom of logic that is absolute every time we assume that the rules of logic are true and naturally we know they are. If what you claim were true then it wouldn't matter. There would be no TAG argument. Why is there still a TAG argument? Because any argument that tries to disprove the axiom necessarily assumes that its true. And from what I can tell only M.D.R. and I understand that on this discussion, even though it's self-evident if you just stop and think for a little bit. It's one of the axioms of human thought that can't be logically denied. That's its independent support just like we can't make two plus two equal 25. :lmao:
 
Last edited:
The problem I had with your first post was the statement that "The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time." That's an understanding, not a logical absolute, derived from the logical absolutes of human thought. From where I'm standing that's part of Q.W.'s confusion.

Well I probably didn't state it clearly. But my intention was to state the logical absolute that we know a tiny fraction of all that there is to know. In my opinion, that is far more than just an understanding. That's a fact.

Is it demonstrable? Of course not because we cannot demonstrate what we do not yet know. :)


Or quantify it, which means it pretty much cannot be a "logical absolute."

:lmao:You just proved the rules of logic again.

Which is fine, except it doesn't mean what you think it means. Joke's on you.

You made an argument that assumed God's existence and that the rules of logic are absolute. You just don't get that. I do. Looks like you believe in a deistic god.
No, the god's existence part is what the TAGers take liberty in inserting, but it's not supported.

Using logic or agreeing that there are logical absolutes =/= an implication that god is their source.

That is the naked assertion.

I've yet to see any rational support for the premises of the tag argument.

You've certainly not done it.

MD Rawlings doesnt understand that the laws of logic are not conceptual, they are descriptive tools of what is physical.
 
The tag argument is so utterly stupid.

If logic is contingent upon anything, (god's mind), then it is not absolute. Absolute is defined as the exact opposite of being contingent upon anything. The tag argument can also be used against god's existence. The beauty of it. Wish I had though of it, but I don't do tag.

if god exists, logical absolutes are contingent on him
absolutes are non-contingent
god does not exist
 


Yeah. And this guy trying to say the other guy is wrong doesn't get it either. :lmao: So Kant just presupposed something that human logic doesn't absolutely and universally support? That's what you think too? :lmao: The more I get what M.D.R. showed, the funnier all these posts that don't get it are.
 


Yeah. And this guy trying to say the other guy is wrong doesn't get it either. :lmao: So Kant just presupposed something that human logic doesn't absolutely and universally support? That's what you think too? :lmao: The more I get what M.D.R. showed, the funnier all these posts that don't get it are.

You can say it until you're blue in the face.

Logical absolutes don't need a god to exist, and using logical absolutes is not assuming god. That's another tag naked assertion.

Logical absolutes are descriptions of the physical world, the physical world exists and operates under natural law, therefore natural law is the basis for logical absolutes.

A = A is not a law that needs to be grounded in a mind. (god's mind) - to make it absolute.

Nature is what grounds it, because a is never not a - in nature.
 
Don't hold your breath.


I actually understand that, which is why I don't jump on your comments and try to force you to apply them to the real universe.


I actually debated that in seminary, and managed to convince the audience that omniscience doesn't mean what they think it does.

I am not nearly as confused as I appear to be in this thread. I am deliberately not taking a position on a lot of things in order to not get forced into defending myself from all the people who came here only to attack the beliefs of others. The free will/omniscient paradox actually exists only if we assume that the universe is pre deterministic, which is not really supported in the Bible.

The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time. And that 100 years from now it will be highly probable that much of what we accept as probable truth now will be shown to be quite different than what we now perceive.
?

LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.

The problem I had with your first post was the statement that "The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time." That's an understanding, not a logical absolute, derived from the logical absolutes of human thought. From where I'm standing that's part of Q.W.'s confusion.

Well I probably didn't state it clearly. But my intention was to state the logical absolute that we know a tiny fraction of all that there is to know. In my opinion, that is far more than just an understanding. That's a fact.

Is it demonstrable? Of course not because we cannot demonstrate what we do not yet know. :)

Of course. For all we know our solar system is just an atom in another unimaginably huge universe.
 
The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time. And that 100 years from now it will be highly probable that much of what we accept as probable truth now will be shown to be quite different than what we now perceive.
?

LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.

The problem I had with your first post was the statement that "The only logical absolute that we can be certain of is that we have so little knowledge compared to all the knowledge there is to be had, that our logic and understanding will always be limited by what we can know, reason, discern, envision now at this time." That's an understanding, not a logical absolute, derived from the logical absolutes of human thought. From where I'm standing that's part of Q.W.'s confusion.

Well I probably didn't state it clearly. But my intention was to state the logical absolute that we know a tiny fraction of all that there is to know. In my opinion, that is far more than just an understanding. That's a fact.

Is it demonstrable? Of course not because we cannot demonstrate what we do not yet know. :)

Of course. For all we know our solar system is just an atom in another unimaginably huge universe.

Whoa! Man, my mind is blown. Pass me that joint.
 
Maybe God is just the human race advanced to a level billions, even trillions of years beyond where we are.

Maybe our world is just a science project created by some superhuman kid who wanted to show how his ancestors lived trillions of years ago.
 

LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.


Q.W.'s post doesn't make sense to me. It seemed you agreed with it.

I took his post to mean that the Bible doesn't support that everything is already determined and planned out and we are just characters in a script that is already sealed and unchangeable. If that is what he was saying, then I do agree with him. But my point wasn't focused on whether everything is already programmed and decided, but looks ahead to all the surprises that await us out there and ahead of us. Not only do I think we're all going to have a good laugh when we get to heaven and find out how much we got wrong theologically, but the scientists a hundred years from now are likely to look at this period in our history as a scientific dark age.

This entails the intimate things of God that are not objectively or universally apparent. These are the additional things that God has revealed via inspiration. These things can of course be objectively weighed, but they're not intrinsically apparent to all.

The God of the Bible is omniscient without exception. The Bible unmistakably asserts a doctrine of predestination, yet it simultaneously holds that creatures have free will. What do we do with this?

There are two views that I'm aware of: the "Foreknowledge" and the Calvinist view.

The Foreknowledge view holds that God simply foreknew that a portion of the angels would reject Him, that humanity would fall. Knowing this He predestined that He would provide a means of redemption . . . for mankind. But the terms predestined and foreknowledge go to our perspective of time, not His. There is no past or future for God. Everything is now for Him. From our perspective of time, everything that has ever happened, is happening or will happen, is happening right now for Him. The contention is that His knowledge of what we will do, from our perspective, is what we are doing right now, from His perspective. He is viewing those things we will do, according to our sense of time, in the same sense that I'm viewing this screen right now, knowing precisely what I intend to say. I'm free to write what I will, but He's here, with me, right now . . . right now . . . one hour from now, right now, if you follow, viewing my thoughts and intentions. He is here with me at this very moment ten years ago, for example, from my perspective.

The Calvinist view holds that God predestined, without regard to His foreknowledge, who he would create to choose Him.

I opt for the Foreknowledge view as it seems to reconcile the whole of scripture, but I don't pretend to know if it works based on my limited understanding.

I know this won't be satisfactory for many. It remains mysterious to me. The Foreknowledge view is the closest I can get to making sense out of it all. But I do believe from other evidence that there is "a unifying principle" that is rationally coherent in the light of all the pertinent facts that are simply beyond my ken from this side of heaven.

Again setting aside the heavy theology that is mostly an alien language to probably most on this thread, I go back to the KISS principle.

For every passage asserting the omniscience of God, you can find another stating that God relented, God had compassion, God changed his mind. For example, the scripture would suggest Abraham was able to bargain with YHWH to have the life of Lot and his family spared when God destroyed Sodom. And later God wanted the people to depend on Him for what they needed, but they clamored for a king until God finally gave in and gave them one.

Exodus 32:9-14:
(Following the people making the golden calf when Moses was on the mountain). . . .
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.​

I personally cannot square a concept of free will against a concept of a life and universe in which it is already scoped and planned and determined from beginning to end. I can't see how that would make us more than puppets forced to go through it all without purpose since the outcome is already determined. If everything is already decided, there is no real purpose in repenting, in changing, in doing things better or being more wise, or in prayer that we are commanded to do without ceasing. Despite the joy and blessings given us, there is also great suffering and cruelty of the most horrible kind. I can't square the loving God I know up close and personal with one who would have planned all that out.

I have to believe that free will includes the ability to change things and make a difference; otherwise I can reason no purpose for going through all this at all.

So for want of a better explanation, I see God's omniscience as being able to see what will happen if we continue on the course we are on, but who loves us enough to allow us to love so we do have the ability to change our circumstances and our destiny.

I kept it simple. That's as simple as it gets. The Bible asserts the following things: (1) God exists in the eternal now, (2) God is omniscient; (3) creatures have free will; (4) God predestines history/historical figures. The Foreknowledge view is the best way that I know of to square all these things.
 
Last edited:
I don't need to prove that there is a God. I believe it, I have all the proof I need, which I'm sure if I were to disclose it would seem like happenstance to those who choose not to believe. I don't choose to push my faith/religion on anyone, because it is a personal thing. If you don't want to believe, that is your choice. Even God gives us a choice. There will be no proof until the end of times, and at that time, those who don't believe may choose to do so at that time, but it will be too late.

Like C. S. Lewis said in his book "Mere Christianity" -

Title is pretty self-explanatory. Go.

The Cosmological argument fails.
The kalam fails.
The ontological argument fails.
The modal ontological argument only proves the possibility of god, by virtue of modal logic and axiom S5.
The teleological argument fails.
The transcendental argument fails.
...

ARE THERE ANY? For the past three thousand years, the smartest minds have been unable to provide a single syllogism that conclusively demonstrates god's existence.

Yet, all of these supremely arrogant theists run their mouth against atheism, as if they have an epistemological leg to stand on, when they don't.

Any day now! We are waiting for your argument, and until then, atheism is justified.

What is so interesting is that atheists are consumed with the idea that Christians must prove there is a God. They keep insisting that Christians/believers must show proof that there is a God, as if to finally feel good about not believing. If you don't believe there is a God, that is fine, that is your choice, but apparently you are not content with just not believing, you are bothered by those who do, otherwise you wouldn't continue to ask for proof.

I don't need to prove to anyone that there is a God. I believe it, I have all the proof I need to convince myself that there is, and it doesn't matter to me that I can't show you a Selfie of God or a letter that I got from Him or anything that you would consider without a doubt prove His existence, because all that matters to me is that I have enough proof to convince myself, and that is all that matters. I do believe there is plenty of proof that there is a God, but those who choose not to believe will find some excuse to disregard it, so there is no point in trying to convince them.

As C. S. Lewis wrote in his book "Mere Christianity", "There are certain things in Christianity that can be understood from the outside, before you become a Christian, but there are a great many things that cannot be understood until after you have gone a certain distance along the Christian road". There will come a time when there will be proof, but for those who choose not to believe, it will be too late. When the author walks on the stage, the play is over.....there will be no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up....it will no longer be the time for choosing, but rather the time to discover which side we have chosen.
 
LOL. What I mean is that rational logic is always open ended leaving the door open for new information that can change our perceptions and/or understandings. To say that we understand as well as we can with the information we have is to be logical. To say this is the way it is period is not logic but dogma.

My practical self goes with the knowledge I have to function in my world and generally that knowledge is sufficient to accomplish whatever I need to accomplish at the time.

My scientific self knows that I know only a teensy bit of what there is know about anything which makes life always exciting because we never know what else is possible. And if I had been born 100 years from now, I'm quite sure my perception and understanding about many things would be different than they are now because humankind will likely have advanced many times over what it has done in the last 100 years.

Will our perceptions about God have changed too in the next 100 years? I have to suspect they will as they have certainly changed over all the past millennia of recorded history.


Q.W.'s post doesn't make sense to me. It seemed you agreed with it.

I took his post to mean that the Bible doesn't support that everything is already determined and planned out and we are just characters in a script that is already sealed and unchangeable. If that is what he was saying, then I do agree with him. But my point wasn't focused on whether everything is already programmed and decided, but looks ahead to all the surprises that await us out there and ahead of us. Not only do I think we're all going to have a good laugh when we get to heaven and find out how much we got wrong theologically, but the scientists a hundred years from now are likely to look at this period in our history as a scientific dark age.

This entails the intimate things of God that are not objectively or universally apparent. These are the additional things that God has revealed via inspiration. These things can of course be objectively weighed, but they're not intrinsically apparent to all.

The God of the Bible is omniscient without exception. The Bible unmistakably asserts a doctrine of predestination, yet it simultaneously holds that creatures have free will. What do we do with this?

There are two views that I'm aware of: the "Foreknowledge" and the Calvinist view.

The Foreknowledge view holds that God simply foreknew that a portion of the angels would reject Him, that humanity would fall. Knowing this He predestined that He would provide a means of redemption . . . for mankind. But the terms predestined and foreknowledge go to our perspective of time, not His. There is no past or future for God. Everything is now for Him. From our perspective of time, everything that has ever happened, is happening or will happen, is happening right now for Him. The contention is that His knowledge of what we will do, from our perspective, is what we are doing right now, from His perspective. He is viewing those things we will do, according to our sense of time, in the same sense that I'm viewing this screen right now, knowing precisely what I intend to say. I'm free to write what I will, but He's here, with me, right now . . . right now . . . one hour from now, right now, if you follow, viewing my thoughts and intentions. He is here with me at this very moment ten years ago, for example, from my perspective.

The Calvinist view holds that God predestined, without regard to His foreknowledge, who he would create to choose Him.

I opt for the Foreknowledge view as it seems to reconcile the whole of scripture, but I don't pretend to know if it works based on my limited understanding.

I know this won't be satisfactory for many. It remains mysterious to me. The Foreknowledge view is the closest I can get to making sense out of it all. But I do believe from other evidence that there is "a unifying principle" that is rationally coherent in the light of all the pertinent facts that are simply beyond my ken from this side of heaven.

Again setting aside the heavy theology that is mostly an alien language to probably most on this thread, I go back to the KISS principle.

For every passage asserting the omniscience of God, you can find another stating that God relented, God had compassion, God changed his mind. For example, the scripture would suggest Abraham was able to bargain with YHWH to have the life of Lot and his family spared when God destroyed Sodom. And later God wanted the people to depend on Him for what they needed, but they clamored for a king until God finally gave in and gave them one.

Exodus 32:9-14:
(Following the people making the golden calf when Moses was on the mountain). . . .
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.​

I personally cannot square a concept of free will against a concept of a life and universe in which it is already scoped and planned and determined from beginning to end. I can't see how that would make us more than puppets forced to go through it all without purpose since the outcome is already determined. If everything is already decided, there is no real purpose in repenting, in changing, in doing things better or being more wise, or in prayer that we are commanded to do without ceasing. Despite the joy and blessings given us, there is also great suffering and cruelty of the most horrible kind. I can't square the loving God I know up close and personal with one who would have planned all that out.

I have to believe that free will includes the ability to change things and make a difference; otherwise I can reason no purpose for going through all this at all.

So for want of a better explanation, I see God's omniscience as being able to see what will happen if we continue on the course we are on, but who loves us enough to allow us to love so we do have the ability to change our circumstances and our destiny.

I kept it simple. That's as simple as it gets. The Bible asserts the following things: (1) God exists in the eternal now, (2) God is omniscient; (3) creatures have free will; (4) God predestines history/historical figures. The Foreknowledge view is the best way that I know of to square all these things.

From where I'm standing the solution is beyond us and like you say we don't have all the facts yet. My reading of the good Book is that we are to trust God with these things in the meantime. I believe it'll all make sense later.
 

Forum List

Back
Top