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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   29168 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 31, 2023

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My problem there is the reliability of the box; how do I know this is true, how do I gauge the builders of the box, is this going to turn out like that scene in Star Trek: The Final Frontier?

But if I can trust it, then yes: open the box. To know is better than not to know.

Contra Aquinas, the intellect itself is fallen and incapable of definitively or reliably answering questions of God's existence.

Because of the Fall, our understanding is darkened, yes, but we still have the ability to use reason to work out what is true and what is not. Post-modernism cuts off the branch it is sitting on, because if we can't know anything, then it is itself a useless tool. If we throw out "you can't definitively answer the question of God's existence" then all we have to fall back on is subjective experience, and then of course "well why Jesus instead of Buddha or Mohammed? Or Wicca?" What if my subjective experience is that God does not exist? Why should I accept your "experiental" evidence of God, since your experiences could be down to drugs, something wrong with your brain, or simple self-deception - 'I asked God for a sign and then the window blew open' - no, that was just the wind, not God.

The existence of God can be perceived experientially, and is probably a more robust evidence for God than mere philosophical puzzling (Colossians 2:8).

The experiences are the basis for the philosophy; that's the whole idea, that there is evidence for the existence of God in the world around us and the nature of reality, and we can use our God-given intellects to work that out the same way we can use them to work out acids and bases and how they react.

Subjective/experiental belief can lapse into Fideism or the 'signs and wonders' version which further degrades into Prosperity Gospel nonsense.

is this going to turn out like that scene in Star Trek: The Final Frontier?

Amusingly this is exactly where my mind went reading the OP as well. Final Frontier catches a lot of flack from Star Trek fans and granted it's not as good the installments before and after it, but I've always liked it, and the interactions between Kirk and Sybock (culminating in that scene) are most of the reason.

But why wouldn't an all knowing and all powerful god show himself to all people, but in reality restricts himself to just a geographical area, one that happens to correspond closely to the geographical area that the Roman Empire ruled. And; of course, the Eastern half of that has it's own even more absurd prophet who has taken the hearts and minds of that portion of the human race.

The Post-Modernists are right in that we can't force anyone to believe anything. That doesn't make a completely irrational belief the same as a rational one. That you can differentiate them yourself is all the evidence I need.

Why wouldn't God show himself to everyone? Usually because they're not ready and such proof would not be helpful to them. This applies on a personal level and on a geographic (really, cultural) level.

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