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#1
07-25-2007, 11:33 PM
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Should God Make Sense?
someone might object to a religious definition of god because it doesn't "make sense." an apologist will often say "why should the mind of god have to make sense to your puny human brain?"
my question is, what makes an (omnipotent) god who wants people to believe things that are true distinguishable from a god who wants people to believe things that are false? don't we have to fall back on "the more straightforward god makes more sense to us"? we certainly can't tell by looking at the "real" evidence, because god created it all. 
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#2
07-25-2007, 11:43 PM
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Re: Should God Make Sense?
I think it's difficult and ultimately undecidable. I dont know that we believers have much choice other than assume God is sensible - at least if we want to make any claims about his nature/abilities/etcetera.
I certainly dont think it's a plausible theistic position to claim "God has the following properties: blah, blah, blah. Oh and if it all gets too hard, well how can we expect to know anything about God anyway?"
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#4
07-26-2007, 01:37 AM
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Re: Should God Make Sense?
The only way to approach God seems to be "I'm open to the possibility." Can't seem to objectively prove God or provide evidence, and yet cannot deny the possibility outright. God doesn't make sense and doesn't have to, but any extreme position on IT's existence is just that: extreme.
"God doesn't make sense to us yet" is reasonable. Heck, might not ever make sense.
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#5
07-26-2007, 01:42 AM
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Re: Should God Make Sense?
The problem is that the concept of gods doesn't really make sense to humans either. What makes sense is having something to pin all of our unanswerable questions to. Because of this, any attempt to understand God will always be convoluted and inconsistent even among theists. It couldn't be any other way.
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#6
07-26-2007, 01:46 AM
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Re: Should God Make Sense?
<font color="blue">The only way to approach God seems to be "I'm open to the possibility." </font>
This makes sense. I'm open to the "possibility of God" as well. <font color="blue">"God doesn't make sense to us yet" is reasonable. </font> But I don't think this follows, nor is it reasonable. Hopefully, you see why.
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#7
07-26-2007, 01:52 AM
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Re: Should God Make Sense?
<font color="blue"> I certainly dont think it's a plausible theistic position to claim "God has the following properties: blah, blah, blah. </font>
But if you believe in something, don't you have to attribute to it at least some properties? <font color="blue"> Oh and if it all gets too hard, well how can we expect to know anything about God anyway?" </font> Isn't this why atheists waste their time debating with theists in the first place? To drive this single, logically inconsistent, point home? If theists only realized the absurdity of the position in blue, there'd be nothing to talk about.
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#8
07-26-2007, 02:08 AM
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Re: Should God Make Sense?
[ QUOTE ]
my question is, what makes an (omnipotent) god who wants people to believe things that are true distinguishable from a god who wants people to believe things that are false? [/ QUOTE ] Does a child completely comprehend his parents? Does he understand anything about them?
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#9
07-26-2007, 02:19 AM
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Re: Should God Make Sense?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] my question is, what makes an (omnipotent) god who wants people to believe things that are true distinguishable from a god who wants people to believe things that are false? [/ QUOTE ] Does a child completely comprehend his parents? Does he understand anything about them? [/ QUOTE ] so you agree the answer is "nothing" then?
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