3 ms·

"I don't know," in other words. I mean, you must be able to imagine how your reasoning sounds to people who don't already believe in god, right?

humanrebar 10y ago
No, it's "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". An open question doesn't mean there isn't an answer.
- deciplex 10y ago
  Absence of evidence is evidence of absence. If you have a belief about how reality works, normally you would expect that belief to pay some dividend in terms of what you can expect to happen in this situation, or that. Otherwise you're just believing a thing for no reason at all. So you can call this anticipation of a certain result "evidence", and to have it not materialize is, in fact, a solid reason to suspect the truth of what you believe.
cjjuice 10y ago
"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." - St. Tomas Aquinas I completely understand that my reasoning sounds rediculous from a scientific point of view. However, God is not finite, therefore you will never find or prove God using the scientific method, a method for gaining meaning from finite things. As the Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard expressed, it comes down to a leap of faith. Are you willing to believe something that you yet cannot see?
- deciplex 10y ago
  Why would I do that?
  - cjjuice 10y ago
    Could be different for many people. For me, it allows me to live in a universe that is a beautiful creation and to feel a great deal of gratitude towards God for creating it. It fills my heart with peace and love that I can spread to others. Tdlr it makes me happy
    - deciplex 10y ago
      I meant in the sense of, why would I believe something for no reason at all? I'm not terribly interested in the advantages and rewards I gain by thinking a thing, other than the basic stuff that naturally comes with seeking and discovering truth. But, since you bring it up, I'm pretty sure I'm getting basically most of what you mention already, in one form or another, and probably some other stuff that believing in God would diminish. No thanks.
- pmarreck 10y ago
  > "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." - St. Tomas Aquinas And yet, when a new explanation is available that conflicts with faith, faith does not give way to it. That's simply wrong.

humanrebar 10y ago

No, it's "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". An open question doesn't mean there isn't an answer.

deciplex 10y ago
Absence of evidence is evidence of absence. If you have a belief about how reality works, normally you would expect that belief to pay some dividend in terms of what you can expect to happen in this situation, or that. Otherwise you're just believing a thing for no reason at all. So you can call this anticipation of a certain result "evidence", and to have it not materialize is, in fact, a solid reason to suspect the truth of what you believe.

cjjuice 10y ago

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." - St. Tomas Aquinas I completely understand that my reasoning sounds rediculous from a scientific point of view. However, God is not finite, therefore you will never find or prove God using the scientific method, a method for gaining meaning from finite things. As the Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard expressed, it comes down to a leap of faith. Are you willing to believe something that you yet cannot see?

deciplex 10y ago
Why would I do that?
- cjjuice 10y ago
  Could be different for many people. For me, it allows me to live in a universe that is a beautiful creation and to feel a great deal of gratitude towards God for creating it. It fills my heart with peace and love that I can spread to others. Tdlr it makes me happy
  - deciplex 10y ago
    I meant in the sense of, why would I believe something for no reason at all? I'm not terribly interested in the advantages and rewards I gain by thinking a thing, other than the basic stuff that naturally comes with seeking and discovering truth. But, since you bring it up, I'm pretty sure I'm getting basically most of what you mention already, in one form or another, and probably some other stuff that believing in God would diminish. No thanks.
pmarreck 10y ago
> "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." - St. Tomas Aquinas And yet, when a new explanation is available that conflicts with faith, faith does not give way to it. That's simply wrong.