Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 66 (9164 total)
8 online now:
Newest Member: ChatGPT
Post Volume: Total: 916,469 Year: 3,726/9,624 Month: 597/974 Week: 210/276 Day: 50/34 Hour: 1/5


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   Identifying false religions.
Hyroglyphx
Inactive Member


(1)
Message 138 of 479 (567518)
07-01-2010 12:49 PM
Reply to: Message 96 by Rahvin
06-24-2010 6:40 PM


Re: "Supernatural"
"Supernatural" really means "something we don;t currently understand." As our understanding grows, it stops being supernatural. Cars, light bulbs, and blessed air conditioning would all have been considered "supernatural."
I don't really agree with this. I think of supernatural as things that are beyond the rules of nature. Nature has a set of rules, like gravity, which give measurable and predictable results every time. The supernatural is supposed to denote that it is a subset phenomenon that allegedly supersedes natural law and order.
I do agree with you that it is essentially a functionally useless term, insofar as to say that it is subjective.
The point is that one would not expect to measure the supernatural in terms that apply with nature. How much space does God occupy would be a meaningless term for something that does not even reside in this plane of existence or, in essence, is the totality of this existence.
So expecting people to prove God or disprove God via science is useless. In that way, it would appear impossible to either verify or falsify God. In that sense it may seem reasonable to be atheist, but it also seems reasonable to be an agnostic.
There is no "supernatural" vs. "natural."
There is only "well-understood" vs. "not well-understood."
Maybe, and that's the point. We don't know, hence the apprehension of defaulting to a de facto position of either theism or atheism.
One might look at the supposed demon possession in the bible and conclude by today's standards, that those people who were claimed "possessed" where actually paranoid schizophrenics. But we don't know that. It's okay to be skeptical, but is it okay to say that couldn't be true because I've never seen anything like it?
This is precisely why these philosophical questions about God never end. If you really contemplate how much thought has been given to the concept of God, it's an endless debate.
The only thing we can conclude at this point is that it is neither verifiable nor falsifiable; hence, agnosticism.

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from mistaken conviction." — Blaise Pascal

This message is a reply to:
 Message 96 by Rahvin, posted 06-24-2010 6:40 PM Rahvin has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 140 by Rahvin, posted 07-01-2010 1:55 PM Hyroglyphx has not replied

Hyroglyphx
Inactive Member


(1)
Message 172 of 479 (568562)
07-06-2010 2:54 PM
Reply to: Message 151 by Straggler
07-04-2010 3:09 AM


Re: who is begging which question here?
Do you accept that the farting celestial cow hypothesis is an equally valid possibility?
That is the question.
And if not - Why not?
Because it's an Appeal to Ridicule -- a strawman.

"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it" -- Thomas Paine

This message is a reply to:
 Message 151 by Straggler, posted 07-04-2010 3:09 AM Straggler has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 175 by Straggler, posted 07-07-2010 2:22 PM Hyroglyphx has replied

Hyroglyphx
Inactive Member


Message 181 of 479 (568691)
07-07-2010 5:06 PM
Reply to: Message 175 by Straggler
07-07-2010 2:22 PM


Re: who is begging which question here?
And who get's to decide what is or is not ridiculous?
You?
True or not true: You posted it to prove the point that in order for anyone to take the agnostic position, even the most absurd notions would logically have to be categorized in the same manner.

"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it" -- Thomas Paine

This message is a reply to:
 Message 175 by Straggler, posted 07-07-2010 2:22 PM Straggler has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 184 by Straggler, posted 07-14-2010 11:36 AM Hyroglyphx has not replied

Hyroglyphx
Inactive Member


Message 182 of 479 (568693)
07-07-2010 5:07 PM
Reply to: Message 165 by Big_Al35
07-06-2010 8:45 AM


The forum was hacked, that's why.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 165 by Big_Al35, posted 07-06-2010 8:45 AM Big_Al35 has not replied

Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024