"The skeptic sees God revealed in nature and doubts Him, sees God revealed in Scripture and doubts Him, sees God revealed in the worship of countless believers and doubts Him, sees God revealed even as the object of his own doubt -- and doubts Him. The skeptic has no wish to believe, for he finds in doubt a religion absolved of any requirement to prove itself, an anti-faith whose god reveals himself nowhere -- not in nature, not in scripture, not in the worship of the mass of mankind. How clever it is of skepticism, having nothing to offer as a faith, to pose as doubt."
~ Robert Brault
Thursday, November 12, 2009
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16 comments:
cogito ergo sum indeed!
Anon,
I think the modern version is, "Blogito ergo sum."
smiles,
rb
"Judge not, lest ye be judged." I enjoy your posts and find they do well at making me think. However, I find this one to be a bit simple. Some of us skeptics look for God in nature and do not see him, look for God in scripture and only see man, and see countless believers fighting silly battles over whose perception of God is the right one, see those who claim to know and love God insisting that anyone who believes differently than they do brought God's wrath upon them. Enjoy your faith, but try not to be so smug in your judgement of those of us who wanted to see, but never saw.
Anon,
No one who has read my blog faithfully will mistake me for someone smug in his faith.
smiles,
rb
Re: Anonymous and the quote: "...those of us who wanted to see, but never saw." Keep on seeking, and you will find" seems to be ab apt quote.. For myself, I have an honest mixture at times of faith and doubt.
Re: "Smug Bob." I've found him to be anything but that. Clever, creative, amusing, whimsical, provocative? Yes. But "smug?" Not a chance. dk
dk,
If I am smug about anything, it is in my confidence of your support. Your good will is positively relentless.
smiles,
rb
Perhaps "smug" was not the best adjective. At any rate, I was not implying that you are smug in your faith, only that I interpret this post as being complacent in its judgement of us skeptics. Oh well, I took offense and none was intended. Smiles back at you.
Despite our difference in faith, we have common beliefs.
Respectfully,
tk
Anon,
I like your reference to "our difference in faith," because the point I tried to make is that skepticism cannot escape being a faith. It isn't as if there's an alternative certainty. Every scientific theory of the universe fails to explain the eternal void and how anything could have originated in it. We all come to God. The believer assigns characteristics to God based on the evidence of creation; the skeptic denies that God can be known despite the evidence of creation. Since creation is an existential fact, why shouldn't the burden of proof be on the skeptic?
smiles,
rb
Those are the scientists that assume there was a beginning and thus a creation. I am comfortable with the belief that there was no beginning and there will be no end, only infinite cycles. I'm OK with being a little sprinkle on a gigantic doughnut that has always been here, or never was. I simply have no need to believe in a creator. It doesn't comfort me to think there is one, and it doesn't dismay me to think there isn't.
Why should skeptics be burdened with proving anything? Why should believers be burdened? Do you believe for your sake or for others'? Or do you just simply believe?
I've no desire nor ability to take one's faith in a creator away. Why should I have to prove God doesn't exist? I'm not asking you to prove he does.
tk
If you seek something long enough, you will find it.
Regardless of whether or not it is there.
Id be fairly happy with proof of either one.
Its the constant debate in my mind that kills me inside to be quite honest.
mike,
Nice turn of phrase: "If you seek something long enough, you will find it, regardless of whether or not it is there." As to the constant debate killing you inside, I think that proving there is no God would do a fair job of that also.
smiles,
rb
I do not think it would. I do not have a problem with waking up in the morning and coming to terms with the fact that someday im going to die, and when I do my body will rot in the ground and that will be it. Its the uncertainty that I cannot come to terms with.
Alice came to a fork in the road.
"Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where are you going?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
---
Ultimately Mike, if you can come to terms with the thought of life being the end of it all, then you really have little else to worry about.
At any rate, its not like any reasonable person would ever be able to chose between theism and atheism without some kind of revelation, and it certainly doesn't sound like you've had one of those yet.
In the mean time, perhaps the concept of eternal recurrance will be able to offer you some comfort, it is both scientifically reasonable and existentially consoling. If you did find the theory agreeable, then perhaps you could stop worrying so much and start spending more time creating a life that you'd be willing to live out over and over ad infinitum.
Good luck with it all!
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