The lengths some people will go to

to deny the existence of God is amazing to me. A mathematician sees proof of God, but decides that the universe is a simulation created by a very advanced programmer. Gee, I'd call that God, wouldn't you?

Comments

Theodore M. Seeber said…
There are two ways to look at it.

1. There is a transcendent being behind the creation of the universe, the laws of nature, fine tuning of the physical constants, life, consciousness, the appearance of intelligent design etc. but it wouldn't be called "God".

2. It would be called "God" but everything said about God in the religions of the world is absolutely false.
February 17, 2014 at 3:21 PM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
Or 3. . There is a transcendent being behind the creation of the universe, the laws of nature, fine tuning of the physical constants, life, consciousness, the appearance of intelligent design etc, and it is God, and everything the religions of the world say about God is true *from the limited, finite perspective of the humans in those religions* (just like Nostra Aetate claims).
February 17, 2014 at 3:23 PM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
Or at least, so says the demonic influences in your head.
February 18, 2014 at 6:44 AM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
It wasn't the Death with Dignity law that did it. It was the Cover Oregon law that did it, under the Oregon Health Plan. It's legal because of the Death with Dignity law, but DWD doesn't fund treatments.
February 18, 2014 at 6:46 AM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
So in Oregon, once you condition is determined to be terminal, you should just get your affairs in order and get ready to die either by natural causes or by ODing on sedatives.

I wouldn't want any more than that. I'm good with that.
February 18, 2014 at 6:55 AM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
By that reasoning, all disbelief is demonic.
February 18, 2014 at 7:00 AM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
There's always a good reason to live. But I understand you and your type are fine with that, because you're under influence that says that anybody who is below a certain level of productiveness, should just shuffle off and die already anyway, to reduce the surplus population.
February 19, 2014 at 11:58 AM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
I believe in death with dignity. You can take that to mean whatever you want.
February 20, 2014 at 4:19 AM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
I see no dignity whatsoever in being tortured into choosing to die.
February 20, 2014 at 6:52 AM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
Mike, this is just embarrassing. Your failure to understand is your failure. Dismissing that which you do not understand as 'demonic' (i.e. evil) does nothing to increase understanding and, in itself, leads to ignorance. Wrap your mind around the idea that others possess values that differ from yours and therefore come to different conclusions. Put aside the Catholic-centric "We know the will of God" arrogance and consider how others view their existence. I get that empathy is difficult for you but that is no excuse. And please lose the sense of superiority.

How does believing in magic help to make sense of our world? Demons cannot be directly demonstrated to exist and hypothesizing their existence offers no tangible advantage in dealing with the problems of the modern world.

I see the "demons" have left you unable to question the moral supremacy of the Catholic Church. How sad. Must take some serious mental gymnastics to make sense of the historical Church's position on slavery, it's attitude towards the Jews, the existence of Jesus's brothers by Mary, the concept of hell as a second millennium invention and the fact that James, Jesus's brother, not Peter, was the post crucifixion leader of the Jesus Movement.
January 3, 2015 at 12:07 PM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
Understanding good and evil- and the tendency in all of us to follow what we like rather than what is good for us- is where understanding in magic is superior to Sola Science. It takes far more mental gymnastics to create a fake morality that is only good for one person, than to understand the reality of the supernatural to the point of realizing that all history- even pagan history- is valuable.
January 3, 2015 at 2:23 PM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
'Superior' ? It what way? Supernatural explanations are a dead end. How does that lead to testable predictions? Evolutionary psychology goes a long way to explain our conflicted species. We all naturally create 'fake morality' along with language by a process of rapid learning from others of our species. It becomes so much a part of our view of ourselves, others and the world that most people are sure it is innate and universal. We judge actions as good or evil because it enhances group selection. Meanwhile, our primitive desire mechanisms, necessary for individual survival, compel us to seek resources from the environment. Add to this mix, our big brain learns that sugar, which our old brain is programmed to crave, is not healthy in the doses we ingest. Life is not simple.
January 3, 2015 at 8:13 PM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
Some events will never be testable. Even the ones that are, there can be no confidence in anything you do not test personally. Testicle predictions can only give you a very small window into reality.
January 3, 2015 at 8:40 PM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
"there can be no confidence in anything you do not test personally" Why? I use formula all the time that I have not tested. Results, on the whole, are excellent. The big advantage for our species is the ability pass down information.

Our limited sensory organs give us a small window. Still, the only way to test our internal model for accuracy is to experiment. Introduce the supernatural and you break the link between cause and effect.

Once you hypothesize the existence of demons how do you determine that you are not under their influence?

Mike, on a COMPLETLY different subject: Have you read "Autism Breakthrough: The Groundbreaking Method That Has Helped Families All Over the World" by Raul Kaufman? I would love to hear comments.
January 3, 2015 at 9:31 PM
Theodore M. Seeber said…
What we do not test personally is myth. The formula are mythical, as Godel teaches, they will always be incomplete ( aren't you the one that introduced me to Godel, Escher, and Bach?).

I have not tested the Son Rise system personally, and thus it remains mythical for me, but in my experience, approaches to autism written by autistics that contain autobiographical information are always valuable. To that end, I have added Raul's book to my Kindle and will read it.
January 4, 2015 at 6:40 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Father claims 15 year old girl is capable of consent in Lesbian Rape Case

Father claims 15 year old girl from another family is capable of consent : I'm beginning to really like the change in Florida's government.  First they stop handing out welfare checks to junkies.  Now they are treating Lesbians under the same rules as Heterosexuals, gasp, what a concept!  Don't sign this petition unless you are FOR statutory rape of younger girls by predatory lesbians. How many 18 year old boys have been prosecuted for having sex with 16 year old women under "minors can't give consent"?    Special treatment for lesbians?  Please, no.
Read more

Fundamentalist Atheism

Strange Notions is a new Disqus site run by Brandon Vogt to try to discuss Rationality and Reason with Athiests. He may well succeed with some, but there is one subset of atheism he will never succeed with. On Richard Dawkin's spectrum of theistic probability , those with a score 6 and above often fall into something I term fundamentalist atheism. Many of them come from fundamentalist Christian backgrounds, if not in their generation, then within three generations of their recent past. Fundamentalist Atheism starts with the assumption that the supernatural doesn't exist and that the natural world is all there is, and runs with it, denying any data to the contrary. I've always been one to consider the natural to be a subset of the supernatural- that is the only real difference between the natural and the supernatural to me is the line of the shared scientific knowledge of mankind. A scientist, therefore, if he is to learn anything new about the universe, needs to have h...
Read more

Call them what you like, Broken Families are still a TRAGEDY!

Yes, liberals value family , but not enough to recognize that a broken family is a tragedy. Divorce is actually worse than death as far as the grieving process goes- especially when there are children, custody battles, parental support, and alimony involved. And homosexuals raising children? That is tragic, not something to be celebrated. Maybe if we'd *recognize* that a broken family is a tragedy we would be more willing to say, pay taxes for WIC so that the single mother working a minimum wage job actually has the ability to choose life. Maybe we'd have more men willing to stick around and help raise the children they cause because the condom broke while they were stupidly using sex only for recreation. Maybe, just maybe, we'd be raising men instead of a generation of cowardly wimps who choose homosexuality and suicide over real life. Suffering and tragedy is valuable- but only if we recognize that it exists.
Read more