All-Knowing, All-Powerful, Ever Loving God

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Comment by Dennis Michael Pennington on January 2, 2013 at 8:30am

All  religious belief is "circular reasoning." This applies as well to UFO's and the study of the paranormal. It all depends on what point you got into the circle at, and then it goes around until it repeats itself, often with updates of the latest technology. I have a religious friend who says that "the world cannot stand another day." His bible hasn't changed, but he heard his grandfather say this years ago. He also misses the point that modern communications have made the world a very small place indeed. Mankind is overwhelmed by everything going on in the world, and today we know it so much faster. To many this is "proof" of their "end time" beliefs.

Comment by Michael OL on December 31, 2012 at 1:09pm

Today's dominant religions have had many centuries over which to develop and codify their creeds.  Lots of smart people with deeply vested interests have worked through their respective doctrines to charm, ensnare, cajole and contain "the flock".  Most people in most societies are fed from infancy a diet suffused in religious idiom.  For them to disavow such a belief system, even in the face of overwhelming empirical evidence, is to repudiate their mentors, their friends, their communities and even their identity.  Thus religions endure.

On an individual level, the best argument against a particular theist's belief system is to study the literature of that system, to understand their idiom and hopefully to offer reasoned points on where the system fails to hold water.  In the Christian mindset, particularly the Calvinist mindset, all humans are "fallen" because a talking snake conned Eve into eating a bad apple.  Thus, all humans - even babies - are dastardly evil little twerps, and fully deserve eternal and unspeakably intense suffering merely for the property of being human.  Volitional intent to cause harm is irrelevant here.  All that matters is the property of being human.  Does this make any sense when we see news-footage of children's corpses lined up on the ground, soaked in bloody sheets, say in a Syrian village or in a Connecticut school?  Not to persons who base their morality on experience, senses, observations, etc.  But it "makes sense" to Calvinists convinced that Eve's transgression was enough to screw all of us in perpetuity.  How to reach these people?  On some level, we can't - nor should we bother.  But on another level, our "job", should we choose to undertake it, is to demolish the doctrine by turning it against itself.

Comment by Future on December 31, 2012 at 9:23am

Theistic faith is a life long exercize in circular reasoning, where big gaps in the circle are patched up with a mixture of "God works in mysterious ways", "He gave us Free Will", "he/she is in a better place now", and "God decided your mission wasn't complete yet."