tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3767755611010523671.post7790084900608773032..comments2023-04-10T04:06:30.195-06:00Comments on Think and Wonder. Wonder and Think...: Review of "Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves"DoOrDoNothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775977854913362396noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3767755611010523671.post-50121846408681457052010-10-18T15:06:09.813-06:002010-10-18T15:06:09.813-06:00DagoodS,
One of the primary questions I had walki...DagoodS,<br /><br />One of the primary questions I had walking away from the book was how to differentiate between the very things you described: <br />"“That is something with a physical cause we just don’t know yet” and “That is something with a physical cause that we will never know” and “That is something without any possible physical cause." <br /><br />Maybe no one has a good way to discern the difference.<br /><br />I must admit my definition of God seems to grow less concrete with time as well. Regarding coherence, I don't believe I can adequately evaluate definitions of God given the difficulty I have truly understanding concepts such as time and the immaterial. Sometimes, reading philosophical works on the nature of God feels like I'm trying to carry sand in a sieve.DoOrDoNothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15775977854913362396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3767755611010523671.post-79854031397046366552010-10-18T08:15:49.098-06:002010-10-18T08:15:49.098-06:00Never say “never.” *wink*
Yep, there will always...Never say “never.” *wink*<br /><br />Yep, there will always be uncertainty. At this rate, about the only thing we can confidently state is that we won’t know even 1% of everything there is to know. Not only the rate of knowledge acquired in the past 50 years demonstrating how little we knew the previous 2950 years, but the recognition of variability at the atomic and sub-atomic level giving us almost infinite future possibilities.<br /><br />The question does surface, though—can I start to eliminate some possibilities? I’m pretty sure there is no Santa Claus—yet even as a non-Santa-Claus-believer, I get caught up in the wonder that is Christmas. The lights, the family, the feeling of charity in the air and carols on the radio. With all that (not to mention “Miracle on 34th Street”), dare I eliminate the possibility of Santa Claus?<br /><br />Why…yes. I look at the proposals regarding the proposition, study the evidence, view the myth creation, and come to the conclusion, contra-Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. Now, I am still open to the possibility of his existence, but I do think it would take some significance evidence to convince.<br /><br />On a much larger scale, I feel the same way about a god. I have yet to see a theist propose a viable method where we can differentiate between, “That is something with a physical cause we just don’t know yet” and “That is something with a physical cause that we will never know” and “That is something without any possible physical cause.”<br /><br />Worse, I haven’t seen a coherent definition of god. It seems (to me) the more one wants to argue as to a god’s possibility, the <i>less</i> concrete the description must be. It becomes “timeless” (how does something do anything without time?), “immaterial” (how does nothing do something?), “actually infinite” (a claim made by apologists who say there can’t be an actual infinite) and so on. Words we use begin to lose all meaning (like “love,” “justice,” “mercy”) when talking about a god.<br /><br />At some point I could not make myself believe in the Christian God…then even a theistic god…then even a Deistic God. What else could I be, but an atheist?<br /><br />Of course, if someone wants to provide proof of such an entity—I would be happy to review it.DagoodShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04557451438888314932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3767755611010523671.post-40105747556826177702010-10-17T22:19:07.659-06:002010-10-17T22:19:07.659-06:00Like a Child,
I actually began the bookclub at chu...Like a Child,<br />I actually began the bookclub at church several months ago as part of the Biologos bookclub program they are trying to develop. However, after we read the first book chosen by Biologos, we decided we'd rather chose our own books relating to science and religion. We'll discuss this book again in November and then in December we'll read Monkey Town.DoOrDoNothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15775977854913362396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3767755611010523671.post-15102149059498798012010-10-17T19:34:17.698-06:002010-10-17T19:34:17.698-06:00Like you, I could never confidently become an athe...Like you, I could never confidently become an atheist, just as I'll always have doubts with Christianity. I was just at a talk on Friday arguing that the lack of certainty in science somehow was a proof for God's existence (ie. no certainty in either science or religion)...but my question is if there is no certainty in either discipline, how do you take sides? Sounds like a great book club - is this part of a church?Like a Childhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15991265512226039592noreply@blogger.com