Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Proof-existence of an intelligent Creator+His Purpose for humankind

peter12 · 09-07-2009, 02:31 PM

The question of God is a philosophical question, ultimately. There are two roads in human wisdom, the road to Athens and the road to Jerusalem. One leads down the path of reason and the other to revelation. Philosophy is the road to Athens and thus, at first glance, most philosophers soar above the clouds and see that there is no God. However, I think to all reasonable people, the revelation given to humanity through faith or theology in God is extremely mystifying. Even to the most material reductionist there remains the tantalizing glimpse into a human soul of sorts. We are more than just physical creatures, call it an increased cerebral cortex, call it culture, whatever.

I think to answer this question of all questions reasonably requires more than just a scientific hypothesis. It requires anyone willing to delve into the great literary and philosphical works of humanity to see what the great minds thought, as well as to glimpse the huge variety of human experience in things such as love and justice.

The Bible is currently read by all moderns through the lens of either criticism or dogmatism. Calgaryborn and others see it as the divine word of God, without error and without contradiction. Other rationalists read it through the eyes of the Higher Critics; viewing it as essentially a politically incorrect document of a late Bronze Age tribe's myths.

Even though the Bible is an artificial construct. That is, the original writers of all the books never intended or imagined that their work would be compiled into a single document for the use by three major world faiths. It does most likely represent an interesting conversation regarding the exact same questions that we are discussing now. We should give the Ancients more credit. Does anyone think that we have really made any more "progress" over the possibility or means of God or Creation? The first two chapters in Genesis represent two entirely different retellings of the Creation myth, one of them wholly adapted from another older Babylonian Creation myth. The point is that they were most likely not entirely convinced of anything, just like we should be.

09-07-2009, 02:31 PM	#91
peter12 Franchise Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Exp:	The question of God is a philosophical question, ultimately. There are two roads in human wisdom, the road to Athens and the road to Jerusalem. One leads down the path of reason and the other to revelation. Philosophy is the road to Athens and thus, at first glance, most philosophers soar above the clouds and see that there is no God. However, I think to all reasonable people, the revelation given to humanity through faith or theology in God is extremely mystifying. Even to the most material reductionist there remains the tantalizing glimpse into a human soul of sorts. We are more than just physical creatures, call it an increased cerebral cortex, call it culture, whatever. I think to answer this question of all questions reasonably requires more than just a scientific hypothesis. It requires anyone willing to delve into the great literary and philosphical works of humanity to see what the great minds thought, as well as to glimpse the huge variety of human experience in things such as love and justice. The Bible is currently read by all moderns through the lens of either criticism or dogmatism. Calgaryborn and others see it as the divine word of God, without error and without contradiction. Other rationalists read it through the eyes of the Higher Critics; viewing it as essentially a politically incorrect document of a late Bronze Age tribe's myths. Even though the Bible is an artificial construct. That is, the original writers of all the books never intended or imagined that their work would be compiled into a single document for the use by three major world faiths. It does most likely represent an interesting conversation regarding the exact same questions that we are discussing now. We should give the Ancients more credit. Does anyone think that we have really made any more "progress" over the possibility or means of God or Creation? The first two chapters in Genesis represent two entirely different retellings of the Creation myth, one of them wholly adapted from another older Babylonian Creation myth. The point is that they were most likely not entirely convinced of anything, just like we should be. Last edited by peter12; 09-07-2009 at 02:36 PM.