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Old 04-10-2006, 07:54 PM   #89
Textcritic
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: back in Chilliwack
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Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
My cousin was charged by a grizzly bear not far from there (that area is thick with Grizzlies). No divine voice warned my cousin. Why not?
While I cannot speak on behalf of God, the grizzly or your cousin, perhaps God just doesn't like him very much?

Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
And if you were indeed warned by a god(s), how do you know which one it was?
I don't believe there is a pantheon of 'gods', only different and varied concepts of perceiving the divine. While I worship the Christian expression of who God is, who am I to say that he is entirely distinct from another's abstraction of the supernatural? Anywhere from 95%–99% of the entire earth's population believes in the supernatural; whether or not anyone on this planet has a perfect understanding of it is really beside the point that there is millennia of cultural substance behind this universally accepted notion.

Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Occam's Razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. The principle is often expressed in Latin as:
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, which translates to:
entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. Furthermore, when multiple competing theories have equal predictive powers, the principle recommends selecting those that introduce the fewest assumptions and postulate the fewest hypothetical entities
I am familiar with Occam's razor, which is a great standard for conducting anayltical research. I find it difficult to embrace the same principles when they fail to provide an explanation to life's many conundrums.

Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
I have fished myself at Burn's Lake (a lovely spot). I have no doubt that sound could carry very far there.

Isn't it far more likely:

1) you were warned at a distance by another human at the lake; or

2) someone in your group made the statement; or

2) you did not hear what you think you heard?

Does God intervene?
IF you do not believe in the supernatural, then I would concede that the above three instances would qualify as "far more likely". Because I do not, your explanations do little to convince me otherwise.
It's a funny thing about faith. Either you have it or you don't. There is (unusally) no convincing those who have it to reject it, and likewise for those who disdain it to understand and to accept it.
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