Axeman,
I have to concur. All these side arguments, however stimulating, interesting and exciting are not getting us any nearer to the truth of the basic question. We can continue attempting to score points, but the real issues are:
Does god exist?
If so then what is god like?
And in truth I don't think anyone would disagree that the only way to get the true answer to the questions above is directly from god. Now I didn't say directly from "religion", as if "religion" were a monolithic "thing", I said directly from god. So how would god communicate with us?
God could communicate with us individually.
God could communicate with us through a spokesman, such as a prophet.
God could communicate with us through records made by his spokesmen, such as scriptures.
You may ask, if god really wanted us to know he exists and what he is like, then wouldn't he communicate to us through all three methods? I'd have to agree that the answer is yes and this is precisely the reason why I believe that god exists. The point of this post isn't to prove or to try to convince any of the unbelievers that god exists, just to explain very succinctly why I believe he exists and that to me this is very rational.
I have gained more understanding and a better appreciation for the atheist views from reading through the arguments in the past few dozen pages or so. I hope you feel the same way about the theist view.
I have to concur. All these side arguments, however stimulating, interesting and exciting are not getting us any nearer to the truth of the basic question. We can continue attempting to score points, but the real issues are:
Does god exist?
If so then what is god like?
And in truth I don't think anyone would disagree that the only way to get the true answer to the questions above is directly from god. Now I didn't say directly from "religion", as if "religion" were a monolithic "thing", I said directly from god. So how would god communicate with us?
God could communicate with us individually.
God could communicate with us through a spokesman, such as a prophet.
God could communicate with us through records made by his spokesmen, such as scriptures.
You may ask, if god really wanted us to know he exists and what he is like, then wouldn't he communicate to us through all three methods? I'd have to agree that the answer is yes and this is precisely the reason why I believe that god exists. The point of this post isn't to prove or to try to convince any of the unbelievers that god exists, just to explain very succinctly why I believe he exists and that to me this is very rational.
I have gained more understanding and a better appreciation for the atheist views from reading through the arguments in the past few dozen pages or so. I hope you feel the same way about the theist view.
