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“Reasonableness is a matter of degree. Beliefs can be very reasonable (Japan exists), fairly reasonable (quarks exist), not unreasonable (there's intelligent life on other planets) or downright unreasonable (fairies exist).
There's a scale of reasonableness, if you like, with very reasonable beliefs near the top and deeply unreasonable ones towards the bottom. Notice a belief can be very high up the scale, yet still be open to some doubt. And even when a belief is low down, we can still acknowledge the remote possibility it might be true.
How reasonable is the belief that God exists? Atheists typically think it very unreasonable. Very low on the scale. But most religious people say it is at least not unreasonable (have you ever met a Christian who said 'Hey, belief in God is no more reasonable than belief in fairies, but I believe it anyway!'?) They think their belief is at least halfway up the scale of reasonableness.
Now, that their belief is downright unreasonable might, in fact, be established empirically. If it turned out that not only is there no good evidence of an all-powerful, all-good God, there's also overwhelming evidence against (from millions of years of unimaginable and pointless animal suffering, including several mass extinctions - to thousands of children being crushed to death or buried alive in Pakistan earthquake, etc. etc. etc.) then it could be empirically confirmed that there's no God.
Would this constitute a 'proof' that there's no God? Depends what you mean by 'proof'. Personally I think these sorts of consideration do establish beyond any reasonable doubt that there is no all-powerful all-good God. So we can, in this sense, prove there's no God.
Yet all the people quoted in my last blog say you cannot 'scientifically' prove or disprove God's existence. If they mean prove beyond any doubt they are right. But then hardly anything is provable in that sense, not even the non-existence of fairies.”
―
There's a scale of reasonableness, if you like, with very reasonable beliefs near the top and deeply unreasonable ones towards the bottom. Notice a belief can be very high up the scale, yet still be open to some doubt. And even when a belief is low down, we can still acknowledge the remote possibility it might be true.
How reasonable is the belief that God exists? Atheists typically think it very unreasonable. Very low on the scale. But most religious people say it is at least not unreasonable (have you ever met a Christian who said 'Hey, belief in God is no more reasonable than belief in fairies, but I believe it anyway!'?) They think their belief is at least halfway up the scale of reasonableness.
Now, that their belief is downright unreasonable might, in fact, be established empirically. If it turned out that not only is there no good evidence of an all-powerful, all-good God, there's also overwhelming evidence against (from millions of years of unimaginable and pointless animal suffering, including several mass extinctions - to thousands of children being crushed to death or buried alive in Pakistan earthquake, etc. etc. etc.) then it could be empirically confirmed that there's no God.
Would this constitute a 'proof' that there's no God? Depends what you mean by 'proof'. Personally I think these sorts of consideration do establish beyond any reasonable doubt that there is no all-powerful all-good God. So we can, in this sense, prove there's no God.
Yet all the people quoted in my last blog say you cannot 'scientifically' prove or disprove God's existence. If they mean prove beyond any doubt they are right. But then hardly anything is provable in that sense, not even the non-existence of fairies.”
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“Love doesn’t leave. It bears all things”
― Mud Vein
― Mud Vein
“What do we call visible light? We call it color. But the electromagnetic spectrum runs to zero in one direction and infinity in the other, so really, children, mathematically, all of light is invisible.”
― All the Light We Cannot See
― All the Light We Cannot See
“La gente miente. Ellos te utilizan y mienten, a la vez mientras te alimentan con mierda sobre ser leal y nunca dejarte. Nadie puede hacer esa promesa, porque la vida tiene que ver con las estaciones, y las estaciones cambian. No me gusta el cambio. No se puede confiar en ello, sólo puedes confiar en el hecho de que va a suceder. Pero antes de que suceda, y antes de que aprendas, se siente bien acerca de sus estúpidas promesas de mierda. Eliges creer, porque es necesario. Vas a través de un verano cálido, donde todo es hermoso y no hay nubes, sólo calor, calor, calor. Crees en la permanencia de una persona, porque los seres humanos tienen una tendencia a pegarse a ti cuando la vida es buena. Yo los llamo los veranos de miel. He tenido bastantes veranos de miel en la vida para saber que las personas se van cuando llega el invierno. Cuando la vida te congela y estás temblando y te pones capas de protección lo más que puedas para sobrevivir. Ni siquiera lo notas al principio. El frío te pone demasiado aturdido para ver con claridad. Entonces, de repente, miras y la nieve está empezando a derretirse, y te das cuenta que pasaste el invierno sola. Eso me molesta mucho. Tanto como para dejar a la gente antes de que me dejen a mí. Eso es lo que hice con Nick. Eso es lo que traté de hacer con Isaac. Excepto que no se iría. Él se quedó todo el invierno.”
― Mud Vein
― Mud Vein
“The truth is, clocks don’t tell time. Time is measured in meaning.”
― The Enchanted
― The Enchanted
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