Tony\'s God (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 17:41 (4751 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

Tony, I’m now speaking to you as dhw and not as prosecuting counsel. I shan’t quote your latest responses in detail, because they are based almost entirely on your absolute faith that God is all-good, all-loving, all-caring. Those acts which may seem to some of us to be arbitrary and cruel – e.g. his slaughter of the innocents (I don’t just mean in biblical stories) – are simply part of his great plan, and the victims, together with those who are left grieving, will eventually be compensated because he will give them a better life. I hope this is a fair summary, but if not, do please correct it.

There can be no argument here. Those who share your faith will nod in approval. Those who do not will say that it’s irrational, your claims cannot be substantiated in this the only life we know we have, and you see only what you want to see. That is probably the end point of this particular discussion. Except that I wish to clarify my own position. I do not nod in approval, but I do nod with respect: if your faith brings you comfort, and leads you at worst to do no harm to others and at best to do good (I hope our criteria are the same here), that respect will have been well earned. I would say precisely the same to atheists – many of whom pursue humanist values which frequently coincide with those of the less fundamentalist believers. When all is said and done, none of us know the truth, every theory is equally riddled with uncertainties – though theists and atheists will be equally opposed to my “equally”! – and one either takes a leap of faith, or one sits on the fence.

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I’m pleased and relieved that you find our discussions a useful challenge, and of course I do too. That is the whole point of the forum, and you will see that I’m still jousting (and having fun) with Casey and David on other posts. I hope you’ll respond to this one too, as the summary may be inaccurate, and it may also be that you disapprove of my conclusions. If you do, it would be interesting to know why!