Letter to an Atheist
In a contest of plausibilities one wonders why atheists though professing often to accept that humans are capable of self improvement ... on a vastly different scale of achievement to even the most intelligent animal ... remain so lacking in curiosity about an original cause for this improvement capacity
Just as they appear indifferent to a supernatural basis for an "uncaused" material phenomenon, the universe, they seem equally indifferent to the origin of abstract values that find outward expressions that are not matched in the animal world.
Or do you see pigs painting the Mona Lisa in their pig sty mud, and hear Handel's Messiah in their chorus of grunts and so equate animals to man?
Does an atheist never wonder why humans are as unique as they seemingly are in an otherwise loveless universe?
It seems to me that the argument for plausibilities has been won thousands of times in outward expressions of beauty dedicated to a God of influence and power
It seems to me that far more lives have been changed for better than for worse
If it is a fantasy it is a powerful one, renewed daily and in generations far apart in time, ethnicity, customs and culture
It seems to me to be implausible that this "fantasy" gains in times of suffering, if the God discerned was also held to have caused the suffering
It seems to me implausible that the teachings of Christ remain so relevant without being divine and pure ... through every changing historical shift of perception about what God requires
I am interested to discover an example of a mainstream Christian theist who does not perceive God as the uncaused origin of all things
The unanimity of Christians outside the American proliferating non-Nicene sects on 1st order doctrinal issues is another plausible support for their truth, as is the witness of the Early and continuing Church
Unlike many modern literalist fundamentalists I do not rely on scripture alone, but I do find scripture a powerful and plausible record of God's love, concern and intervention for humanity.
I am curious that you can believe in eternity and have no curiosity about the intangible ... then again perhaps I assume wrongly that the intangible fails to excite your interest merely because it can not be measured.
If we can't measure it ... then it isn't real, right?
Hilarius
In a contest of plausibilities one wonders why atheists though professing often to accept that humans are capable of self improvement ... on a vastly different scale of achievement to even the most intelligent animal ... remain so lacking in curiosity about an original cause for this improvement capacity
Just as they appear indifferent to a supernatural basis for an "uncaused" material phenomenon, the universe, they seem equally indifferent to the origin of abstract values that find outward expressions that are not matched in the animal world.
Or do you see pigs painting the Mona Lisa in their pig sty mud, and hear Handel's Messiah in their chorus of grunts and so equate animals to man?
Does an atheist never wonder why humans are as unique as they seemingly are in an otherwise loveless universe?
It seems to me that the argument for plausibilities has been won thousands of times in outward expressions of beauty dedicated to a God of influence and power
It seems to me that far more lives have been changed for better than for worse
If it is a fantasy it is a powerful one, renewed daily and in generations far apart in time, ethnicity, customs and culture
It seems to me to be implausible that this "fantasy" gains in times of suffering, if the God discerned was also held to have caused the suffering
It seems to me implausible that the teachings of Christ remain so relevant without being divine and pure ... through every changing historical shift of perception about what God requires
I am interested to discover an example of a mainstream Christian theist who does not perceive God as the uncaused origin of all things
The unanimity of Christians outside the American proliferating non-Nicene sects on 1st order doctrinal issues is another plausible support for their truth, as is the witness of the Early and continuing Church
Unlike many modern literalist fundamentalists I do not rely on scripture alone, but I do find scripture a powerful and plausible record of God's love, concern and intervention for humanity.
I am curious that you can believe in eternity and have no curiosity about the intangible ... then again perhaps I assume wrongly that the intangible fails to excite your interest merely because it can not be measured.
If we can't measure it ... then it isn't real, right?
Hilarius
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