No, they cannot. They can claim that have come to believe there is a God. To make it knowledge they must be able to demonstrate it. And getting your personal willies isn't demonstration.
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There are too many people who think they are smart in the world an that is why we are divided and in trouble.
- Thread starter Absolutely Frank
- Start date
That is only self imposed blindness. The knowledge of God is demonstrated by the Messengers and any just and honest search of the claim can find it ro be true or false based on the evidence they provide us with.
The Messengers stand by their claim.
Regards Tony
McBell
Admiral Obvious
Are you implying that @Evangelicalhumanist is not "standing by his claim"?
now let us say for sake of argument that he is standing by his claim, does that make his claim any truer?
If not, why would it make the "messengers" claims any truer?
Absolutely Frank
Member
It is still a matter of faith though
Faith has to be built on evidence, or it is blind faith.
The Bible tells us that we must test the evidence, as faith can be also built on false evidence. This is a big topic.
The story of building on sand and rock is the teachings covering this aspect of Faith.
Matthew 7:24-27 The Wise and Foolish Builders
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Regards Tony
Balthazzar
Christian Evolutionist
I have no idea.
Testing the waters seem to me the better option than listening to your friends who beckon you to follow their lead saying: "The waters fine, come on in!" I've never known many of mine to have been much if any brighter than me, and I know them well enough to see Loki lurking behind their eyes.
I'm sure they do. But they are just that -- claims!
I am woefully underimpressed by a god that can create universes from diddly squat, but can't find a way to make himself clear to a mere few billion earthlings, but has to send "messengers" whose claims are often garbled, always at odds with one another, and have led to religious war, schism, horrifying executions for "heresy" and other thought crimes.
That is just a matter of studying why God has created us.
One that is all knowing, has the reasons,it is the greatest gift we can be given , consciousness with the ability of rational thought.
If you were just an animal, none of this would matter at all.
Regards Tony
an anarchist
Your local anarchist.
Your title states
There are too many people who think they are smart in this world and that is why we are divided and in trouble
100% agree.
When everyone realizes that I am right, when everyone elects me as Supreme Dictator of Mankind, when humanity sees the truth of my words, then society will be fixed.
There are too many people who think they are smart in this world and that is why we are divided and in trouble
100% agree.
When everyone realizes that I am right, when everyone elects me as Supreme Dictator of Mankind, when humanity sees the truth of my words, then society will be fixed.
an anarchist
Your local anarchist.
@Absolutely Frank , you laugh at this post.
That is fine. I am dramatic with my words in order to illicit reaction.
But I am (mostly) serious with the post you haha'd at.
Absolutely Frank
Member
Faith is not built on empirical evidence, it's built on subjective principles and doesn't need to be proven by objective evidence because it isn't an object - faith is a subject only understood as a subject. We walk by faith not sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) because faith is the assurance of what we do not see (Hebrew 11:1). Faith is wholly subjective.
Empirical evidence is also relative to our state of consciousness.
Everything is but a construct, a mere semblance of the true reality.
Regards Tony
That is gobble-de-gook, I'm sorry. You say it's a matter of "studying why God has created us." Okay -- what is it,, why did he? If you are going to answer that question, of course, you are going to have to do it from God's perspective -- there is no other way.
But you then go on to answer that question in exactly the opposite way -- you say being given consciousness and reason is "the greatest gift we can be given." But that doesn't make sense -- before we were given it (if we were), WE DID NOT EXIST! That's the question you've glossed over. It implies that God though, "I should create something I can give consciousness to!" Why? What could God know about consciousness? Until creation, there was nothing to be conscious of!
And I am "just an animal," and so are you. We eat, we poop, we breathe, we are born, procreate and die -- just like every other animal nature has ever produced on this planet. You may tout your intelligence and ability to reason as making you somehow better, but if we toss you off the boat into shark-infested water, if we set you loose alone in grizzly territory, you are likely to lose the battle. Sorry, but human strength isn't anything like animal strength. Even a young chimpanzee could rip your arm out of its socket without breaking a sweat -- and you'd be powerless to stop her.
You are not even reasoning -- you're rhapsodising!
Because we live in an era of abundant and available public education and high literacy rates compared to... well, pretty much any other era of human history.
The challenge here is we also live in the information age. There is so much information it is more or less impossible to be a "renaissance person" as it might have been even just a couple centuries ago. Considering the titanic increase in the volume of information available, I frankly think it is impressive that public education manages as well as it does. Perhaps stop setting your bar higher and higher to the point it is simply unrealistic and impossible in this age?
Absolutely Frank
Member
Having a higher education doesn't preclude dimwittedness. Being smart does not mean being wise.
Absolutely Frank
Member
Because our view of reality is inherently subjective, shaped by our individual perceptions, experiences, and consciousness. Even when we strive for objectivity, for empirical certainty, our understanding is filtered through our personal lens, influenced by our beliefs, emotions, and mental states.
You are what you are and I am what I am through choice.
I am more than an animal, because I choose Love over hate, I choose peace instead of war, I choose Trustworthiness over unreliability, I choose honesty over deception.
Regards Tony
That all feeds the gift of choice. The moment we pass from this world, our eyes are opened to all that was possible for us to acheive.
Regards Tony
McBell
Admiral Obvious
Stop dodging and answer the question.
It is my opinion that you backed yourself into a corner and know it.
Thus the blatant dodge.