Woolleybugger
Mayor
Do you believe in God?
Why yes, I do.
Why?
Because God exists.
But how do you know God Exists?
Because I know it to be true.
Do you often rely upon your own thoughts in order to prove something exists or not?
Well of course, how else could I know that something is real or not real except if I consider it and then make a decision?
But how do you make this decision and what sources of information shape this decision?
I make the decision with my faculties intact and my life experiences helping me to evaluate the issue. My sources are my life and my understanding of my life through my own experiences.
Do you use other peoples experiences as guides or aids in your decision making?
Yes, I do. The bible is my guide but I am also shaped by my parents, my schools, my friends and the other people I know.
Do you wonder if your decision would be different if the external factors in your life had been something else? Say a different culture, a different era, a different time?
Sometimes I do but that is beside the point. All I have is what I know and have within my experience. I cannot understand nor comprehend a different reality.
Would you agree that everything you think you know about God is a factor of your personal experiences?
Yes, I think it is impossible to separate one's life from one's perception of life.
So would you agree that had you been born in a different culture somewhere else on earth in this time that your view upon the existence of God would be shaped first by this artifact of geography?
If you mean that had I been born in India then yes, I would likely not have believed in the same God as I do now.
Would that mean that your opinion about God had you been born in India would be wrong?
Why yes, that goes without saying.
But would you be aware of this living as a person in India?
I doubt it.
So why would a God create a world where geography dictates whether or not his creations actually believe he exists?
I suppose that is why he gave us free will. Adam and Eve, the apple, the snake. You know the story.
Yes I do know the story, it is an allegory for the knowledge of sin, a way to speak of shame over your body and procreation, a means of telling us that we are fallible creatures that have been given the choice to make a good or bad decision.
Exactly. God made it so, yet at the same time, he let us go so that we could learn for ourselves what is good and evil without having him create a world for us with no choice.
But did we create God and this story before or after we realized that good and evil exist within each of us?
I do not think we created God, he created us.
How do you know that?
Because God exists.
Why?
Because I know it to be true.
How do you know it to be true?
Because....
My Dinner with Andre this is not but I do think this circular argument is a valid way of looking at the reasons why people think God exists. In affect, God exists because people think he exists. In the same way as a unicorn exists, God exists. Unlike unicorns, God has stickiness. He has support from culture, government, religion, parents, societies and the inadequacies of the human mind and ability to comprehend the world around him. God fills a vacuum that unless filled exists as the most empty of places. This is why the God myth persists. Science will likely never replace God because the amount of knowledge we do not know is always growing as a function of what we do know. The more we discover, the more questions arise. People that are comfortable with this lack of knowledge usually do not seek an artificial answer. People that demand an answer, make one up.
Why yes, I do.
Why?
Because God exists.
But how do you know God Exists?
Because I know it to be true.
Do you often rely upon your own thoughts in order to prove something exists or not?
Well of course, how else could I know that something is real or not real except if I consider it and then make a decision?
But how do you make this decision and what sources of information shape this decision?
I make the decision with my faculties intact and my life experiences helping me to evaluate the issue. My sources are my life and my understanding of my life through my own experiences.
Do you use other peoples experiences as guides or aids in your decision making?
Yes, I do. The bible is my guide but I am also shaped by my parents, my schools, my friends and the other people I know.
Do you wonder if your decision would be different if the external factors in your life had been something else? Say a different culture, a different era, a different time?
Sometimes I do but that is beside the point. All I have is what I know and have within my experience. I cannot understand nor comprehend a different reality.
Would you agree that everything you think you know about God is a factor of your personal experiences?
Yes, I think it is impossible to separate one's life from one's perception of life.
So would you agree that had you been born in a different culture somewhere else on earth in this time that your view upon the existence of God would be shaped first by this artifact of geography?
If you mean that had I been born in India then yes, I would likely not have believed in the same God as I do now.
Would that mean that your opinion about God had you been born in India would be wrong?
Why yes, that goes without saying.
But would you be aware of this living as a person in India?
I doubt it.
So why would a God create a world where geography dictates whether or not his creations actually believe he exists?
I suppose that is why he gave us free will. Adam and Eve, the apple, the snake. You know the story.
Yes I do know the story, it is an allegory for the knowledge of sin, a way to speak of shame over your body and procreation, a means of telling us that we are fallible creatures that have been given the choice to make a good or bad decision.
Exactly. God made it so, yet at the same time, he let us go so that we could learn for ourselves what is good and evil without having him create a world for us with no choice.
But did we create God and this story before or after we realized that good and evil exist within each of us?
I do not think we created God, he created us.
How do you know that?
Because God exists.
Why?
Because I know it to be true.
How do you know it to be true?
Because....
My Dinner with Andre this is not but I do think this circular argument is a valid way of looking at the reasons why people think God exists. In affect, God exists because people think he exists. In the same way as a unicorn exists, God exists. Unlike unicorns, God has stickiness. He has support from culture, government, religion, parents, societies and the inadequacies of the human mind and ability to comprehend the world around him. God fills a vacuum that unless filled exists as the most empty of places. This is why the God myth persists. Science will likely never replace God because the amount of knowledge we do not know is always growing as a function of what we do know. The more we discover, the more questions arise. People that are comfortable with this lack of knowledge usually do not seek an artificial answer. People that demand an answer, make one up.
