On Sun, Feb 1, 2015 at 12:10 PM, Samiya Illias <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Sun, Feb 1, 2015 at 9:37 AM, Platonist Guitar Cowboy < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> Where do I insult your faith? >> > > I should have phrased it as 'my expression of faith' and not 'my faith'. I > do not say that you insult it, I wonder why my admittance of being > convinced makes you feel insulted? > Nobody is insulted. You quote scripture while displaying interest in scientific thought and you have people's responses. You mistake disagreement for insult. > I may be right or I may be wrong, but I do believe what I believe. Perhaps > I should begin my replies with 'According to the Quran, based upon my > understanding of it, I think...' but isn't that implicit as you know that > already. > That isn't implicit. If you accept scripture literally as the only source of truth, then you dismiss all others, including what people post on this list. If you begin your sentences and quotes with the above phrases, then you permit possibility of own error, assuming humility and respect for others' faith. On the surface at least. Sticking to that attitude you would write and quote less the kind of comment to Liz that "someday, when you're blessed with faith, perhaps you'll understand me". If people are to accept your personal theology when reasoning in this area, then doing the same with their theology, instead of "if you were only touched by god the way I have the privilege to be", which is completely personal, without discernible distance to the subject; then it would be possible to have reasonable discussion. And you don't have to believe me, Alhazen and the many sincere scientists of your faith throughout the ages can manage to express it and practice it in this way: *"The duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and,.. attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency.*" (*Abdelhamid I. Sabra translation *(1989), *The Optics of Ibn al-Haytham. Books I-II-III: On Direct Vision. English Translation and Commentary. 2 vols*, Studies of the Warburg Institute, vol. 40, London) In this golden age of science of Islamic world, roughly 8th to 13th century A.D., stretching from Cordoba to Samarkand, Christian and Jewish scholars were honored guests at research institutes in Baghdad, Kairo. Instead of ignoring or banning books, the Caliphs sent their emissaries to find scientific scripture and funded long distance expeditions to search for, retrieve, and translate such books. They also enriched the West with ideas fundamental to our conceptions of science today (if not up to Bruno's high standards ;-) ) including the Arabic numerals, that we still use today along with the concept of zero. Not to speak of how influential Arabic astronomy was. My point is: had these people merely taken only one book as the source of truth and not engaged in their sincere search *beyond personal theology* in shareable, demonstrative, objective science, observation, and critical thought, that can be shared by all seekers, regardless of their faith, many developments in our world would have been slowed down. Even the preservation of ancient Greek literature was enabled by these scholars. They showed how one can have faith and still aspire to master critical thought, objective discourse, and doubt. PGC -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
