On 2/17/06, Tom C <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Fair enough... > > Even the term 'actual proof' is open to subjectivity. There's many things > we will never sense directly through our 5 senses, yet we pretty much > believe in their existence. Black holes for instance... in the past, > predicted but undiscovered planets in the solar system. > > I look at the world and the universe, and it's complexity, elegance, it's > many systems, chemical, organic, etc., that are all intertwined and > dependent and come to the conclusion there must be a maker. There may be no > more hard proof than that, except that many scientists, the deeper they dig, > the more evidence they find for a designer. > > I, personally have enjoyed this diversion in which we put forth our views, > knowing we won't convince others of them in a simple internet conversation, > if at all... > > For my part, I'm going to try and steer back towards photography, if not > Pentax...
I don't recall much from my days as a philosophy major, but I have a vague recollection that there are some respected theologians and philosophers, including a professor of mine who was a nun, who said that there is no rational proof of the existence of God. It's an article of faith. Faith and reason are antithetical. One either believes, or they don't. One can't prove an article of faith to a skeptic, for there is no proof available. Nothing of what you said "proves" the existence of God. You've chosen to look to those things as evidence of His existence, but in and of themselves, they prove nothing. One must still have faith in His existence beyond your evidence. I'm not saying this to deny His existence (although as you all know, I don't believe), or to in any way argue that He doesn't exist. My point is simply that to those who believe in God, that believe is based on personal revelation, not external observation. He can't be proven, only revealed and experienced. For better or worse, many of us simply haven't experienced him; that (at least in my case) is the primary reason I don't believe. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
