Grimer wrote:
At 10:42 am 21/12/2005 -0500, you wrote:
Mike Carrell wrote:
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Jed: He would if he existed, but he doesn't so he doesn't.
Frank; Yes he does.
Jed: No he doesn't
F: Yes he does.
J: No he doesn't.
F: Yes he does.
J: No he doesn't.
F: Yes he does a thousand times and no returns.
Ah! that takes me right back to my
school playground when we were 5. 8-)
There are valid methods for determining the likely provenance of sacred
texts. There are valid methods for determining certain details of how
ancient manuscripts were constructed. There are, in fact, valid
arguments that may eventually lead to an almost certainly correct
solution to the synoptic problem. (Actually I think the solution to
that one's already clear, but like cold fusion, the academic
establishment has largely rejected it FWTW.) Hence, arguments over such
things could plausibly be considered appropriate for a science-oriented
discussion group.
But the statement that "God exists" is too vague to be testable (i.e, no
matter what facts were discovered, for any imagined experiment no matter
how impractical, it could never be proved false) and hence there are no
valid arguments on either side of that particular issue, which puts it
clearly off-topic.
