tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post4876265271350504982..comments2024-03-28T12:34:14.649-07:00Comments on dangerous idea: Russell's Teapot and the Great Pumpkin objectionVictor Repperthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10962948073162156902noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-702797399172218952008-12-09T02:17:00.000-07:002008-12-09T02:17:00.000-07:00What is a properly basic belief?If somebody says '...What is a properly basic belief?<BR/><BR/>If somebody says '6 Million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. An all-loving god would not have allowed that to happen. Therefore, no all-loving god exists.', is that a properly basic belief?<BR/><BR/>If somebody says 'That flower is really pretty. Therefore a god created it', is that a properly basic belief?<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6651" REL="nofollow"> Personal Testimony of William Lane Craig </A><BR/><BR/>Craig writes 'I cried out all the anger and bitterness that had built up inside me, and at the same time I felt this tremendous infusion of joy, like a balloon being blown up and blown up until it was ready to burst! I remember I rushed outdoors—it was a clear, mid-western, summer night, and you could see the Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon. As I looked up at the stars, I thought, “God! I’ve come to know God!”'<BR/><BR/>Crying releases huge numbers of endorphins into the system.<BR/><BR/>A good cry often makes people feel a lot better.<BR/><BR/>Is a 'properly basic belief in God' one induced by looking at some stars after a really good cry?<BR/><BR/>If somebody in Dachau cried out to God in despair, and received no answer, would such a person have a 'properly basic belief' that there was no god to answer their cries?Steven Carrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11983601793874190779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-59496904150985175342008-12-08T14:14:00.000-07:002008-12-08T14:14:00.000-07:00Training in mathematics can offer an interesting p...Training in mathematics can offer an interesting perspective here. I agree that assuming God exists is in no way inferior to assuming He does not exist, in the same way assuming the Axiom of Choice is true is not inferior to assuming it is false. You have to make assumptions about the universe to discuss it, and as long as you are clear what those assumptions are and there is no contradiction among them, any beginning position is intellectually equivalent.One Browhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938816242512563561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-63359147747424863632008-12-08T13:07:00.000-07:002008-12-08T13:07:00.000-07:00That seems quite right. (Of course, my saying thi...That seems quite right. (Of course, my saying this is just further evidence for your complete academic dishonesty...)Clayton Littlejohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05596200828134402805noreply@blogger.com