God's gift of reason
John, this a follow up on my comment in your Youtube channel.
I did watch the video "Answering Christian Criticisms of Deism". I don't think you quite cover what I was trying to ask. In that video you state that you believe it isn't logical to say that God would have a personal interest in us, given the scope and age of the universe. I agree, but I am struck with a question for you. Why would he then gift human beings with reason? When you say "God's gift of reason", I think you are making assumptions
that you need not make. Mainly that God would have to take an interest in
us enough to give us a gift. Your God seems to intervene more than the deistic God that one normally reads about.
Having said that, I do like your little catchphrase at the end of your videos; so don't take this as a comment to get rid of it.
E.P.
The concept that Nature's God has endowed us with a higher capacity for reason goes back to classical deism and my references to "God's Gift of Reason" comes from Paine's Age of Reason. I forget which philosopher it was who said this but he described humans as "rational animals". I think it's one that dovetails nicely with evolution, even if it does carry an assumption.
Somehow, we did make a leap in the stages of human evolution where our brains became larger and more developed. To say that God tweaked evolution, thereby taking an interest in the human species, isn't to say that God takes a personal interest in us individually. The scientist-bacteria colony analogy applies here. A bacteria colony can be cultivated but the scientist hardly takes a personal interest in the cells individually.
I created my own sign off as an alternative to calls for blessings on anyone. Instead, I call on myself and everyone else to use what we already have. This too reflects on what I see as a more proactive, self-reliant message of deism, contrasted with theism. Don't tell God what to do; see what you can do for yourself.
<< When you say "God's gift of reason", I think you are making assumptions
that you need not make. Mainly that God would have to take an interest in
us enough to give us a gift. Your God seems to intervene more than the deistic God that one normally reads about. >>
For what it's worth, I think of the "gift of reason", not in the sense of providentially presenting mankind with a complete, plug'n'play rational mind (like Prometheus and the gift of fire), but of indirectly teaching him by eons of evolutionary and personal experience to use the special faculties of a big brain. My "deistic God" only intervened once: at the Big Bang creation of the evolving and unfolding design of a rational universe. The assumption here is that the complete design was "front-loaded", so that remedial (or personal) intervention is not necessary.
I see. I assumed that deists wouldn't be ones to attribute actions or characteristics to a creator beyond that of the initial creation. As an atheist, I guess that it is just a foreign notion to me that anyone "aided" our Evolution. While the deist god is certainly more palatable, I still don't see the reason for adding him/her at all. We just differ there. In fact, I think that many skeptics from the enlightenment period would've been atheists, had they known about the theories of modern science.
Understand that if you get five deists in a room together, you'll get five different opinions. It's not unlike atheism in that respect. We have no scripture to draw upon or any clergy to defer to. I can only offer you my take on it based on my own speculations. Someone else's milage may vary.
What you say is of no surprise. Most atheists seem to believe the universe explains itself well enough. I see the universe as a fantastic machine, though the intelligence behind it is an enigma. The practical application in our lives is the same, since we're both focused on the natural universe. It's like atheism with a few poetic flourishes. "Sexed up atheism" as Richard Dawkins said of pantheism.
<< While the deist god is certainly more palatable, I still don't see the reason for adding him/her at all.>>
For Deists, the deity is not an add-on after-thought. The First Cause is integral to the worldview of an organic, evolutionary universe. The alternative is life and mind arising from non-life and non-mind. Rationally, that does not compute. The part is contingent on the whole, and the temporal depends on the eternal---not the other way around.
God is sort of an afterthought for me (deist)... an extremely awesome and wonderful afterthought, but still not 100% relevant to everything that happens to me on an hourly basis. Most hardcore Christians and Muslims would not claim to think about God all the time either, although they would likely attribute this "failing" to their "sinful nature." In my opinion, it is extremely "sinful" to obsess over God while neglecting or mistreating God's creatures and creation. I'm much closer to atheism than I am to religion in most areas, but am perturbed when atheists insist that there is something inherently stupid, tyrannical, dangerous or irrational about the idea of a creative intelligence at work behind the scenes of the cosmic Big Bang and evolution. Wishing God's gift of reason to light our way is a nice way of subverting religion without turning religious people off with iconoclastic bluster.
I don't see God as an afterthought. I haven't spent too much time worrying about the "how" aspect of God. In my mind, it is probably wasteful (with my time) for me to personally do this. God, indeed, in many ways, might be an "enigma", but God will always be very important to me. I realize also that it takes faith to believe that God (whatever God is) actually exists, but that will probably be one position I will never deviate from as a deist. Some deists also believe that they are "God" or an essential "part" of God. That is their right too, as deists.
I may be a deist, but I have also died to all religion! Religion divides. Religion also conquers! Perhaps this may make me here a little bit unique, but deism has a very big tent, and I am happy about that. I will never be part of any religious organization again, and my stand on this gives me peace. My mindset about God is therefore, in some aspects, "simple", and I intend to keep it that way, for now. I love God and, I love His creation. There are a few other simple aspects to this, of course, but I will not get into them here.
I think it also takes faith to be an atheist, because no atheist has absolutely proven to me that God does not exist. Atheists, in general, present some strong arguments against the islamic and christian faiths, and I will give them credit for that. They have their right to exist and I respect their positions too.
Make no mistake, I believe that God exists, but I do not believe that the TRUE God, or Creator, is necessarily, the God of the Bible. That for me, would be a bitter pill to swallow. Indeed, there may be too many inconsistencies in the Bible to accept that, and the God vs. the Bible Book presents very good arguements that the God of the Bible may not be the true Creator of the Universe!
Thank you John for your website. May God's gift of reason light our way!
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Thanks for the constructive feedback :) Diyet regarding the Overworld limitations and linearity, I only felt it limited in the sense that you aren't truely able to 'explore' fully in the way that could in other Zelda games - remember the underground caverns you could once find? - and quite frankly I miss that and it is basically linear in the sense that your destination is already chosen, yes you are still exploring and in a wonderful new way but this Overworld 'Transport' also highlights the limitations of what Nintendo can do with a 3D Zelda game on the DS but what they 'have' achieved is still impressive and I do acknowledge that fully.
And yes it's true that because of free movie online the new Overworld mechanic, it doesn't seem 'empty' at times like TWW did when you were sailing around huge open masses of sea - the sailing in TWW is still captivating though and was a refreshing change at the time - as for the sidequests, I didn't go into detail because I don't want to spoil anything... this review may be late but I am aware that are still people out there who have yet to play it, but yes there is 'plenty to see and do' which I specifically highlighted as a positive, so I didn't ignore that aspect.
@Benedetto - puanl? giysi giydirme oyunlar? No... I was informed that I'd be receiving the game so going out and buying another copy of it would have been counter-productive in this instance; November was a busy time both for myself and for game releases in general, if I had received the game earlier then of course I would have endeavoured to get the review done earlier and it would have perhaps been longer too but that was not the case and while it saddens me that I wasn't able to provide a review of a Zelda game soon after it being denizli k?z yurdu released I feel that I still did my best considering the circumstances.
Please don't forget that N-europe is run 'voluntarily' and so sometimes setbacks and delays occur not because we want them to but due to other real-life happenings beyond our reasonable control; I'm not trying to hide behind excuses but merely attempting to give you all a better insight into why these instances occur because sometimes it seems like it's all too easy for people to forget just how much of their own time people put into this website.
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@Benedetto - No... I was informed that I'd be receiving the game so going out and buying another copy of it would have been counter-productive in this instance; November was a busy time both for myself and for game oyun releases in general, if I had received the game earlier then of course I would have endeavoured to get the review done earlier and it would have perhaps been longer too but that was not the case and while it saddens me that I wasn't able to provide a review of a Zelda game soon after it being released I feel that I still did my best considering the circumstances.
Please don't forget that N-europe is in?aat run 'voluntarily' and so sometimes setbacks and delays occur not because we want them to but due to other real-life happenings beyond our reasonable control; I'm not trying to hide behind excuses but merely attempting to give you all a better insight into why these instances occur because sometimes it seems like it's all too easy for people to forget just how much of their own time people put into this website.
Anyway, I hope this clears thingsup and hopefully answers a few questions, thank you all for the constructive feedback as it is always appreciated :) now if you will excuse me I have VC Weekly #122 to finish writing.pes 2010 türkçe spiker