N
Nan_S
Guest
Exalt,
Thus far everyone has focused specifically on God-the-father. But there are three more gorillas in the room.
The first gorilla is the existence of evil, demonic influence and demonic possession. Someone once said that people struggle with the proof of God, but as to the devil we have no doubt. Modern battles between humans and powerful malignant forces are well documented, with audio and video evidence. Can you discuss your understanding of the existence of super-natural forces which seem bent upon causing harm?
The second gorilla is related: psychic connections and extra-sensory perception that indicate the existence of a spirit-world beyond our ordinary knowledge. I’m talking about instances like this: A twin suddenly awakens in the middle of the night with a feeling of dread, then discovers the next morning that her sister was killed at the very moment she awoke. A missing person case goes unresolved for a year until a psychic steps forward, describing visions that lead the authorities straight to the accident site. There does appear to be sufficient modern-day evidence for a realm or plane of existence beyond what our five senses can readily touch.
The third gorilla is near-death experiences. A person who is clinically dead reawakens, able to accurately describe everything that happened in the room after his/her heart stopped, right down to the things people were wearing and actions they took. This person also describes what happened next: a sense of rapid movement, sometimes meeting family members long dead, and eventually encoutering a peaceful being of light that sends him/her back. Sometimes, though, the encounter is a vision of abject horror which results in the “returned” person completely reforming his/her morally decrepit life. These experiences, again, are well documented, particularly by people who were skeptics until they themselves had one.
None of these three gorillas are direct evidence for the existence of God, although the third one comes very close. But all three would indicate there is far more “out there” than what our five senses can detect. A shortage of direct evidence does not mean we should act as if something does not exist until proven otherwise. On the contrary, the cautious person acts as if it does exist until proven otherwise. If this were not so, no one would get upset when food service workers didn’t wash their hands.
Finally, I am interested in your answer to a question which I’m sure you have heard before. Consider Pascal’s Wager: the limited cost of following God’s mandates vs. the infinite reward, or the limited freedom of following your own mandates vs. the infinite penalty. If God is not real both the believer and the non-believer come to the same “happy” end - oblivion. If God is real, only the non-believer has a problem. Is the reward worth the risk? What if you are wrong?
Thank you for your frank and rational answers.
Thus far everyone has focused specifically on God-the-father. But there are three more gorillas in the room.
The first gorilla is the existence of evil, demonic influence and demonic possession. Someone once said that people struggle with the proof of God, but as to the devil we have no doubt. Modern battles between humans and powerful malignant forces are well documented, with audio and video evidence. Can you discuss your understanding of the existence of super-natural forces which seem bent upon causing harm?
The second gorilla is related: psychic connections and extra-sensory perception that indicate the existence of a spirit-world beyond our ordinary knowledge. I’m talking about instances like this: A twin suddenly awakens in the middle of the night with a feeling of dread, then discovers the next morning that her sister was killed at the very moment she awoke. A missing person case goes unresolved for a year until a psychic steps forward, describing visions that lead the authorities straight to the accident site. There does appear to be sufficient modern-day evidence for a realm or plane of existence beyond what our five senses can readily touch.
The third gorilla is near-death experiences. A person who is clinically dead reawakens, able to accurately describe everything that happened in the room after his/her heart stopped, right down to the things people were wearing and actions they took. This person also describes what happened next: a sense of rapid movement, sometimes meeting family members long dead, and eventually encoutering a peaceful being of light that sends him/her back. Sometimes, though, the encounter is a vision of abject horror which results in the “returned” person completely reforming his/her morally decrepit life. These experiences, again, are well documented, particularly by people who were skeptics until they themselves had one.
None of these three gorillas are direct evidence for the existence of God, although the third one comes very close. But all three would indicate there is far more “out there” than what our five senses can detect. A shortage of direct evidence does not mean we should act as if something does not exist until proven otherwise. On the contrary, the cautious person acts as if it does exist until proven otherwise. If this were not so, no one would get upset when food service workers didn’t wash their hands.
Finally, I am interested in your answer to a question which I’m sure you have heard before. Consider Pascal’s Wager: the limited cost of following God’s mandates vs. the infinite reward, or the limited freedom of following your own mandates vs. the infinite penalty. If God is not real both the believer and the non-believer come to the same “happy” end - oblivion. If God is real, only the non-believer has a problem. Is the reward worth the risk? What if you are wrong?
Thank you for your frank and rational answers.
