Well, I have to do a discussion board post in each unit, and there's about 3 questions I have to answer in the unit. This unit is about God's existence. The assignment was to find a current organization that does not believe in the existence of God and present your case for the existence of God to them using arguments and points from the text. I chose the Atheist Alliance International organization and after analyzing their vision and mission statement I've found that, ironically, most of their core values are Biblical principles. For example, purpose, compassion, responsibility, and freedom. However, as expected, they base their lack of belief in God on "hard evidence" and proof of the scientific method only. They believe we should use reasoning and rational thinking for our beliefs, while, I do not disagree, I question what their organization is built on. It is, in fact, to me, a contradiction to say you have Biblical core values yet do not believe in the existence of God. Irony. :)
Anyway, I guess I'm just blogging about what I learned today. Literally, I spent ALL DAY on this reading and assignment. I'm not sure why it took me so long, but I really thought about how Atheists have no reason to not believe in God. He's so evident...and the human mind can only go so far.
One of the arguments I presented was Augustine's argument from truth to them, as follows:
(1) There are some necessary and unchangeable truths (ideas) such as 7+3= 10.
(2) But a finite mind, such as mine, is not unchangeable.
(3) An unchangeable truth cannot be based in a changeable, finite mind.
(4) Therefore, there must be an infinite, unchangeable Mind (that is, God) which is the basis for all unchangeable truths.
I guess I'm just excited to learn about Philosophy and to actually be understanding it so deeply! I'm rather impressed with myself. Anyway, I would explain to this organization that their core values are direct Scripture and commands from God. It's commanded that we love others and have compassion on them. God gives us purpose and freedom. I don't see how we can have any of these things to their full potential without God. Freedom without God is indeed not freedom from ourselves. If God does not give us purpose in this life, do we still have a true purpose?
The mind is fallible. It cannot understand everything, which inhibits reasoning to be absolute...ever. The mind if finite...while God is infinite. We will never understand everything about God, and there are only some mysteries that we couldn't fathom if we haven't sought them ourselves through religious experiences...such as, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, having a relationship with Jesus...etc.
So...I just really enjoyed this assignment even though I spent an inconceivable amount of unwanted time on it.
My advice to you is to know what you believe...why you believe it....and how to debate and argue anyone who stands against it. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying we should go about sticking our noses in every debate about God we can find because that may ultimately push others away. The Bible does teach about being quarrelsome with others, and about keeping the peace.
Just some thoughts. :)
P.S. I have no idea why some of the letters are bold and the others aren't. I tried to fix it, but it doesn't show up as different when I try to edit it. ha!
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