Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Absurd vs Rational Faith

The fullest use of reason tells us that we can be certain of nothing but our own conscious experience. We can't be certain of the existence of anything outside our conscious experience because we have no way of stepping outside our conscious experience to verify by a means independent of our conscious experience that anything exists outside that experience. Thus, we cannot be certain of the world that seems to be outside us or of a God that is said to be. Thus, those who claim certitude of the biblical God speak falsely, and a God who would command us to feel certain enough of his existence to love, obey, and serve him upon pain of everlasting torture if we don't, is a God who asks us to misuse and dishonor the rational faculty he allegedly gave us.

I am a man of faith. Not in a biblical God who commands us to feel certain of that of which we cannot be certain, but in my capacity to discern the absurdity of this alleged command and to dismiss it as nonsense unless and until somone can show me good reason not to. So far, nobody has.

No comments: