[mit-ac6] Re: Reply to Neil
- From: Neil Santos <ne0_akt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Mark Angelo Paulo <mit-ac6@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2002 22:44:38 +0800
>> [Monday] 10/14/2002 :: 3:49 PM -- REPLY
>> Message from :: Mark Angelo Paulo
>> Message about :: [mit-ac6] Reply to Neil
MAP> I started asking that question too if God really do
MAP> exists when i was just 10 or 12,i ask my sister about
That's about the same time I started doubting, too. When I was... 13
or 14, I wrote ``papers'' that enumerated my reasons for not
believing, and rebuttals to the usual things people say to ``prove''
that (a) god(s) do(es) exist.
I distributed copies of those ``papers'', giving them to people I knew
back then, and I'm sure I've at least got soem of them started on
doubting and asking questions. Too bad I can't any of those papers
now...
MAP> it and she said that "there's nothing wrong in
MAP> believing",you dont have to see the things you believe
I agree: there's nothing wrong in believing. But is NOT believing too
big a deal? I mean, the whole god issue is just like the whole aliens
issue; there are some who really believe that they exist, and a lot
more believe they don't.
With religion, the numbers are switched.
I believe in extra-terrestial intelligence, not because of a
`gut-feeling', but because it would be stupid not to. I mean, are we
Terrans so wrapped up in ourselves that we'd actually think we're the
only (semi-)intelligent life in the universe? I'm probably the most
cynical person on the planet, but I'm not that cynical to even think
that our species is that egocentric...
Further, I'd like to point out that evidence points towards the
existence of other intelligent life on other planets. And frankly, I
haven't seen evidence that proves the existence of (a) god(s).
MAP> because deep inside you you know its there your just
MAP> doubtful if your gonna open up.
If there's anything I doubt, it's the existence of an omnipotent,
omnipresent, and omniscient being (or beings) who're supposedly
powerful enough to create a whole universe (probably even
multiverses), yet are powerless to change the state of the planet
we're living in.
Now, if a human being of power, with total authority fails to use that
power and authority to help others, what would we do to him? Probably
impeach him. If there is a god, then we should probably impeach
him/her too.
MAP> you dont have to see the beauty of life to appreaciate
MAP> it although beauty pertains in our ability to see,but
MAP> theres this thing that tells us that its there its
MAP> just up to us on how we appreciate it.
The existence of beauty is something subjective. One can find beauty
in something, where others cannot. The existence of deities, however,
is objective--it's either they exist or not--and cannot be quantified
like beauty, or other abstract ideals.
The existence of someone (or, as in this case, something) is not
something simply to be ``appreciated''. It's something to be seen,
and to be known.
Does believing your whole life that there's a person named
`Qualiphatocous Degrihatunom Eglair', living happily in some obscure
island make that idea a reality? I don't believe so, nor have I
encountered compelling evidence to prove that it is so.
Conversely, just because I don't believe in deities does not mean, nor
prove that they do not exist.
For example, our ancestors did not believe that Terra (our planet,
Earth) revolved around the star Sol (our sun); they believed it was
the other way around. But through observation and experimentation, we
have later confirmed that Terra, in fact, revolves around Sol.
Clearly, the belief of a number of civilizations was not able to
countermand reality.
MAP> "its better to die believing than to die with nothing
MAP> to believe in"
Oh, I believe in something--a lot of things, actually. But I can't
believe in the existence of something, when everything I experience,
observe, and know point to the contrary.
-------
``... I don't suppose we shall see them again.''
-- Frodo, from `The Fellowship of the Ring', by J.R.R. Tolkien
... I'm not into working out. My philosophy: No pain, no pain. - Carol Leifer
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