God Is a Question, Not an Answer

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God Is a Question, Not an Answer

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1rrp
Apr. 2, 2016, 12:02 pm

A piece by William Irwin in the NYT Stone section is titled "God Is a Question, Not an Answer."

In some ways, the article makes sense to me. It emphasizes that we are all, to some degree, in a state of doubt and concludes "In a spirit of tolerance and intellectual humility, we should see ourselves as partners in a continuing conversation, addressing an enduring question." which seems all well and good. That covers a lot of the ground covered here.

You may also have noted that Hilary Putman recently died. A lifelong communist and atheist, he late in life rediscovered his Jewish heritage and had a bar mitzvah aged 68. As the Economist obit put it "seeking proof, he argued, missed the point of religion. It was what it did that mattered."

Again, that makes some sense. We are all in some doubt. We cannot be certain. What matters is what we do.

But none of this provides much guidance of what you should do if you don't know what it is you should do. Does God provide the answer to the question, what should I do?

2richardbsmith
Bearbeitet: Apr. 2, 2016, 9:19 pm

The question of doubt that the article raises is important. I think doubt is essential to faith. I have been told by some that doubt is dangerous to faith. That seems wrong to me.

Everything should be doubted and tested.

The question of God seems to me to be a personal preference or geography or heritage. There are so many versions, with no clear criteria for selection.

If we cannot know, then we can only take the faith direction that has personal significance. And that includes Atheists who choose not to have faith in any religious system.

"if a concept is not testable by experiment, then we have no way of telling whether it's right or wrong, and it simply doesn't matter either way." Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, Why does E=mc2?

Does God provide the answer to "what I should do?"?

I don't know how one might know that a particular bit of guidance is from God. A person's faith experience will likely inform decisions. I think though it can be dangerous to think that an action decided upon has God's sanction.

3rrp
Apr. 3, 2016, 11:15 am

>2 richardbsmith: Everything should be doubted and tested.

I am always in two minds about this. I agree, it is good to doubt, to question and test. But as some point you have to stop doubting, stop questioning, stop testing and act. Logically, saying "everything should be doubted" makes no sense, because we should doubt that "everything should be doubted."

Ditto the concept : "if a concept is not testable by experiment, then we have no way of telling whether it's right or wrong, and it simply doesn't matter either way." simply doesn't matter, because it is not testable by experiment. (That's the sort of nonsense you typically get when scientists pontificate outside their domain of expertise.)

I don't know how one might know that a particular bit of guidance is from God.

I don't know if it matter that one knows or not. Is it necessary to have no doubt that a particular religion is true to benefit from following its commandments?

4richardbsmith
Apr. 3, 2016, 11:25 am

>3 rrp: Is it necessary to have no doubt that a particular religion is true to benefit from following its commandments?

If you change the word commandments to teaching, or following its commandments to experiencing its way, I could answer that question.

My answer would be that I hope it is not necessary to have no doubt to benefit from experiencing participating in a faith and a faith community.

And rrp, I think doubting the need to doubt might be part of the process, an essential feedback and protection from a stifling excessive skepticism.

5rrp
Apr. 3, 2016, 12:11 pm

I think doubting the need to doubt might be part of the process, an essential feedback and protection from a stifling excessive skepticism

Which is why everyone has to have some faith, whether they like to admit it or not.