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| Do you feel upset about the "Ant-God" transit billboard? |
| Yes, it shouldn't be allowed |
0% |
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| Not really |
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| Don't care either way |
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| Total Votes: 5 |
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| lornewel Member Joined May 11, 2004 553 posts Location: Abbotsford |
 the nature of "knowing" |
Posted Feb 14, 2009; 8:51 am |
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| Quote: | | Defined narrowly, epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief. As the study of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the following questions: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? What are its sources? What is its structure, and what are its limits? As the study of justified belief, epistemology aims to answer questions such as: How we are to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal or external to one's own mind? Understood more broadly, epistemology is about issues having to do with the creation and dissemination of knowledge in particular areas of inquiry. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |
I strongly believe there is a God. With my mouth and my mind, I strongly believe that God is the God of the Bible, although if you subscribe to the belief that one's behaviour reveals one's actual beliefs no matter what the mouth is saying, there is doubt about my "real" beliefs.
I used to believe I was an honest person, but now, being more honest with myself, I believe I am not totally honest with myself or others in some aspects. I am able to change my beliefs about myself over time because I also acknowledge (a) I have biases whcih affect my perceptions, (b) my means of knowledge are fallible and (c) I change over time anyway.
I believe in God, but I can't prove he exists to a person who holds unprovable premsies which differ from my unprovable premises. |
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| bert Member Joined Feb 10, 2009 35 posts |
| Re: the nature of "knowing" |
Posted Feb 14, 2009; 10:17 am |
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| lornewel wrote: | | Quote: | | Defined narrowly, epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief. As the study of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the following questions: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? What are its sources? What is its structure, and what are its limits? As the study of justified belief, epistemology aims to answer questions such as: How we are to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal or external to one's own mind? Understood more broadly, epistemology is about issues having to do with the creation and dissemination of knowledge in particular areas of inquiry. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |
I strongly believe there is a God. With my mouth and my mind, I strongly believe that God is the God of the Bible, although if you subscribe to the belief that one's behaviour reveals one's actual beliefs no matter what the mouth is saying, there is doubt about my "real" beliefs.
I used to believe I was an honest person, but now, being more honest with myself, I believe I am not totally honest with myself or others in some aspects. I am able to change my beliefs about myself over time because I also acknowledge (a) I have biases whcih affect my perceptions, (b) my means of knowledge are fallible and (c) I change over time anyway.
I believe in God, but I can't prove he exists to a person who holds unprovable premsies which differ from my unprovable premises. |
Sounds good to me. |
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| westcoast frame of mind Moderator |
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Posted Feb 14, 2009; 11:48 am |
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Regarding belief, certainty etc, It appears there are periods or seasons of life when believing the Christian story is more difficult than others. I think we learn deep lessons in the dark; when we go to church on Easter Sunday wondering if its all an illusion or a big marketting scheme. when the heavens are brass, when we go through the dark night of the soul ........... yikes i could get myself depressed 
Speaking from experience - thats when piffy little bible verses spouted by some pompous soul doesn't do much good.
thats when a real life and blood friend who can sit and listen to you rant and leave without dumping a sermon on you is worth their wieght in gold. |
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| roadrunning Member Joined May 9, 2008 315 posts |
| Is God historical? |
Posted Feb 15, 2009; 1:13 pm |
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This is in response to something Lorne wrote regarding historical, fact-based religion. Indeed, Christianity is built on the foundation of Jesus the Christ, with ties to a historical time and place - 1st century Middle East. Christ ministered from within Jewish monotheism. As a religious tradition, Judaism also has a history. What becomes problematic is thinking about the existence of God, per se, (the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth) as 'historical'. Such thinking does lead to the anthropological concept that humankind generated the 'idea' of God because of some intrinsic human need to do so. Under these circumstances, God 'exists' because of a human need to believe in God or gods.
Belief in God requires the human component of 'believing' which is historical since humankind are historical beings. God is not necessarily historical - limited to either time or space. Therefore arguing for the existence of God in such terms can be problematic.
The classic arguments for the existence of God - ontological, cosmological, moral, et al. - may need to be revigorated in some contemporary terms so that the "metaphysical" existence of God can be discussed in the broader discourse this billboard may be initating |
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| lornewel Member Joined May 11, 2004 553 posts Location: Abbotsford |
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Posted Feb 15, 2009; 2:02 pm |
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| Perhaps my use of the word "historical" was too limiting. My point is that my epistemology is that God is knowable in a "real" sense, he can be known in part by data which exist in our time/space context. He is not as some of the "scientific naturalist" persuasion assert, beyond the realm of knowledge. The Bible has a lot to say about our experience of "the knowledge of the Most High" and about knowledge of the divine in general. It urges humans to know and consider, not only to "believe." Believing in the Bible sense is not of the postmodern variety where what matters is the sincerity of the belief and not the truth of its content. God urges us to know and believe "the truth" as opposed to "cunningly devised fables." |
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| roadrunning Member Joined May 9, 2008 315 posts |
| believing |
Posted Feb 15, 2009; 3:39 pm |
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Lorne, if "believing", in the biblical sense, is pre-modern, rather than either modern or post-modern, what would that mean in the terms you are using?
I agree that believing has a cognitive component that is crucial but is not limited to pre-modern, modern, or post-modern epistemologies.
In particular, I was wondering if you could make some connections between the post you included regarding epistemology from the Stanford E. of Philosophy and your personal views on the matter of "knowing God" ?  |
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