>
>Relatif Tuinn wrote to Mark Bloss about Creationism
 RT> Mark Bloss discussing "Creationism"
 RT> with Nick Douglas...
 
 MB>  But I do believe this whole universe was created by the one God - only
 RT> On what do you base this belief?
 
 Faith.  And why do you ask?  And why is that important?  And what's your
 point?
 
 MB>  I don't believe he _lies_ about the age of the earth, anymore than He
 MB>  would lie about whether or not it's raining outside.  If you see it 
 MB>  raining, then it is raining - and if you see fossilized dinosaur
 MB> bones, then the earth is several billion years old.
 RT> Indeed. If as you say your god is so honest then why is it so elusive
 RT> and totally unevidenced? 
 
 Because that's the way we are made.  We are made believers.  Anyone who
 says he isn't a believer, believes he isn't a believer, and therefore
 is a believer.  That's the way we are made.  If we are made that way -
 then the creator of us made us that way.  If he made us that way, he
 made us that way because that's the way he is.  If he is that way, then
 evidencing himself would be contradictory.  Therefore God is elusive and
 totally unevidenced because it takes faith to believe in God, and if one
 does not have faith to believe it, then you have nothing.  And since we
 are believers in one thing or another, with or without evidence, then
 we believe because of our faith in something we can't see.  If you do
 not believe there is a God, then you have faith in something you can't
 see: the proof of his non-existence.
 RT> What is its purpose for us if it has one, and why has it not made this
 RT> purpose known to us so that we can give it our full attention? 
 RT> I don't see much honesty in your god either.
 RT> Relatif Tuinn
 
 His purpose is self-evident to those who believe.  And He has made His
 purpose known to us so that we can give it our full attention.  But -
 unless you are listening to Him, how can you say He is a liar?
 His purpose is known to us in the fossils and in the nucleus of the
 atom, it is known to us in our DNA, and in our water, and in the
 velocity of light.  How can you say nature itself lies?  If it rains,
 do you say the sky is deceitful because it must be sunny instead?
 If gravity keeps the heaviest elements below us, and the lighter
 ones above us, do you say gravity is lying?  No, gravity tells the
 truth, it is honest, and its purpose is understood.  God made it that
 way.  So he has placed his purpose in the very nature of our lives;
 it cannot be ignored.  If one day gravity worked the other way 'round,
 and then the next disappeared entirely, this would be proof that God 
 is a liar.  If wind didn't blow, or ice didn't form, or the cells of
 my body decided to all go on a vacation suddenly - then that would be
 proof that God is a liar.  If rain wasn't wet, the ocean turned to 
 stone, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, suddenly turned into whipped
 cream - then this would be proof that God's a liar.  But when have any
 of these things happened?  If light decided to set a new speed limit,
 this would be proof that God is a liar.  But since nature was nature,
 nature has been just what it is.  Following its purpose entirely and
 completely and perfectly.  We take it for granted that it is that way.
 And scientists study nature - fully assuming that nature will not
 deceive us by being mercurial in its underpinnings.  Scientists 
 _depend_ upon the reliability of God, acknowledgement of that is
 irrelevant - because nature is going to be what it is.
 
... "INSTRUCTIONS:  DON'T FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS."  The Schwa Corporation
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