mgb wrote:
DivineInsight wrote:You have not show me that science is not the only way to knowledge. Science is knowledge that can be known from observation and experience. You have not shown that any knowledge can be had that is divorced from observation or experience.
I have not said there is knowledge divorced from experience. I gave you that image of someone jumping out of a plane. That is experience and knowledge that cannot be arrived at by science; one has to experience it to know it. Eating a piece of fruit is direct knowledge. There is carnal knowledge. An artist knows the world throught art. Likewise with writers, musicians. There is mysticism. There are many ways to know reality.You need to post a link to support your claim.
So why then would you claim that any of that knowledge is beyond the reach of science?
mgb wrote:
But there is no other rational conclusion to be had concerning that mind arises from brain.
The arguments for non material mind are rational. The Fine Tuning Argument is a rational argument for the existence of God.
No it's not. Not only this but your arguments are self-contradictory anyway. In one breath you want to claim that the universe is fine-tuned for life, and then in the next breath you want to argue that life cannot evolve in the universe without intervention by a designing God.
You aren't even being consistent in your arguments.
mgb wrote:
They have demonstrated how everything can evolve from the natural properties of the constituents of this universe without any outside intervention. Apparently you need to be in denial of this in order to continue your argument.
They have not. They have a hypothesis that is woefully incomplete and rife with technical problems on all fronts.
Creationist's hogwash. These accusations simply aren't true.
mgb wrote:
Sure, scientists still have a lot of details to work out, but that hardly supports the need for a magical intervening God who has to reach into the universe in order to push things around to violate the natural laws of physics.
God does not have to violate any laws. Mind over matter for God would be perfectly in tune with God's nature.
A "
finely tuned" universe wouldn't need a God intervening in it manually.
Make up your mind. Do you want to argue for a finely tuned universe, or a badly tuned universe that requires external intervention?
I realize that theists are used to having their cake and eating it too in their apologetic nonsense, but that's not going to work here.
mgb wrote:
Now you are arguing that it's not and that some supernatural God needs to consciously reach into the universe and push things around
I am not. I am saying that mind is part of the whole system of things.
In that case you are arguing for pantheism, not Hebrew mythology with a separate Zeus-like egotistical God who "
intervenes" to purposefully design things.
mgb wrote:
But let's face the truth here. Even those religiously-biased scientists aren't able to convince the scientific community as a whole.
Did you read the article? The objections are scientific, backed up with perfectly rational arguments. In trying to blame it on religion you are avoiding the scientific arguments.
There are no good scientific arguments that the scientific method can't ultimately answer all these questions. It's not like scientists are at the end of the rope tossing up their hands proclaiming they have exhausted all possible explanations.
I don't care who wrote the article. Until the scientific community as a whole starts claiming that they are at a DEAD END, all of these concerns are nothing short of nonsense.
mgb wrote:
It's not beset with technical problems. There are simply many minute details that have not yet been fully explain.
They are not 'minute' details. They are fundamental problems with the theory.
Which theories? Certainly not the overall theory of evolution. Refining the individual theories of precisely how every step takes place is what science is all about. If all theories were completed science would be a finished field of research. No one is claiming that science is anywhere near finished explaining everything.
Again, these kind of complaints are either theistic "God of the Gaps" arguments, or they are simply scientists conveying to other scientists where more work needs to be done. That's all.
And again, this doesn't help your theistic arguments anyway. In one breath you want to claim "
fine-tuning" as evidence for a supernatural God. and in the next breath you want to claim a need for intervention because the universe is NOT finely tuned.
Better make up your mind which position you want to argue for. Trying to argue for both of these simultaneously is an oxymoron.
mgb wrote:
. The God would instantly need to be less than omnipotent or omniscient since he would have designed a universe that cannot do on its own what he originally wanted it to do so that he would then later need to fight against his own universe by intervening manually in the process at extreme molecular levels.
That is not my argument. My argument is that mind is part of the whole system.
Then are you rejecting Chrsitianity and it's jealous authoritarian intervening God?
You appear to be trying to argue for some form of pantheism now.
mgb wrote:
you'd need to have a creator who was incapable of creating a universe that can automatically do what he wanted
Why does it have to be 'automatic'? The system is a dynamic relationship between mind and matter.
What happened to an authoritarian designing God?
Have you abandoned Christianity and moved over to a form of Eastern Mysticism?
mgb wrote:
you're then instantly stuck with a God who either makes a lot of mistakes, or does bad things on purpose and is therefore malicious in his designs. Every genetic defect would then be this God's personal doing.
The physical universe is not perfect.
Then why claim that it might have been created by a supposedly "perfect non-material mind"? Where's the justification for that?
mgb wrote:
Matter, squeezed into 4 dimensions, is too crude to manifest perfection. Perfection is of the mind and spirit.
So, if there truly is a non-material mind that wanted to create a physical world, why restrict the physical world to only 4 dimensions? Your arguments aren't making any sense. The choice to limit things to only 4 dimensions would need to have been made by your imagined "
perfect mind and spirit".
It's just a nonsensical argument.
mgb wrote:
Besides, evil has invaded the biological world, just as it has invaded everything else.
And now how utterly ridiculous is this?
You are trying to claim that all of reality was created by a "
perfect mind and spirit", but has since been "
invaded" by "
evil minds and spirits".
Just how ridiculous does this theological argument need to get?
mgb wrote:
God does not create cruelty in nature. As Hiledgard said, the natural world is fallen too. As for the picture you posted of the siamese twins - that is a result of the loss of perfection and the descent of spirit into matter.
Your theological views have been reduced from a need to have a "perfect non-material mind" nothing more than endless excuses for why the world isn't anywhere near "perfect".
Let's face it mgb. You don't have a coherent philosophy to offer.
Your imaginary "
perfect non-material mind" would need to also be the source of "
evil". And this is true even if you claim that 'evil' is a result of a poorly designed and constructed physical world. Who's fault would that be? It could only be the fault of the
"perfect non-material mind" that you claim is responsible for having created it in the first place.
It becomes and argument of "
Endless Apologetics" for why the proposed
"perfect non-material mind" was unable to create a perfect material world.
In the end your
"perfect non-material mind" must necessarily be limited, inept, or outright malicious. There's just no getting around that one.
Unless you want to claim that there are TWO non-material minds. One benevolent, and the other malevolent, who have come together to play a game of war in creating a physical world where they battle with each other to see who's character can ultimately win.
But this then requires polytheism where two Gods are at war with each other and their battlefield is a make-pretend physical world where they each remotely control physical brains in an effort to undermine the other's purpose.
And you think this makes more sense then science?
Like you say, "To each their own".
You are certainly free to embrace whatever philosophies and worldview you want.
But when it comes to arguments to support them, I don't see where you have anything compelling to offer.