[Vision2020] Religious Diversity Education

[Luke]

Hi, Mr. Moffet:


> > So when I say, "All absolutist belief systems are uncertain."  you
reply,
> aha, but then that statement itself must be uncertain, so you are
> contradicting yourself if you with certainty make that statement.  But if
> you read what I said, for example, that perhaps Christ is our savior, you
> would realize that I am open to the possibility of an absolutist belief
> system being true, so really I am not being as seriously contradictory as
> you claim.

So then you're simply unsure of your beliefs and on spiritual stilts in a
sprinting race.


> Self referential statements of various kinds can lead to
> contradictions like the ones above, exposing logical flaws in the rules of
> structure in language.   If language were logically perfect, such
statements
> would not be allowed as well formed grammatical sentences.

    I don't think you've quite got it here. Part of logic is negation, and
double negation. That does not make logic false, or language false. If I
say, "This is black and not black," the statement negates and cancels
itself, but it in no way ruins grammar and reason.
    So when your basic belief is a self-contradiction, it is completely
false, yet without making all truth false. It simply makes your tenet false.
If a tent collapses on itself, it doesn't knock over all the tents near it.


> My position is that human knowledge and thinking is so flawed, and the
> possibilities so numerous, that to claim to have solved the important
> spiritual questions that humanity has been posing for thousands of years,
> with no doubt remaining about these questions, appears to be aimed more at
> satisfying the emotional need for absolute spiritual belief, than at
really
> answering these questions based on evidence.

    And yet, in your position, your thinking isn't so flawed that you cannot
spot this.


> You are right, Luke, I sometimes do contradict myself.  And I acknowledge
> that with the limited tools of human thought, it is nearly impossible to
> think about complex belief systems without contradiction in some way.
> Will you do the same?  Or are you going to claim that your thinking and
> logic is so perfect that you have not make any significant mistakes about
> religion, such as in your interpretations of Biblical scholarship?

    Neither. "Significant mistakes" would, I think, refer to something
heretical. But God's logic is so perfect and His truths so clear that even
my 2-cylinder brain can grasp the basic truths. My surety does not come from
my logic, but from God's.

Have a good day,
Luke Nieuwsma