My Beliefs About God and "Things"

I have stated I am an objectivist. However I am not an absolute empericist. This means that I do not believe ALL truth can be derived at through scientific experiment or proof in a test tube. It is said that you cannot prove a negative. Actually Police do this all the time when they eliminate possible suspects. They say “We know so and so could not possibly have committed this crime”. What you CAN’T do, however, is to disprove an Unknown. You can disprove a Known, but not an Unknown. We cannot scientifically prove that there is no Existance after Death. As I said in late summer 2004 (I think) was that Death as we know it connotes the existence of time and space as we know it. We know, for instance a tree when it dies is just wood. But a hundred thousand years later that stump may have become petrified. So change is occurring. But as it says in the book of Revelation, among the things that end up being destroyed are Death and the grave, itself. None of us has “experienced” non existence and come back to tell others about how it felt being Dead. It can be argued that without the passage of Time, that Death as we understand it cannot truly exist. But where I part company with the “Faith” people is that if Dr. Levy says something I have substantial Doubt about, a Believer will reason that it is more important to Believe, even if your rational mind is riddled with doubts. I reason rather, that one should investigate for himself whether the things he says be True or False. And if they prove True, than you can finally have genuine faith in them. But the Believer rather chooses to be ruled by unreasoning Fear of what he may find out, as we discussed in our last posting. I believe there are things that Exist beyond our ability to know then. Some would ask Columbus “Do kimono dragons exist?” If Columbus says “No” he is not being fair, because he hasn’t been to Japan to find out. If someone asked me “Do monarch butterflies exist on Jupiter?” I would say, “I can’t be sure”. I haven’t been to Jupiter to find out. Perhaps some space alien came to earth and captured a bunch of monarch butterflies and has them safely in an environmentally controlled aviary there on Jupiter. I believe there can be and probably are physical dimensions we know nothing of. I also believe in the existence of certain things, such as God, and Time, and Absolute Moral Principles, that I cannot prove. Yet I believe in them. But as I said before, I am a Determinist Deist. This separates me from other Deists. Some may say that the PH test of whether you are religious is “Do you believe your future is in God’s hands?” I would answer that question in the affirmative. Most deists wouldn’t. That ethics guy on KNX 1070 made an interesting statement today. He talked about how each event and decision in our lives affects so many other lives in ways we can’t imagine. You’re right I CAN’T imagine it. But I still believe it. He then said “By going back into the past and changing one thing- - - You Change Everything”. I believe that. But I would re-state it as the fifth dimensional principle of “You Can’t Get There From Here”. But I also am an afficianado of the song lyrics “Mistakes I’ve made a few - - but then again - - too Few to mention”. Because I believe even if you went back and changed that one thing (and it’s probably many, if you start counting) then being given the opportunity to go down another road- - something else would come along that was unexpected to STILL keep you from your goal. Something you never had to face the other time around. I think it’s time to stop asking the question “What does the Future hold?” and rather ask the question: “Who holds the future?” Because if you believe life is a rigged crap game then you’re screwed or charmed no matter which way you decide to slice up the apple. It’s still going to taste like an apple no matter how you slice it. If you believe in karmic destiny, or the destiny of karma- - either way- - then you believe in a world of cause and effect. If life is like a caldron of bubbling primordial soup- - then even if you see a positive event or two or three linking together in a constructive matter- - - they can just as easily randomly un hook and dissolve in the next moment. How many of us thought that President Obama would be the next F D R. From what we knew from his book or whatever we had no reason NOT to believe it and many reasons TO believe it. You know, I have spoken on that title “The Audacity of Hope”. I do not regard hope as a cardinal human virtue. Hope only derives its value if it leads to a brighter Reality of tomorrow. If Faith without works is dead, then Hope without a plan is just as dead. As to those attributes of God theologians believe in, I believe God is omnipotent, all powerful. I believe he is all knowing. I believe he is Transcendent, but not Intimate, which is usually the other half of that phrase. I do not believe God is “present everywhere” and “in the room with you right now”. Sometimes the phrase of “God is Immanent - - and Transcendent”. Now I can believe it. Imminent refers to Time- - -not personal closeness or presence. Imminent means “NOW” and I do believe God is NOW. God is also Just As Much - - all the rest of time, too, at this moment. I believe that to construction a man made Religious belief system around God is to degrade and, if you will, “dishonor” him. (At the risk of being anthropomorphic) As I have said my beliefs about God derive from logic and Science rather than from Religion. I believe the scientific evidence points to an intelligent creator God. But that’s as far as I go. I think the idea of obtaining some kind of “God patent” like you now have the ability, above others, to “sell” God, like Kentucky Fried Chicken, is to inflate your own Ego. I do not believe Objectivism is Ego centered. Even impericisum, carried “too far” (I don’t know what that is but I know it when I see it) - - even they become too “ME” centered and lose their sense of Objectivist beliefs. OK that’s my creed. What do you think of it?

In Jesus Christ Superstar Governor Pilate utters the line “But what is Truth. Is Truth unchanging law? We both have Truths. Are mine the same as yours?” Those are good lines. Dr. Levy, you this morning had a thing about Truths up there on the screen. If you’re still reading this it must be an aufully long letter. Let’s run down a few of these on the list. It was stated “Truth is what Works”. I basically agree with that. Both pastors Gene Scott and Mark Bove have from the pulpit attacked people who hold to this axiom at least in regard to Christianity. Because some try it and conclude that it just does not “Work” for them. They both say “You are not allowed to say this about the Faith.” Clearly what “works” is a keystone of evolution. As such it is a key attribute of both natural and social science. The second one is that Truth is the totality of one’s experiences. This is OK, with qualifications. I don't believe it's any crime when confronted with a new fact to say "I didn't know that. It's never been a part of my own experience". My problem with the whole Jury system as we know it is that in trials certain evidence gets routinely excluded because some Judge concludes “Oh, the jury is not intelligent enough to sift through this evidence and it might lead to some sort of bias”. As a potential juror- - I find this an insult to my intelligence. My greatest fear as that I go to a trial and vote to acquit a man who is as Guilty as sin, yet the evidence was so edited and filtered, that all I could do is end up being confused, and perhaps vote with a majority if the defendant should be acquitted in their opinion. We then have “Truth is logical” or “Truth is rational”. There is no real “nexis” between what is Rational and what is True. Arguments can be structured so as to be highly valid, and yet highly Unsound. Sure in math – this statement is true. I think even Law Enforcement is aware that sometimes “what is True can be stranger than fiction”, and all that. But still if it’s not logical, if a story doesn’t “Hang together” cops are much less likely to believe it. Some Nazi types can make rather logical and half way rational arguments to promote their own sick point of view, yet it would immediately violate the sensibilities of any ethical Moral person. We then have things like “Truth is Beauty and Beauty is Truth”. I’m not going to argue that one one way or the other. Others would say “Truth is what you Feel in your Heart”. We could discuss this one. As you know an axiom of James Dobson and other fundamentalists is “Your feelings will always Lie to you” and “Don’t trust your feelings”. Of course the punch line is “Don’t trust YOUR feelings - - Trust Mine”. At least then we come to song lyrics. I guess my view is that I don’t mind sentimental love songs, but I don’t like schmaltzy songs, to employ a Yiddish term. For instance “God only Knows” by the Beach Boys is a sentimental song. I don’t necessarily agree with it for myself, but “I believe the singer sincerely believes it”. But you come to another song on the same album “Wouldn’t it be nice”. This song is pure “schmaltz”. It’s like the soundtrack to some “girl flick” movie, or a Broadway musical. It’s corn ball “sentimental hogwash” as Mr. Potter would say. I think there is another stronger Yiddish word “schlock”, which connotes an added bullshit factor, as though the speaker is attempting actively to deceive us. I believe there is much in the Gospels and the book of Acts that is in this vein. Truth can be properly discovered with “right discernment”. I believe if you are what is called a Clear in Scientology, you are in a much better position to Discover the Truth. Again I discuss this a little in the previous posting. I guess another on the list could be “Truth is what Fits”. Well again, this one is not fool proof. But I think it’s a good test for new information. If it’s something that seems off the wall, like a roomer about a person you may know that just seems utterly unlike them- - you can use discernment and “consider the source” and judge for yourself.