Some thoughts on the nature of 1 + 1 = 2, and the lovely soundness and integrity (not an absence of risk) of the sensible world.

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It is my sincere hope that this informal talk will not be construed as “anti” anything, but only pro science, in the truest sense of the word.

I look forward to hearing your comments. Please watch the video first, though!

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Main Points:

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• Religious conceptions of “God” often present a male omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent being, but at the same time have this being very angry at things within this omnipresence and omniscience, and claiming that these things have nothing to do with this man who has everything to do with their existence.

• In light of the above, God in the common religious conception is either not all-knowing, omnipresent and all-powerful (how could he be mad?), schizophrenic (multiple personalities), or a man-made conception based on human feelings.

• Some Christians and other religious individuals may object that we simply cannot understand these things because God’s ways are beyond our logic. If this is the case, the message is that our logic is largely, cosmically, flawed. If our logic is thus fatally flawed, we enter into a state of existential panic. The very logic which tells us to watch out for cars as we cross the road, to eat when hungry, and that things operate by basic rules in this existence, now is called “illogical” and untrustworthy, and life itself must be viewed, at least in large part, as meaningless or absurd.

• If God is the “father,” then this is child abuse.

• If I tell my five-year-old son that sometimes he can use his senses to make determinations about the nature of reality, but at other times he can’t because it is magical, and at which times he can and cannot use his own judgement, senses, and estimations is not clearly known, I have effectively communicated that the world is not a sensible place. I may as well tell him that he can drink water, but also that it might be poison sometimes, for no understandable reason, so be careful.

• Logic, however, is a beautiful “parent.” Love and logic, compassion and rationality, in my estimation, are all part of the same reality. And our logical apparatus, while sometimes prone to error, is largely reliable and trustworthy. What other apparatus shall we use but the sense-making tools nature has provided us? Indeed, these are all we use, even the religious, though they may vehemently deny it? How else do they come to their conclusions but through individual interpretation?

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~*~

~KafkA

!

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)