God's perspective of skepticism
  • heraclitus
    1
    If god* exists, he must be infinitely better than us. It cannot be 1 trillion trillion trillion and so, it must be infinite.

    If god exists, then the only absolute truth is god. If there’s other absolute truth, then that truth is higher than god, therefore omnipotent god doesn’t exist. (Implying god (if exists) can alter the 'truth')

    Because god (if exists) is infinitely beyond us, and god is the singe basic nature of truth, then there’s no way we can get to truth.

    Does it mean that philosophy (and in extend all science) beyond practicality** is meaningless, if god exists?

    *I supposed we can use the abrahamic religion definition of god: "is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer and judge of everything in existence."
    **beyond practicality means aiming to get the absolute truth
    heraclitus Options
  • tim wood
    9.3k
    The point here isn't god - whatever you happen to mean by that. It is instead the nature of the infinite. Setting god "out there" makes nonsense of that particular notion of god.

    Better you work out just what you mean by "god." Once that's straight, you can see if it works, or not.

    As to philosophy (and science), both arrive at propositions that are true, with respect to some standard - if you have no standard you have nothing at all. If they're true, then they're absolutely true, insofar as they are true. Practicality is a kind of truth, I suppose.

    What do you suppose is beyond practicality, and why do you suppose it meaningless?
    tim wood Options
  • unenlightened
    9.2k
    Because god is infinitely beyond us, then there’s no way we can reason our way to truth. — heraclitus

    Reason is, what? A step by step one thought after another sort of thing? We cannot reason our way to a cup of tea, one has to get up and put the kettle on. Yet here you are trying to reason your way to unreasonableness. Why?
    unenlightened Options
  • Noblosh
    152
    Does it mean that philosophy (and in extend all science) beyond practicality** is meaningless, if god exists? — heraclitus
    No, because we're not God. But I think the mere fact that we don't know the 'absolute truth' says something about God's existence. If we suppose God exists and is infinite in nature then in comparison to God, we wouldn't even exist so the question regarding the meaningfulness of our actions would be indeed meaningless.
    Noblosh Options
  • A Christian Philosophy
    1.1k
    If god* exists, he must be infinitely better than us. — heraclitus
    This is not how we should see God. Rather than saying God is infinitely good, it is more accurate to say He is 100% good. As for us, we are somewhere between 0% and 100% (let's call that value x). Just as the reach from x to 100% is not infinite, so our language of the moral good is not meaningless. The same applies when it comes to acquiring truth.

    To paraphrase a philosopher (I think C.S. Lewis but not certain), if our goodness and wisdom is like the attempt of a child to hand draw a circle, then the goodness and wisdom of God is like a perfect circle, and not a complex shape that is unimaginable to the child.
    A Christian Philosophy Options
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