Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: oracle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Brian T. Coughlin) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Nature of the Godhead (was Re: Book of Mormon ... Mother of God) Message-ID: Date: 1 Oct 90 00:22:32 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Lines: 48 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Re: Joe Buehler In article jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com writes: >There is one God, in 3 Divine persons. >That there is one God is provable through metaphysics. Hi, Joe! I'm certainly no expert on metaphysics, but I am versed (to some meager extent) in logic and philosophy, and I'd be inclined to group BOTH of your above statements in the domain of the unprovable. Thus far, all the "proofs" of God have been invalid, incomplete, or otherwise inadequate to prove the existence of a Supremely Perfect Being beyond all doubt. In all such "proofs", one must be predisposed to believing in the assertions in order to accept them, since they carry no objective proof value. Now, let me say something for the record: just to nip-in-the-bud any suspicions that I am atheist, agnostic, or otherwise not fully dedicated to God, let me assert that I am certainly NOT against belief in God... but I *do* get nervous over "proofs". Anytime someone tries to prove an infinite God by our finite means, it spells certain failure. Philosophically, that's no big deal... but if someone had actually BASED his/her faith on that "proof", they would fall, and fall *HARD*, when the "proof" is discredited. As a personal plea, I beg you... DON'T tie your belief in God to any "proof", scientific or otherwise!! Believe because you WANT to believe, or you feel OBLIGATED to believe by a force from within (or without). Believe because you feel that it is NATURAL for you to believe! If there exists anything that does NOT NEED proof, it most certainly is God. God is self-evident to all who accept Him... once you decide to believe in Him (for WHATEVER reason), that's all that's necessary. Let God do the rest... for, if one believes at all in the Christian teachings, one must agree that God is worthy to be the "pilot of one's soul... the master of one's destiny" (can anyone tell me where that's from, by the way? I've been wracking my brain on it...). -- Take care! Sincerely, Brian Coughlin oracle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu