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From: colonel@gloria.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: testing for God
Message-ID: <1034@gloria.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 22-Mar-85 09:05:27 EST
Article-I.D.: gloria.1034
Posted: Fri Mar 22 09:05:27 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 26-Mar-85 06:19:05 EST
References: <184@cvl.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: The Church of Artificial Intelligence
Lines: 25

["The Bible tells us who is the god of bugs."]

> > On the other hand, who will test God? Could we coerce Him
> > so that He proves Himself in a series of replicable experiments?
> > Hardly. It is we who are to be tested...
> 
> The intention is not so much to "test" God but to discover through
> intellectual means if God really exists; if there is some proof of
> his existance; or if what is said of him is really the truth.

Only the last is meaningful.  When you raise the philosophical
question of whether something "exists," you are usually begging
the question.  It certainly exists insofar as you can discuss it! 
Does Mickey Mouse "exist?"

There are two extreme views, based on extreme definitions of
existence: (1) there is no God, and everybody who refers in any
way to God lies knowingly; (2) if you go up in the sky you will find
the Old Man sitting on a cloud, running the world.

I would guess that the only people who take this debate seriously
are those who regard "existence" as objective.
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel