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Introduction
The atheist delusion
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> I've been cursed yet again by the technical gremlins, who knocked out my Internet connection for 48 hours. It might pay me to have Matt fly over.-David and BBella have been far more successful than me at teasing answers to difficult questions out of Frank, and it's disappointing to come upon the following outburst: "[i]Don't ask for explanations [/i][...] [i]You're just wasting everyone's time. On the other hand, that's why I believe a lot of people come up on these forums, just to waste time, because these forums are not much good for anything else" [/i] (19. Nov. at 23.43). You wrote to BBella, when perhaps you had got out of bed on the other side: [i]"my hope is that what I've said will prompt questions and thus bring up new opportunities to flesh out the 'holes'." [/i] My hope is that you will continue to answer our questions, but I have to say that it's extremely inhibiting if disagreements, expressions of non-comprehension, or requests for explanations are going to meet with what David has generously called "[i]defensive or snide[/i]" comments like the above. -In the hope that you will now resume your more patient approach, I'd like to raise a few questions of my own. On 14 November at 02.02, you wrote: "[i]God is the source of all consciousness.[/i]" "[i]God is the source of all energy (as process) and has intellect. He also has love and infinite concern for the welfare of individuals in the universe. When we love and are compassionate, or experience beauty, we're just responding to divine promptings within our being.[/i]" In the same post, you say: "[i]All statements about God are mythical. Myths are statements that attempt to point beyond themselves, since the essence of God is inexpressible.[/i]" Your statements about God could scarcely be clearer, and I don't know in what way they point beyond themselves. For a non-religious person, the mythical element is self-evident, but I'd be interested to know in what sense you yourself regard the above statements as "mythical". -In your post of 19 November at 01.40 you write: " [...] [i]there is really only one consciousness, the consciousness of God, that creatures when they are conscious, PARTICIPATE in. But the consciousness that is associated with brain activity, STOPS, when the brain dies."[/i] Putting all these statements together, I'm struggling ... not for the first time ... to get a coherent pattern. I will try as succinctly as possible to list my difficulties.-1) If there is really only one consciousness which is God's, what is the consciousness that stops when the brain dies? 2) You have stated categorically that you are a materialist (e.g. 29 October at 22.54). As I understand materialism, the physical brain is the [b]source[/b] of consciousness, but this is clearly not so in your theology. In what way is your concept of consciousness materialistic? 3) Do you believe that my sense of individual identity, which I consider to be inextricably linked to my consciousness, is an illusion? If not, what do you think is the source of my individual identity, since my consciousness is God's? 4) To follow up BBella's questions about "evil": if all consciousness stems from God, why do you limit the divine promptings to love, compassion and experience of beauty? Could not our selfishness, wickedness, aggression etc. also stem from God as the "[i]source of all consciousness[/i]"? If not, what is the source of our darker side? 5) If the darker side does have a source that lies outside God's infinite consciousness, why shouldn't it also be the source of our better side?-Finally, I'm interested in your comment: "[i]those who believe in immortality probably believe that consciousness lives on after death[/i]." I suspect it is [b]their[/b] consciousness, or [b]their [/b]identity they believe will survive. This ties in with question 3), and may later take us into deep waters!-(A technical note: I always draft my responses on Word and then copy and paste them onto the forum. I've never had trouble with the submit button, but it's a good way of ensuring that the post doesn't get lost. This, for your information, is a new world record: me offering technical advice!)
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