tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post4047359015700007990..comments2023-10-03T19:47:34.084+11:00Comments on Dialectic: Graham on Christendom and ModernityEditorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986439579966977930noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-32123944674816786812007-04-01T20:02:00.000+10:002007-04-01T20:02:00.000+10:00Sam D: I must admit, you have a good point. The de...Sam D: I must admit, you have a good point. The devil most certainly is in the detail and the term 'certain degree' does cover a wide spectrum of beliefs.<BR/><BR/>But when you get right down to it, I'm not really talking about faith in a religious context. To be perfectly honest I don't claim to know much about the religious context. I am, as you have noted in stating that, "Faith should be an Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10378681743047480952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-90088252302496464392007-03-30T18:29:00.000+10:002007-03-30T18:29:00.000+10:00I agree with Sam d. It’s an odds game. Good odds I...I agree with Sam d. It’s an odds game. Good odds I exist, reasonable odds you exist, lotto odds that the world's most popular faith-powered friend happens to exist.<BR/><BR/>So why do people play lotto and why do people believe in God might be a similar question through the glasses of probability. I guess then it’s why you enter into it, as lotto can be fun, just so long as you know there is a Captain Kickarsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09761360601256251604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-86655159533461850062007-03-30T16:27:00.000+10:002007-03-30T16:27:00.000+10:00VP: There's something about how you phrase things ...VP: There's something about how you phrase things that leaves me uneasy. The devil, as is often the case in our game, is in the detail. This 'certain degree' of which you speak covers a pretty broad spectrum of beliefs. <BR/><BR/>I have faith that other conscious entities exist, and I accept that I'm ignorant to the extent that I lack of direct evidence that they do (have you had someone else's Samuel Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12348284792143801649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-86798881867939425752007-03-29T21:35:00.000+10:002007-03-29T21:35:00.000+10:00Hehe... awesome.You see, the opening line of the b...Hehe... awesome.<BR/>You see, the opening line of the bit of scrawl that I posted was purposely worded to antagonise. <BR/>What the argument hopefully establishes is exactly as Rowan said that "it is unjustified belief. Otherwise it wouldn’t be faith. So yes, it is not certainty."<BR/>However, if this is true then it could still be argued that if one accepts faith one must also accept a certain Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10378681743047480952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-14386064570657783502007-03-29T09:17:00.000+10:002007-03-29T09:17:00.000+10:00Rowan – if Samuel B was intending to critique the ...Rowan – if Samuel B was intending to critique the symbolic and ceremonial elements of Roman Catholicism, he could have been clearer in his expression. I read his comment as being a critique of the object of Roman Catholic faith, not those elements that the Protestant regards as ‘papist paraphernalia’. <BR/><BR/>If you are correct, then I’m not really in the best position to reply. My knowledge ofMHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09068975650320612418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-6765896813412977302007-03-29T01:04:00.000+10:002007-03-29T01:04:00.000+10:00Protestantism is ultimately a modernist schism, an...Protestantism is ultimately a modernist schism, and has flourished at points in the modern epoch, including, as described here the ‘post-protestant’, who seem to be numerous enough for Peter Costello to be very eager to have on side, and who also appear to give Guy Sebastian a career. I’m really not sure how far you can sustain the argument that Christendom is shrinking due to modernity; unless Captain Kickarsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09761360601256251604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-5144995397455246612007-03-28T10:38:00.000+10:002007-03-28T10:38:00.000+10:00I'm not 100% convinced that Sam B is in a position...I'm not 100% convinced that Sam B is in a position to question the 'object of faith' of the Catholic persuasion. <BR/><BR/>Actually, I'm not convinced of a great many things in this conversation.<BR/><BR/>To respond to Sam B’s points on faith:<BR/><BR/>I’m not in the business of questioning people’s sincerity of faith.<BR/><BR/>But of the two other grounds for questioning listed as appropriate, Samuel Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12348284792143801649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-26558274947041191862007-03-28T09:48:00.000+10:002007-03-28T09:48:00.000+10:00This comment has been removed by the author.Samuel Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12348284792143801649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-6726500602622588842007-03-28T09:28:00.000+10:002007-03-28T09:28:00.000+10:00Samuel, allow me three points of contention.Firstl...Samuel, allow me three points of contention.<BR/><BR/>Firstly, you assert that faith ‘is the certainty of things not seen’. Perhaps I am splitting hairs, but that seems poorly constructed. I think the problem is in the assertion that ‘faith is x’ rather than the more apt, I think, assertion that ‘faith is the justification of a claim that x’.<BR/><BR/>Secondly, you assert that faith ‘is MHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09068975650320612418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-58772082800703351082007-03-27T10:03:00.000+10:002007-03-27T10:03:00.000+10:00the statement "to demand faith is to demand ignora...the statement "to demand faith is to demand ignorance" does not apply to the present case, firstly because the removal of ignorance is currently not possible, and secondly because faith is not an end in itself and (probably) not even self-sufficient.<BR/><BR/>Neither complete ignorance or unquestioning belief is required. Since faith is not an end in itself (partial) knowledge co-ordinates with iktovianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12734482358401611030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-5861061681468389982007-03-25T19:22:00.000+10:002007-03-25T19:22:00.000+10:00What follows is a blurb I wrote 'On faith' which s...What follows is a blurb I wrote 'On faith' which seems related to this post, so I figured I'd share.<BR/>I have posted this elsewhere on the World Wide Web and much to my surprise and disbelief I received a response from Catholic Seminarians from the Vatican See.<BR/>The empirical argument they provided didn't seem to adequately support a relation between faith and knowledge...<BR/><BR/>To demandAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10378681743047480952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10098115.post-63430231417335630282007-03-24T15:52:00.000+11:002007-03-24T15:52:00.000+11:00More choice leaves less space for any given choice...More choice leaves less space for any given choice, and more comfort and safety can leave less felt need for God. This may be part of why Christianity has thrived in some places where it is repressed.iktovianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12734482358401611030noreply@blogger.com