Rationalism
Definition
Rationalism describes any philosophy that claims that beliefs and opinions should always be logical, deductive conclusions rather than being based on experience, observations, religious teachings, or divine revelation.
Keywords: Rationalism, Philosophy, Logical, Reasoning, Deductive, Experience, Observations, Religious, Revelation, Contradictory.
Veracity
Rationalistic claims are false .
Proof
All self-refuting or contradictory claims are deductively false.
Premise 1: Only deductive conclusions should be believed.
Premise 2: Premise 1, being the foundation or starting point of the philosophy, is not itself a deductive conclusion.
Conclusion: Therefore, premise 1, also known as "rationalism", should not be believed.
Rationalistic claims, when adhered to, require the rejection of rationalistic claims. To accept them is to reject them, making rationalism inherently contradictory and deductively false.
Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons
Riveting, yet absurd; romantic, yet innocent; Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons is a little Roald Dahl, a little Harry Potter, and a little Chronicles of Narnia, all rolled into one. Timothy McCabe collaborates with the great Benedict Ballyhoot to bring you the novel of the century!
In Printed Form
Along with numerous other authors including Don Landis, Bodie Hodge and Roger Patterson, Timothy McCabe contributes analyses of various world religions and cults in this volume from Master Books.
Other Writings
"Your previous answer states that you agree that homosexual people should be executed. This conflicts with the commandment "Thou shalt not kill". Justify this please."
Actually, my answer was that those who disobey God deserve to be executed, including myself. So, rephrasing your question slightly, how is it then that anyone "should" be executed when no one is allowed to kill? The short answer is that the prohibition against killing humans is a general rule or principle that holds for all humans and all animals (Genesis 9:5-6) unless God specifically commands otherwise.
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"What's the most attractive thing about your worldview? What sets it apart from the others?"
Only Christianity can provide a solution to the problem of sin. We know that we aren't perfect. We know that we should do better. We know that there is a perfect moral law that governs us, and we don't live up to it (Romans 3:23). Atheism denies all of these obvious facts. Other worldviews recognize them, but tell us that we must do better -- that we must be perfect -- that we must fix the problem of sin. Christianity alone tells us the obvious truth -- that we can't be perfect.
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"Couldn't God have given us free will without giving us the desire to sin?"
No. That would entail a logical contradiction. Let me explain. If God had given us free will (the ability to choose, or to choose otherwise), we would then be able to choose to do other than what we prefer to do. However, if we are choosing other than what we prefer, then we are choosing to do something against our will. This would be logically contradictory -- to will to do something that you did not will to do. God has not given us this type of free will, nor could He have.
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