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
"Do you think that education is the solution? In other words, would people agree with your view if they just had more knowledge? Is the problem basically one of ignorance?"
No. Education is not the solution because ignorance is not the problem. Sin is the problem; pride, selfishness, self-centeredness, self-glorification, and the like are what lead people to reject the God who made them. Rejection of God's commands leads to a world of pain, famine, disease, war, and ultimately death. Learning more facts will never solve the problem of "I want", or the problem of "Me, me, me".
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"Did God have to be created? Why or why not?"
God was not created. If something is created, then it is necessarily temporal -- in other words, it changes over time. Specifically, it must begin to exist, and "beginning" is itself a temporal process. However, since the only things that are infinite are things that have no end, and since past time has ended, we can say with certainty that past time is not infinite, which means that past time had a beginning.
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"If God said "Thou shalt not kill" then why did he flood the whole world leaving only Noah and his family alive, and how is the destruction of Sodom justified (killing people for engaging in "immoral" sex), is God exempted from morality?"
If you have small children, you may have told them that they are not allowed to answer the door, or to talk to strangers. Since they are your children, it is morally wrong for them to disobey you, at least in any circumstance where your commands do not go directly against God's commands (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20). This means that it would be morally wrong for your children to answer the door, or to talk to strangers, because in so doing, they would be disobeying you.
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