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
"A religious friend declined an invitation to a coworker's going away party because he feared there would be drinking there. Does the bible not encourage moderate consumption of wine?"
I'm going to answer with more information than you probably want, in anticipation of possible objections to my answer. When reading the Bible in English, it can often be difficult to discern what the writers were referring to when we see the word "wine". In Hebrew (the Old Testament), there are at least two different words that are both translated "wine" in our modern English versions, and there is a third word we will look at as well.
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"Why Pray? If it changes God's mind then he is not sovereign. If it does not change God's mind then it is pointless."
First of all, prayer is much more than just petitioning God or asking Him to do things. Instead, it is both an opportunity to build a relationship with the God of creation, and also an outpouring of that relationship. In Jesus's model prayer, known as the Lord's prayer, found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, Jesus both begins and ends by praising the Father. He states His complete commitment to Him and dependence upon Him.
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"If everything was created by God, was Buddha also created by God? Buddha actually denied the existence of a single being that dominates/governs the whole world. Did Buddha go to hell for denying his existence?"
Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha, was created by God, yes. Everyone who is not God was created by God (Genesis 1:27; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Isaiah 46:9), and God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18), and is never wrong (Colossians 2:3; John 21:17; 1 John 3:20). If Buddha claimed there is no ultimate creator God, then either he was wrong or he was lying, thereby identifying himself as not-that-god, since God cannot lie and is never wrong.
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