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
"How did polar bears get from the middle east to the polar ice caps, and penguins to Antarctica, and all the strange Australian beasts to Australia, etc., without leaving populations behind?"
The Bible does not tell us the specific answer to this question, and neither does pure logic, therefore there is no official "Christian" answer. This means Christians are free to speculate about questions like this, keeping in mind that such speculations should not overshadow what is really important in our walk with Christ -- namely, what is clearly revealed in scripture.
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"Would you accept that, had you been born in Saudi Arabia, you would more than likely be defending the Quran and Allah with the same vehemence that you now defend Christ?"
Absolutely not: if I were born in Saudi Arabia, reality would be incoherent. The only things that can happen are the things God has willed to cause to happen. If these things did not happen, it would only be because God willed not to cause them to happen. God only causes that which He prefers to cause, so for Him to have caused other than what He has caused, He would have to prefer other than what He prefers. However, He is who He is, and He cannot deny Himself (Exodus 3:14; 2 Timothy 2:13).
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"You say past time can't be infinite or we would never get to the present. Isn't that just Zeno's Paradox?"
No. Zeno's Paradox takes several forms. I'll just examine one of them -- the one that appears to me to be most pertinent to the question asked. According to Aristotle, "That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal". Imagine your house is sixty miles from your office. Before you can go sixty miles, you must first go thirty. But before you can go thirty, you must first go fifteen.
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