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
"Why did God only send Jesus to Palestine at one particular point in history? If God wants everybody to be saved, wouldn’t the gospel have spread a lot faster if he had sent Jesus to every place on earth in all time periods?"
Are you sure that God wants everyone to be saved? There are many Christian philosophers who do indeed claim that this is the case, but it seems to me that this concept contradicts scripture. John 12:39-40 (re Isaiah 6:8-10) For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, "HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.
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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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"How can you dare say that God wouldn't want everyone saved? What about John 3:16? I thought Jesus loved and gave up his life on the cross for the whole world? If not, why create and sustain them? Wouldn't he want them to receive EVERLASTING LIFE?"
John 3:16 (NASB) "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." These words from Christ are frequently quoted out of the greater context of the entirety of scripture. This statement tends to be used as a proof-text of the following claims, among others: 1. God loves every single human being individually. 2. God desperately wants every single human being to be in heaven. 3. Humans have free-will. 4.
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