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
"God knowing in advance how I will use my free will means that god knows which events will lead to me being religious, and which to me being atheist. If God does exist, then doesn't his choice to set forth the latter mean he wanted me to be atheist?"
Yes. God has designed each person for His purposes (Romans 9:21). Some people are designed for judgement and others are designed for forgiveness (Romans 9:22-23). All of us are designed to sin (Romans 3:23, 8:28). This magnifies His graciousness; His perfectly just nature; and His eternal Godhood. Whether or not God plans on you remaining an Atheist and ultimately being judged for your willing rejection of obvious and clearly revealed truths, I have no idea (Romans 1:20; Psalm 14:1).
Continue reading...
"If Jesus really was God, and he shares an equal part of the trinity (meaning they are all coequal; none are above each other) then why does Jesus say in John 14:28: My Father is GREATER than I?"
Being co-equal is not intended as a mathematical equality and does not necessitate that none is in charge of another. The scriptures talk about the equality of the Father and Son in John 5:18, where John states "For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
Continue reading...
"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.
Continue reading...