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
"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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"Is the Bible true?"
Every worldview, when reduced to its most basic fundamentals, requires self-attestation, or, in other words, a "circular argument". Such arguments are necessary for every worldview. For example, a rationalist (someone who accepts reason as the supreme authority) can only attempt to justify his reliance on reason by... using reason. Christianity, likewise, has a supreme authority, and that authority is God. He has given us His Word and told us to use it as our basis for understanding.
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"If God really did create everything, how would anyone know?"
From a Christian perspective, we recognize that God created everything because He has told us that He did (Romans 1:19; Genesis 1; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16); indeed, apart from divine revelation, it is impossible to know anything at all. After all, since God created everything, and "everything" includes knowledge, our knowledge is ultimately created by God, and God's provision of knowledge to us is the very definition of divine revelation.
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