Glenn wrote,
GRM: In logic. One is either speaking about what is true or what is false
when it
comes to macroscopic items. This isn't quantum mechanics we are speaking
of.
The category mistake you make, in my opinion is to offer God a chance to
accommodate his message and you would place it equal to those categories
above--
mistake, truth or falsehood. But accommodation is not as fundamental as
these. To
say something is accommodated is to explain WHY God didn't tell the truth.
It isn't
a category akin to truth or falsehood. INdeed, mistake is not a fundamental
category either. It is also an explanation of WHY one doesn't tell the
truth--he
made a mistake. In the case of accommodation, God didn't tell the truth
because HE
ACCOMMODATED his message to those dummies (they weren't dummies and could
have
understood much more than God gave them credit for when he accommodated the
message.)
In communication, propositional statements are either true or false. They
are not
accommodated or non-accommodated unless you equate truth with
non-accommodated and
falsity with accommodated. In that case, you have just played an
equivocation game,
and committed the logical fallacy of equivocation in which you change the
meaning >>
of a word during a logical syllogism.>>
PHS: I agree that a propositional statement is either true or false. I also
agree that an accommodated statement can be false, and often is. But, the
words "prevaricate" and "lie" imply immoral willful deception. Divine
accommodation has no intent to deceive. Accommodations are NOT even
revelations from God.
When God says, "God made the solid dome of the sky" (Gen 1:7), the
revelation is Who exactly made the sky. That was a disputed question. But,
no one disputed that the sky was a solid dome. Everyone believed that long
before Moses came on the scene. It was their science, and it was embedded in
their hearts and minds. The fact that God accommodated his revelation of Who
made the sky to their scientifically immature view of the sky does not make
God a deceiver, a prevaricator, or a liar. It makes him a father concerned
to communicate a theological lesson in the most effective way possible,
while allowing mankind to continue their God-ordained task of increasing
scientific knowledge without God giving corrective scientific revelation.
As to the illustration, I am not convinced that in all of Africa there are
no tribes which know about trucks but not about large boats with rudders.
But, even if the story is fiction, the point remains: there are ethical ways
of saying things which are false without making a mistake, lying or
prevaricating.
Paul
Yes, it was fun to meet you last summer.
Received on Sat Jun 3 22:00:51 2006
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