Re: [asa] Sunday School for Atheists...

There is a second consequence to contradictions which the medievals
called /consequentia mirabilis/, the astonishing consequence: accepting a
contradiction makes every statement and its contradictory true. There
thus cannot be any discourse. While it's true that some people hold to
contradictory principles, they have to keep them strictly
compartmentalized in order to avoid a total inability to communicate
anything. This must be distinguished from paradoxes, where there is an
apparent contradiction that can be resolved.
Dave (ASA)

On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:30:25 -0600 Merv <mrb22667@kansas.net> writes:
The law of non-contradiction is still a law -- and to say that God
violates this particular law is to insist on something that is at best,
silly. I think Lewis dealt with this somewhere. We can concoct silly
questions such as: "If God can do anything, then can He make a rock so
big He can't lift it?" Embedded contradictions don't prove anything
other than that we can entertain ourselves with silliness. If religion
A claims that X happened and religion B claims it didn't, then they can't
both be right. That is not the same as passing complete judgment on
both or all religions, only that contradictory claims can't all be true
(Nor will/can God force them to be true.) To abandon this is to abandon
the only tools you and I have to even have any such discussion as this
-- our faith that this is an orderly world in which rational
comprehension is of some value.

--Merv

mlucid@aol.com wrote:
Christine says:

> So since all religions seem to contradict each other,

> the law of non-contradiction says either all relgions

> are wrong, or only religion is right. But no one can

> be considered sane who knows this and things they

> could ALL be right.
You're talking about God here. You can't say that all religions
can't be right. If God wanted it that way, all religions could be
just fine and all true. It is God who created a world with multiple
religions, and while I'm happy with mine, I'm happy as well that
other people are happy with theirs.

I surely prefer a man who is humbled by his religion than one
who is not. The operative word again is humbled.

-Mike (Friend of ASA)

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Received on Tue Nov 27 22:39:34 2007