Dragaera

Damiano's Lute

Lydia Nickerson Lydy at demesne.com
Fri Nov 29 20:46:34 PST 2002

At 11:27 AM -0600 11/29/02, Mia McDavid wrote:
>Lydia said:
>
>>
>This makes no sense to me.  Are you saying that if God didn't exist, 
>you wouldn't want to know?  You'd rather continue believing in 
>something that wasn't true?  If it were possible to prove God's 
>non-existence, it would be possible to prove his existence, and may 
>the best theory win.
>>
>
>
>Consider.  I believe that God does indeed exist as the wellspring of 
>love, the source of all goodness, the marvelous mind that created 
>the universe in all its age and infinite complexity.  I believe that 
>God has sustained me through the trials in my life, that he is the 
>home of the faithful and the comfort of those who mourn.  He is 
>every good thing that I have ever dreamed of and all those I have 
>not yet thought to dream.

Ok.  I'll consider.  But that doesn't answer my question. 
Hypothetically, if someone came up with a test which would absolutely 
detect the presence or absence of god, providing incontrovertible 
evidence of existence or non-existence, would you be interested in 
the results of this test.  If the test showed that, after all, God 
didn't exist, would you prefer that no one tell you, even if they do 
run the test?  If the test does show that God exists, would you want 
to know that?  If the test proved that God didn't exist, would you 
continue to believe in him anyway?

>
>Imagine, also, since I *do* believe God exists, how I must feel 
>about the thought that someone wants to surgically remove my belief.

Imagine how I felt when someone wanted to surgically remove my 
primary understanding of who I was.  I had been depressed for so long 
that it had become an essential part of my self image.  Learning to 
be undepressed was difficult. Learning that the world was not as sad 
and grey and full of despair as I thought it to be was a good thing, 
but it happened because I had a mood disorder which got medically 
treated.  If, _if_ belief in the irrational is actually a disorder, 
indicative of a brain dysfunction, then it would seem to be horrid to 
wish that someone not be able to get treatment if they wanted to.

>   If that happened, in my view, God would *still* exist, and I would 
>be crippled in my response to him.

This confuses me again.  The PK in me can only parse this along the 
lines of "Oh ye of little faith."  If you're that certain about God, 
then how can any test, regardless of what people claim for it's truth 
and veracity, affect your faith?  If you believe in science, and it 
proves that God doesn't exist, how could you want to cling to what 
is, in a rational world, ignorance?  If you are certain of both, then 
the test must necessarily show the existence of God, and you have 
nothing to fear.


-- 

Lydy Nickerson		lydy at demesne.com	lydy at lydy.com
Dulciculi Aliquorum