St. Thomas, who always tried to be thorough and fair, surveyed the whole history of human thought and could only come up with two really decent arguments against the existence of God. For all of history up to the present, all really good atheist arguments boil down to one or both of these, repeated and elaborated up with varying emotional appeals, illustrations, and putdowns. All the *other* atheist “arguments” boil down to fallacious crap, emoting, grandstanding, posturing, non sequiturs, blather, and sneering. That atheism so often moves past the two good arguments and lards on fallacious crap is one of the telling tics that gives away the fact that atheists aren’t as confident of their case as they often insist they are.However, thanks to modern biological research, we may have a third argument that can help the atheist case: really big scary spiders.Some of my readers will argue that this spider is a restatement of the Problem of Evil. Let me explain it in the manner of reddit.atheism: SHUT UP! BIG SCARY SPIDERS! ARE YOU BLIND *AND* STUPID? NO GOD! SHEESH!
Click on link below to read rest of article:
Third Argument Against Existence of God Discovered
Is Mark Shea off his meds? Did that make any sense?
ReplyDeleteRationalist: Perhaps a valid question. I think he is trying to be humorous... but I don`t think it succeeded. Still if you look past the fluff, there`s something there to consider for anyone who argues for God`s existence underneath it all.
DeleteFr. Tim
I'm afraid I missed it. I can generally follow most articles but that one went whizzing past.
DeleteHope your weather up there is better than here in Toronto. It's freezing rain here and it's making it hard to get to Starbucks to get Lattes. :->
Rationalist: The weather here is TERRIBLE as my most recent post makes clear :( I'm not a hunter myself (fishing is my preferred outdoor activity. I don't seem to mind killing fish but am squeamish about killing Bambi or Bullwinkle) but I would cheer on any one that would either 'bring him to justice or bring justice to him' any of those famous rodents who promised winter would be over 5 or 6 weeks ago!!!
DeleteI think the point Mark was trying to make is that St. Thomas provides what he considers to be unimpeachable proof of God's existence in some sort of exasperated response to someone who seems to have ticked him off. You've got to admit that when he 'goes off'... it's a sight to behold. He's clearly a man of great passions! That's why I enjoy reading his columns even if I don't always agree with them. They're fun to read.
Fr. Tim
The worse is the dog we are dog sitting is happy as a clam outside in it. I can't get her back into the house in weather like this.
ReplyDelete@ Fr. Tim
ReplyDelete@ Rationalist1,
Like Fr. Tim, I think Mark is being funny. He is laughing- at- people who openly express their lack of intellectual ,emotional and spiritual ability to perceive the so called ‘proof’ that God exists.
Humour is good for the soul and it’s always good when we can laugh WITH one another. BUT when a man or a woman of “great passions” make jokes at the expense of others , it really should not be and is not for me “fun to read.”
Larry: G'Day! Nice to hear from you again. But perhaps you're reading an intent that isn't there. I like reading Mark when he goes off on a subject because he IS fun to read. He is entertaining... which is precisely his intent. I know this as we have both communicated in writing and on the phone is the wake of something either of us has published. We came to know each other through mutual friends (RJN & GW) a few years ago and have become online buds long ago. Be assured... I am VERY MUCH laughing WITH him.
DeleteDid you get dumped with snow today? We sure did here in Mattawa. (sob!) It's been a while since I've been down to the area. Has the snow melted from the Island yet?
Fr. Tim
I know you are laughing with him Fr. Tim.
ReplyDeleteSnow? I swear on my dads grave, in Pembroke we did not get one snowflake today.
Did you get the point?
ReplyDeleteLarry: I don't think so. Sorry.
DeleteFr. Tim
Thats okay Fr. Tim.
ReplyDelete