The problem with rationalism is that it fails to understand irrationalism and dismisses it.
This is not a problem for me, good Kasper. Could you perhaps explain why it should be a problem for you or for anyone?
Don't try to rationalise everything, people are not just rational.
Well, I disagree. We are not, in the main, brute beasts. A Christian view might be that God gave us reason/rationality. That being the case, would it not be slighting to God
not to use our reason?
We cannot prove the bible is the word of God, you either believe it or you don't.
It seems to me that the same could be said of Santa Claus/Father Christmas. However, my difficulty with the Bible as the absolute word of God is that the Bible is not consistent, indeed in several places it appears to be contradictory. I still think people wrote it. I'd be grateful if someone could convince me otherwise.
Why do seemingly intelligent people waste their time on this stuff? Use your intelligence to rid the world of violence, hunger and disease or someting. Instead of these pointless debates which seem to be older than the bible itself.
There could be several answers here: (a) Because God made us intelligent and gave us an enquiring mind. (b) Because some do not think that it is a waste of time. (c) Some do not think that considering these things is pointless. (d) There are many examples in history of those who have been able to enquire and to reason, while at the same time have concerned themselves with addressing practically the misfortunes of violence, hunger, disease etc.. The activities of reasoning and attempting to cure the ills of the world do not seem to be mutually exclusive: indeed, there appear to be cases where they are mutually supportive. I am sure a number of other reasonable answers will occur to people.
There could also be an objection to the way in which you pose your question: why "
seemingly intelligent"? Surely you wish to persuade those who are not yet of your opinion to your point of view, rather than to denigrate them?
By the way, excellent Kasper, you have entered the fray and used your intelligence on this subject by posting your kind post. Presumably you did not think it "a waste of time" to do so by doing so? There appears to be a contradiction there!
But thank you for your trenchant point of view!
Phylax