Hi all and Anonymous I wanted to respond to what you wrote and address this issue of math being objective and religion not, as well as America being predominantly Christian.
So quickly, math is biased. It's created by people to give a language to science or to model something, but the problems are often created so that they work well within the system. I once had a great Calculus teacher and we as a class had an answer that had 10 percent error and he smiled. We thought it was terrible. He said- it's not terrible. But it was 10% away from the theoretical value of about one half. He said, it's close. And we said, Close?!?! and he said Sure! Compared to infinity it's close.
You wrote: Fightingwrmwood, (i like the c. s. lewis referrence by the way. Screwtape letters was a phenomonally insightful book
) most belief does seem to be based on the assumption that past experience will continue to be a valid basis to found further judgements upon. But for things of a non physical or non tangible nature how can we base our beliefs on past experience?
Not all beliefs are based in experiences. Hope is an example of that. We have no experience to hope for what we hope for, but we hope. This is not just spiritual, this is how we are wired. Animals too.
I don't know if you have ever heard of Noam Chomsky, but I wrote him, a professor in linguistics and philosophy, if hope wasn't an example of a conclusion with no premise. He wrote back -
"But that we have beliefs with no grounds is pretty clear. Kittens, for example, seem to believe that if they step over a precipice, they will fall, and so do infants. But they didn't reach that belief by argumentation from premises."
However, your beliefs will be limited if you don't grow with experiences to compliment them. Which kinda leads in to what you are saying about America. But I think there is a much more complex picture considering the wealth in this country and the lack of action that goes with the professed belief. As James wrote,
"If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes or has not enough food to live on and one of you says to them, I wish you well, keep yourselves warm and eat plenty, without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that? In the same way, faith, if good deeds do not go with it, it is quiet dead. But someone may say, so you have faith and I have good deeds. Show me this faith of yours then. It is by my deeds I will show you my faith. You believe in the one God, that is creditable enough, but even demons have the same belief and they tremble with fear. Fool! Would you not like to know that faith without deads is useless?"
Although there are organizations that work for His justice, it boggles my mind how much wealth and injustice and be in the same nation. It must be that even though the teachings are there, the actions the teaching teach are not. Which must mean that the faith is useless. This also serves to tear down any witness of the workers in the faith, who profess the same things those that don't act do.
Lastly I just want to encourage you to stay honest with where you are at. I had a very close friend that just didnt' believe in God and stuck around our circle anyway and then one day he realized he did believe in God. There was no sudden shift it was a slow gradual thing for him. It wasn't that way with me, but I don't discount that God works differently in different people. Just as God made a covenant with us, the next step was for my friend to make a decision for Him.
Someone already posted about seeking and knocking on that door that will be opened and my prayer for you is just to continue to maintain an openness to Him. There have been times when I have not wanted to do things God wanted me to do. (Not about belief, but about action.) And I just let God know, I don't want to do this, and I know You want me to and I still don't want to. So please change my heart.
Ask God for what you need and don't be afraid to go before Him right where you are.
fww
