Up@dawn 2.0

Friday, April 19, 2013

Non-Realism about God 14-4

What is non-realism? It is said to be the idea that nothing exists beyond our knowledge of said thing and the way in which we describe it. This idea that you can be a Christian but not believe there is a God is a fairly new idea, and a rare one, but certainly one that deserves more looking into. Don Cupitt argues in favor of the idea that as humans, we were not put on this earth, created as adults with an already complex language and world ready for us to live in. Only through conversations between each other as we evolved did we create this theory of God and Christianity is continually changing as the world changes.
He mentions the women's movement and the civil rights movement, as well as the killing of animals, and how we as a society have changed our views on all of these things, which he then states that as modern society changes, our ideas about God and the Christian faith have to change as well. We are becoming more aware of our making of the world, and that we have to "move on" (194).
During our discussion of this, it is hard to fully understand how Cupitt feels about the idea of a God. From what I gather and understand, he thinks we can hold the idea of God as a goal in life, see God as a symbol, or a personification of love and perfection we should strive to obtain. He says that loving our fellow human beings should be our basis of our lives.
I do not necessarily agree when he says "I think, since the twentieth century, we have come to see that everything is transient; we can't look for any external guarantees for anything in human life". He is putting an entire modern society in one box, and excluding those of us who DO still believe in an everlasting God, who I can have a relationship with, and live my life on the foundation of his teachings. I agree that there are people in this world who do think in the way Cupitt does, however I do not believe he should be saying "we", instead maybe "some of us".

DQ: What do you think? Is there a God? Has God become merely a symbol for how we should live, and not someone we can have a relationship with?

FQ: What kind of Christian does Cupitt say he is?
Answer: Post-Ecclesiastical

5 comments:

  1. Great summery Megan! I agree with you where you said " I agree that there are people in this world who do think in the way Cupitt does, however I do not believe he should be saying "we", instead maybe "some of us" because not everybody is the same and not everyone have the same opinion about God so you in stead he be saying 'some of us". And off course there is a God. I am not saying this because i have seen God, But i do believe that God exist! But first consider this. When it comes to the possibility of God's existence, the Bible says that there are people who have seen sufficient evidence, but they have suppressed the truth about God. On the other hand, for those who want to know God if he is there, he says, "You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you." Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, If God does exist, would I want to know him?

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    1. This is an example of circular reasoning. One of the greatest facets of the Bible is it's vagueness, in that it can be interpreted to vaguely support almost any argument for God's existence. The fact that there is no evidence, and has never been any evidence, leads some people to question whether God exists. But by one interpretation of the Bible, God has required that there be no evidence of his existence, as a "test" of our faith.

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  2. Havent commented on yalls group so i thought Id change that! A topic we discussed (group 4 woot woot!) was whether science and religion can coexist. Nowadays it seems like they cannot, but back in the Rennassance if you recall, they were well versed in a variety of areas.
    DQ: What is the purpose of science? Can science and religion coexist?

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  3. I kind of agree with Cupitt in the sense that God can be seen as an ideal that we should strive to, almost like a distillation of the morals and values pursued by religious people. The idea of God existing only as a shared discussion among men doesn't ring true to me though.

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  4. Anonymous1:11 PM CDT

    This is a great post. It's so relatable to some and understandable to others. I believe some science and some parts of religion can coexists. Religion and science need each other in my opinion
    Monique McIntosh 14-4

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