[ExI] Science or Scientism?

[William Flynn Wallace]

ballard wrote:  As extensions of a “spirit of the place”, having a somewhat
limited knowledge and power over a specific geographical area.

Terry Pratchett played around with this idea lot in his books in a comedic
way, of course.  bill w

On Thu, Nov 8, 2018 at 10:35 AM SR Ballard <sen.otaku at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Yes, they say things like "I believe in a force more powerful than myself"
> and to tell the truth I believe in that too, gravity and electromagnetism
> are examples of 2 such forces. But that sort of argument comes from people
> who have rejected the idea that God is a intelligent conscious BEING, in
> other words they are perfectly willing to abandon the idea of God but flat
> out refuse to abandon the English word G-O-D. They redefine the word to
> mean a sort of generic amorphous grey blob, and its so generic, amorphous
> and grey that if that's what the word means then even I would have to say
> "I believe in God". But that's no more informative than saying  "I believe
> in stuff". I don't want to brag but I'm more intelligent than some run of
> the mill grey blob, so if I'm smarter than God then it's a pretty third
> rate God.
>
>  John K Clark
>
>
> I don’t mean to nitpick, but I actually feel like you didn’t understand
> what I was trying to explain. I’m trying to say that there is something
> “less” than the Abrahamic idea of God (the all-knowing, all-mighty
> creator/judge) and this very vague metaphysical higher power.
>
> There are other views of gods besides these two views.
>
> For example, they can be viewed more in line with how fae were/are viewed,
> as able to affect our world but generally disinterested.
>
> A “worship as power” view, where when gods are not worshiped they slowly
> die. And when they receive sacrifices they become powerful.
>
> As extensions of a “spirit of the place”, having a somewhat limited
> knowledge and power over a specific geographical area.
>
> A covenant Lord, having power mostly within his own people.
>
> A god would not have to fit the Abrahamic view in order to be a god, but
> at the same would not have to be watered down into a nothingness like you
> suggest.
>
> You can envision a being, with a still-limited intelligence and power,
> however being still smarter and more powerful than yourself, can’t you? I’m
> sure you could find a human who would fit that criteria actually.
>
> Now I’m not saying God or gods are real, because I can’t think of any way
> to prove/disprove their existence. But what I am saying is that there are
> more than just these two extremes you are using.
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