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Old 03-06-2003, 03:54 PM   #1
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Default Simplicity is the key

St. Thomas Aquinas said we cannot understand God because God is utterly simple -- simple beyond all our conceptions. We study, we wrestle with theological problems, we strain out minds, but the aim is to draw near to the mystery of the One who is totally simple. We have to pass through the complexity so as to arrive at simplicity.

Those of you who are searching for God -- which is all of you -- remember this.

I, too, was an athiest. And it bothered me greatly -- I just couldn't believe. I knew something in my being believed in God, but I couldn't find it ... I now think that the most innate part of one's being is theistic, regardless of what that person recognizes or acknowledges.

Don't lose hope.

Gemma Therese
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Old 03-06-2003, 03:57 PM   #2
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Yup ... don't lost hope ....
 
Old 03-06-2003, 04:04 PM   #3
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Default Re: Simplicity is the key

Quote:
Originally posted by Gemma Therese
I, too, was an athiest. And it bothered me greatly -- I just couldn't believe. I knew something in my being believed in God, but I couldn't find it ...
You were an atheist and yet you knew that something in your being believed in God?

Jeez, you were a pretty shitty atheist.


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Old 03-06-2003, 04:07 PM   #4
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Default Re: Re: Simplicity is the key

If simplicity was the key, then why didn't Mr. Aquinas just condense his argument into a couple of sentences instead of publishing weighty tomes of theology that atheists like me are afraid to even think about reading? I mean, it's not like his theology was ...gasp... complex, was it?


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Old 03-06-2003, 04:08 PM   #5
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We must pass through complexity to arrive at simplicity.

Gemma Therese
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Old 03-06-2003, 04:16 PM   #6
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It would be even simpler just to take the universe at face value. To go with the simplest and most logical explanations of why the universe is the way it is. To accept that the universe is bound by natural laws that don't need to be bent or re-phrased in order to fit somebody else's 2000 year old ideas of how things work (or what we now know they really meant by it, now that we know how it really works).

1. I am not searching for god. Remember that.
2. It does not bother me one bit that I am an atheist.
3. I have not lost hope.

Have a nice day.

Jen
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Old 03-06-2003, 04:20 PM   #7
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"I, too, was an athiest. And it bothered me greatly -- I just couldn't believe. I knew something in my being believed in God, but I couldn't find it "

Just out of curiosity, what made you pick Catholicism out of a general feeling of Theism?
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Old 03-06-2003, 04:22 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally posted by Gemma Therese
We must pass through complexity to arrive at simplicity.

Gemma Therese
Why?


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Old 03-06-2003, 04:26 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally posted by marduck
Just out of curiosity, what made you pick Catholicism out of a general feeling of Theism?
You didn't ask me, but that's what I would pick. Except for the guilt, that one looks like the most fun!
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Old 03-06-2003, 04:33 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally posted by marduck
"I, too, was an athiest. And it bothered me greatly -- I just couldn't believe. I knew something in my being believed in God, but I couldn't find it "

Just out of curiosity, what made you pick Catholicism out of a general feeling of Theism?
I was raised Catholic. But I firmly believe the Holy Spirit would have led me to Catholicism even had I not been. Catholicism enjoys the closest relationship to the Truth of all the religions I've studied.

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