No problem. And thanks. I don't want to be running back and forth from Nascar to SI all day.
The connection to our discussion and the thread topic is the rule of law. is the rule of law fair? if so, then did the government act according to the rule of law? technically, maybe. but the real question is did they act within the spirit of the law? this is more concerning to me. because it is this discussion that will lead to adjustments to the actual structure of the law, if neccessary. and imo, i do not think that federal agencies should not be allowed to violate the bill of rights guarantee against search and seizures.
Food for thought:
FOUR CLASSICAL ARGUMENTS
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Scholars have long searched for an open-and-shut argument for God's existence! Yet arguments alone cannot convince anyone, because there will always be skeptics who demand empirical evidence--evidence that is not available.
Through the centuries though, intelligent attempts have been made to form arguments to prove that God is the Creator and Sustainer of this world. Here are four attempts of thinking people to prove God's existence.
Argument from Being
Classical name: Ontological argument
Originated by: Anselm of Canterbury
Main tenet: Anyone who would even consider that God does exist is, in a sense, admitting that there is a God. Here is the logic of that statement. God, by definition, is the greatest being that can be conceived. If He did not exist, He could not be the greatest conceivable being. Therefore, such a being exists. Stated another way, the fact that we have in us the idea of God demands that God is its cause.
Argument from First Cause
Classical name: Cosmological argument
Originated by: Plato and Aristotle
Main tenet: Our world--complex, finite, subject to change, and intelligible--must have had an adequate first cause. Scientists generally agree that our world had a beginning. And that beginning had to be contingent on a thing that was not contingent on anything else for its existence. Therefore, that noncontingent entity had to be infinite, eternal, everlasting, and self-existing. It had to be God.
Argument from Design
Classical name: Teleological argument
Originated by: Various thinkers
Main tenet: The purpose and design of the world point to the existence of God. Physicists marvel at the unbelievable complexity of everything they study. Yet it all fits together in an intricate, workable system. Consider the fragile balance of heat and cold, the delicate mix of oxygen and other gases, the thin curtain that shields us from ultraviolet rays, the complicated relationship of the parts of the ecological system to each other. They point to intelligent design.
Argument from Man
Classical name: Anthropological argument
Main tenet: This reasoning is based on the nature of the human personality. When we worship, we are able to think abstractly and to project ourselves mentally into the world beyond. We are able to make tough moral decisions that lead to heroic self-sacrificing deeds that could not come from instinct. We admire art, music, and architecture. These unusual qualities of man must be the product of an intelligent, moral, personal Creator. |
