The Rant Institute

  In my previous post I wrote about a number of problems with the argument from, and thus the difficulties of applying a yardstick of, Degrees of Perfection (DOP). The argument assumes that "degrees of perfection" implies the existence of a "perfect being" that can be called God. This assumes, of course, that “degrees of perfection”  is not only objectively real, but culminates in the embodiment of God.  A question that the argument fails to answer, however, is why we must assume that “degrees of perfection” indicates a "perfect being" any more than degrees of temperature indicates a perfect temperature.      The DOP argument assumes that, at some point, we can reach the ultimate perfection of God, or that perfection, by being infinite in degrees, should be called God. Either conclusion is problematic, however. If we say the DOP can rea...

If you believe in God, there's probably a good chance you also believe that God performs miracles every now and then, to not only remind the world that He hasn't forgotten us, but also to advertise His mercy and benevolence to believers and nonbelievers alike - at least that is, until the dreaded "judgement day." Perhaps the greatest miracle today, however, is the fact that there are still people in the world who believe that "miracles" come from a God.  For many "believers," on the other hand, it's as much of a miracle to them that people don't believe in their particular brand of "God" as it is for them to discover that people don't believe such a "God" performs miracles at all; and especially not for all those He's thrown into the torture chamber of our reality - with the apparent intent of using religion to turn us all into "demons" towards each other, because of our differences. ...