You Can't Handle the Truth

[minorwork]

The search for an ultimate, unifying explanation for all things is a fruitless endeavor, a step in the wrong direction. This is why, in a universe of chaos, we must constantly adapt.
Bene Gesserit Azhar Book
Dune: House Corrino

Because all scientific evidence must be filtered through the interpretive process before meaning can be extracted, it can be used to prove anything, even the truth - and it can, like an expert witness, be called upon to testify for either side. For this reason, blind faith in everything that is represented to you as science makes you as vulnerable to being misled as placing your trust in everyone claiming to possess psychic powers. -- Rob Faigin from "Natural Hormone Enhancement"

Every body has to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer.
Homer Simpson, plagiarized from W. C. Fields

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, it is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
-- Unknown

"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."
-- H. L. Mencken

I have every sympathy with the atheist who was so horrified by what he had read about religion that he gave up reading.
Mark Palmer with apologies to Henry G. Strauss

[chasm]

There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil. Albert North Whitehead

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. Andre Gide

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true. Siddhartha Gautama

Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true. Demosthenes

Myths which are believed in tend to become true. George Orwell

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. JFK

[phrog]

The first casualty of war is truth.
Hiram Johnson (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/hiramjohns320398.html)

It's often been observed that the first casualty of war is the truth. But that's a lie, too, in its way. The reality is that, for most wars to begin, the truth has to have been sacrificed a long time in advance.
L. Neil Smith (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/lneilsmit274871.html)

[minorwork]

Chasm. Outstanding. How in the Hell can Bible thumpers relinquish determination of actions to the Bible! Todays thumpers do reek of the memed features passed down that enable control of the masses/proletariat. You know, rewards and punishments AFTER life. Come on thumpers. What a bastardized view.

My email nemesis thumper replied thusly when told I value personal experience of "God" itself over the Bible.

" I appreciate experience, but doubt whether it can be wholely trusted. The interpretation of an experience can be very subjective. From my own experience, I find I cannot trust my experience. Somewhat paradoxical, isn't it?"

"The Bible is my authority. I do not worship the Bible - I worship the God Who is explained in the Bible. There is a general revelation about God found in creation. But without the specific revelations of Scripture, I am afraid that purposefully or not, I would make God in my own image."

This guy is a college math prof. I'm still trying to figure what makes these guys tick. Some. Not as much lately. This is example stuff only.


Chasm. I'll be copying your quotes to my personal quote board. Thanks heaps.

[chasm]

" I appreciate experience, but doubt whether it can be wholely trusted. The interpretation of an experience can be very subjective. From my own experience, I find I cannot trust my experience. Somewhat paradoxical, isn't it?"

"The Bible is my authority. I do not worship the Bible - I worship the God Who is explained in the Bible. There is a general revelation about God found in creation. But without the specific revelations of Scripture, I am afraid that purposefully or not, I would make God in my own image."


So he regards subjective experience with healthy skepticism (sensibly enough), but a book (repeatedly hand-copied, translated, copied some more, translated a few more times, and recopied again) full of subjective experiences, and then subjectively understood, as authoritative? Oy vey. Math must make him crave things that don't require rigorous proof.

Glad you liked the quotes.