JohnR7 said:
Exactly, when you have taken full advantage of everything that man has to offer you, then it is time to turn to God and that is exactly what I did.
As I read the account you provided, you did just the opposite. First you turned to God; you prayed and you ended up so ill that your heart stopped. That's when your wife turned to men and science. The men came, they applied the principles of science, and your heart began to beat again.
JohnR7 said:
I found solutions and I found answers that science did not have to offer in any of their books. I searched and searched and searched for many, many years and I finally came to the conclusion that man and science did not have the answers I was looking for and they did not have the solutions I needed for my problems.
Are you speaking of the medical problems we were discussing or of something else?
JohnR7 said:
If it were not got God, if I had to rely on 911, I am convinced I would not be here.
I believe you're convinced of this. But it's not your level of dedication I question. It is the logic or lack thereof, you apply to the situation. As I recall, you told me the doctors had apparently misdiagnosed your problem and provided you with medication which didn't provide relief from your symptoms. So you turned to God. You prayed and your condition worsened. Eventually, you became so sick that you literally died. Your heart stopped.
Then your wife called 911 - men, who brought with them the knowledge of medical science which they applied appropriately to the situation. It was the knowledge of science that revived you after your prayers had lead you to the bring of death and just beyond.
JohnR7 said:
If you want to deceive yourself into thinking that man did it and God had no part of it, then that is up to you.
When prayer leads to death and science leads you back to life, it seems contrary to reason to determine that God is to be credited with your survival.
JohnR7 said:
But you will never convince me of that and you will never convince my wife.
I'm fairly certain of this. But this isn't the problem. It's not about whether or not I can convince you to abandon or change your beliefs. It's whether or not you can demonstrate any credible reason for you to continue to hold onto your beliefs and whether or not I can provide credible reason which support my beliefs.
JohnR7 said:
You can only allow yourself to be deceived into thinking that God did not have a part of it.
And yet, when left up to God, you ended up in asystole.
JohnR7 said:
If I have to choose between science and God, then I will choose God. But science is a gift from God, so that is not a choice that we have to make. Even He allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
Or perhaps in his absence, he has no control over where the rain lands.
JohnR7 said:
God Created this world in a way so that you can understand it. If He did not give it to you to understand, then you would not be able to understand. You only understand what you do, because God has given it to you to understand the things of science.
More purely unsupportable claims. This is what science is not about. In science, if you can't support it, there's no point in claiming it. Apparently, in the religion to which you prescribe, an unsupported claim is as good as a demonstration of factuality.
JohnR7 said:
But go ahead and try to show me how you think that you have understanding apart from God. But also I will tell you, that if I have to live in a world without God, then I want no part of it. Never have and I never well want any part of a world that God is not a part of.
Again, John; this isn't about your level of conviction but the level of reason which can be applied to that reason. David Koresh believed in God and demonstrated amazing conviction for his beliefs. Suicide bombers show amazing conviction for their beliefs. David Berkowitz believed so strongly that he was being controlled by demons that he took to shooting people. Those are all demonstrations of devout conviction. But none of them are demonstrations of reason. And without reason, conviction is empty.