Wednesday 27 February 2013

Diderot, on theologians.

"Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things." — Denis Diderot

How can we argue with that?  Christians tend to 'just know' things that they can't possibly know.

In my own case I am sometimes asked "how do you know that".   My usual 'off pat' answer is "native wit".  The truth lies somewhere between that humorous response and a degree in physics, a career in engineering and an enquiring mind which notices interesting things in the world around me.

However, the difference is that I only get that question when someone is surprised to find that I was right, and that is very different from the case of the theologians.

Nobody can tell whether theologians (or Christians) have access to some sort of special knowledge, but I think all of us can take a shrewd guess . . . using native wit!

Their claims are not falsifiable - and by some definitions they are therefore not science.  That might not matter to everyone . . .

. . . but it matters to me.

1 comment:

Luke Bruce said...

Hi thanks for possting this