Here is how to explain a higher power in a rational manner?

Q: Is Man the most powerful being in the universe? Y/N

A: Obviously not. Otherwise how can you explain that there are things which are beyond man's control?

Q: If there is something higher than man, is it intelligent?

A: Yes. Must be. If you go by the basic premise that man is intelligent, then something higher than man which can create things that man cannot must be more intelligent than man.

Q: If this being exists, where does it exist?

A: Wherever there are things that man hasn't created. Basically this means the universe. Who created the universe? Was it a random product of something dumb or something intelligent? If dumb, then how can you explain Evolution which is such an intelligent process? So yes, it exists everywhere, is infinitely more aware and intelligent than man.

Q: If intelligent and aware, it must be conscious right?

A: If man is conscious, then yes. This being is similarly infinitely more aware than man.

Q: Is it available to human perception?

A: Human senses are supremely limited. The range of frequecies that a human ear can perceive is very limited. So is light. Man is essentially bound by his physical senses. Therefore it is very plausible that this being exists, but unavailable to human perception.

Q: What do you call this being?

A: If you call it God, you're religious. If you call it Nature, you're a philosopher. If you call it the Laws of Science and the Laws of the Cosmos, then you're a scientist. If you call it Nothing, then you're an athiest.

As simple as that!

I'm sorry but there IS something wrong with resorting to "Because the bible says so".. It is said out of ignorance. When one doesn't know any better, some usually trying to give an answer whether it's right or wrong...

I don't think anyone that resorts to "because the bible says so" is intelligent in any way whatsoever...

Actually since the last time I posted here, I have been to a few religious boards (though not actually posted) and the quality of discussion is quite high in some of them. There are intelligent people in this world who are willing to discuss this topic in such a place even in the presence of other religions and with minimal flaming. And there are surprisingly very few trolls (sure there are some, but not as many as you would expect in those sensitive areas of discussion). I was surprised at their in-depth knowledge and their mature arguments which were put forth in a mostly calm and peaceful manner. Since the knowledge factor is higher on such boards on such topics, people actually can argue effectively without getting into circular, meaningless discussions.

In retrospect, I conclude that a board which is dedicated to (mostly) technical discussions is not suited for religious discussions (and vice versa in most cases) as most of the members are either not specialists in the subject or are lazy to research and discuss topics in depth of which they have only the haziest knowledge and ideas. In this case, the topics naturally become impossible to control and you have a lot of pseudo-scholarship that is dictated more by the members' lack of knowledge than otherwise.

My conclusion in brief:

Religious/political discussions are better discussed in boards that are specialized for them. You are more likely to meet encouragement, in-depth discussions and knowledgeable members there than in those boards like this one which caters to a (generally) technical-minded audience.

knowledge in itself is perfectly useless.

as useless as we may find naturally perfect men wearing two kind of bras , one in smaller size which represents pseudo-scholarship and the other one in a much bigger size representing someone like you , the much gifted one.

knowledge needs to "extend" , to persuade and to involve itself in a "dialogue" however dangerously and redundently they might sound or look.

as for the problem of "the domination of knowledge and by knowledge" , until now i 'm still making that same mistakes over and over again , i unlearned what i had learned ! i undo what i had done ! i destroy what i supposely had contributed !

please don't ask me to elaborate further in details what i had said
above , because i hate to read books . You should be able to figure it out youself .

i got to go now , for a long period , to somewhere where it's not possible for me to have a dialogue with you virtually .

regards

Did I force you to have a dialog with me? There was nothing directed against you in my post so far as I can see. In those remarks above, I find a petty and indirect insult directed towards me. Sorry, I had no idea that this was your private forum and that I was disturbing you by posting here.

Next time I post here, I will ask your kind permission before I do.

Closed at the request of the original poster.