"If a man without a sense of smell declared that this yellow rose I hold had no scent, we should know that he was wrong. The defect is in him, not in the flower. It is the same with a man who says there is no God. It merely means that he is without the capacity to discern His presence."
2006-12-21 13:33:18 · 18 answers · asked by Angie 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I asked who stated the quote. It is amazing how many people are instead insulting Christians or trying to tear the statement apart. Neither has anything to do with who made the statement.
2006-12-21 13:52:16 · update #1
Sir Ralph Richardson
http://www.gnpcb.org/product/1581346379/browse/7/format=text
2006-12-21 13:36:45 · answer #1 · answered by No substitute for privacy online 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Good quote. Don't know the author.
It's compelling, but ultimately it falls short for multiple reasons:
1) Presumably, if God were to create a human that in no way could detect Him, then He (by His own choice) has made Himself irrelevant to said human.
2) If humans are in any way to be judged by their acceptance of a God, and certain ones can detect him while others can't, that calls into question the fairness of the deity. Is a God who plays favorites worth worshiping?
3) All of our senses, all of them, react to physical things in the environment. Smell comes from molecules, sight comes from light waves, wind comes from moving air particles, etc. There is always a physical manifestation of that we are detecting. And for every sense we have, we have built machines that can sense thousands and millions of times better than us. We have bomb sniffers, telescopes, microscopes, radio receivers, earthquake sound monitors, etc. Every sense we have has been extended far beyond any human's ability to do so -- and none of these have ever detected God.
Impossible? No. Highly improbably? Definitely.
2006-12-22 01:16:54 · answer #2 · answered by Michael 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Uh-huh. And why would God create people "without the capacity to discern His presence"? Sick sense of humor, maybe?
You're not going to convince anyone with this argument. Find something better.
2006-12-22 12:05:49 · answer #3 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I have no sense of smell. Whoever said that about the smell of a rose only gets it partly right. There are other ways to test such a thing yes. And yet for me there is no sense of smell. With the God thing there are also ways to test and they all indicate no God(s).
2006-12-21 21:40:44 · answer #4 · answered by Barabas 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Awesome qoute.Keep posting great questions. I have no ideas who quoted but just thought I'd let you know you have some great points.
2006-12-21 23:03:51 · answer #5 · answered by CC Rider 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
very weak arguement my senses are perfect and I'm not brainwashed either . you believers just lack the capacity to discern beyond the conditioning embeded in your brain from childhood and there after . Keep trying !the fault lies not in the stars but in ourselves . But you have deaf ears .And moot mind.
So keep your fantasies and I'll deal with my reality .
peace out
2006-12-21 21:41:12 · answer #6 · answered by dogpatch USA 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
that is some of the worst, most ridiculous logic I have ever heard. The difference is that we have the presence of the flower and ways of testing it. Show me god, lets test him......I dare you.
2006-12-21 21:36:32 · answer #7 · answered by ? 6 · 3⤊ 3⤋
Don't really care. Atheism to me is a cult just like jahovawitneses and I don't believe in either one of them!
2006-12-21 21:35:36 · answer #8 · answered by Trini-HaitianGrl81 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
if there was a god, wouldn't he make it so we ALL just automatically know he exists and how to worship him? I would if I was god or created my own universe!
2006-12-21 21:38:02 · answer #9 · answered by ur a Dee Dee Dee 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Garry O'Conner
and is he ever on target!
2006-12-21 21:39:01 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋