"You cannot use human reasoning or thought to comprehend a being vastly greater than we are". True or false?

Question

Is it possible to believe in something incomprehensible? If human reasoning or thought cannot comprehend that being, then what exactly *can* we comprehend such a thing with?

As it wasn't a great question in the first place, I'll put it to the vote :-)

Answer 1

NA. "Vastly greater than" is subjective and needs refining.
- If "spacially", we can understand the comos.
- If a "being", it sounds supernatural and must be discarded.
- If an alien, you may have a point, but only tests will answer it.
- If real, it can be quantified and computer technology can be applied.

Answer 2

The answer is false in my opinion. Not because we can not comprehend a being vastly superior to us should we *not use* our human reasoning. Our comprehension of realities is gradual and our logical faculties must be used to confirm the validity of our beliefs otherwise we will fall into superstitions.
We have no access to this Being directly. That is why from time to time someone who has also a human nature claims that he has been inspired by God to bring a new message to mankind. Strangely and the proof of the validity of his claim resides in this too, he alone without the help of any army or great number of followers at the beginning and the opposition of everyone to his teachings, has the power to transform and revolutionize the whole society and start a new civilization.

Answer 3

I don't see why you need to comprehend something in order to believe it exists. None of us can comprehend the inside of a black hole (beyond a few speculative qualities) but many believe they exist, including me.

We entirely lack the ability to comprehend a thousand years; and we haven't a clue about million of 'em - or a million of almost anything - yet we may work with them routinely in some fields.

Nor do we comprehend wave/particle duality; what minds are; the sequence of Pi's digits; what it feels like to be someone else; time; the opposite sex; most other languages; cats; atoms or c. We believe that all of these exist because we're in regular contact with them.

Comprehensible or not, given the smallest piece of hard evidence I'd be happy to believe in God. I'd also be happy to bet my life that no such evidence exists - any Christian keen to see me dead is welcome to devise a test.

On your general point: "You cannot use human reasoning or thought to comprehend a being vastly greater than we are." Humans have devised several ways to work with systems more complicated than any one person can understand. Most of these involve something called 'Information Hiding' - filtering out all but a linked subset of the full amount of data. A photograph is an example. A monochrome photograph is another. A street map; a circuit diagram; a voice recording; a business department; a military rank - these are all Information Hiding systems, also called 'Maps'.

If 'a being vastly greater than we are' appeared before humanity for a while, open to inspection, we'd certainly be obliged to accept it existed. Our comprehension of it would be very patchy initially, but as we had more opportunity to observe we'd be able to construct models of it. Those models could be consolidated, and hypotheses proposed to explain observation. Tests could be devised and executed, and the results used to refine the model.

Using systems like this has already allowed us to construct useful models of practically everything we observe. From our single vantage point in time and space we have modelled our entire universe - sketchily in places - from its origin to its death, 1e100 years from now. No single person can absorb all of that information, either. But it exists.

CD

Answer 4

We do it all the time. I think it is something that defines us as humans. Sure there are billions of things that we can't fully comprehend, but we use what we know to create a pivcture in our mind so that we can grasp at something, be it because it is too big, too vast, or because to truly wrap our minds around it would cause us to go insane. It's probably what the other 90% of our brain is for. Filtering out the vastness so we can go and make a decent living and not stare at the beauty in a flower.

Answer 5

False:

I argue that to have belief in God we do not have to comprehend God. There is no need to know all of what God is capable of. What God is fully capable of is unfathomable, however I will still choose to believe in an ultimate creator or source without having fully comprehended.

Anselm referred to God as:

"that than which nothing greater can be thought" This leads me to the idea that we can think of God, but nothing greater, anything else would be incomprehensible.

Answer 6

The same could be asked of physics, which at some point just degenerates into metaphor. If our reasoning can't grasp it, is it really science.

If I change the name of String Theory into Little Vibrating Devil theory, does that make it less scientific. Better question, if I call Little Vibrating Devil Theory, String Theory does it make it more scientific.

If instead of saying Gravity Bends Space-Time, I say mass summons angels that pull objects and slow time, has the wording of a different and no more metaphorical explanation made it less scientific?

Answer 7

I would say that it is possible, but as far as reasonable, that depends. For example, quantum physics is still quite a mystery, and yet most physicists prescribe it as real. They just haven't figured out how the equations play out in empirical sequence. So yes, believeing in something that you cannot yet understand can make sense. However, whether or not this applies to the concept of God, I'll leave you to decide for yourself.

Humbly yours,
The Convictionist.

Answer 8

Icarus,

You know very well your argument does not hold any water at all.

Any explanation of natural phenomena derived from observations is a much better one than the one offered by nomads who lived in the desert more than 4,000 years ago.

So it's not a matter of being able or not, it's a matter of comparing apples to apples.

In the issue of whether the human brain can comprehend nature I suggest that you read some of the magnificent popular science books by Stephen Hawkings.

Hope this helps!

Ignacio

Answer 9

Yes and no,

Of course we can comprehend something that is far more complicated and greater than we are, but our limit is comprehending something that is infinite.

even something as simple as a line stretching out in space is impossible for us to see. We can understand it, we can comprehend what it is, but since we exist in a finite world we cannot fully see something that is infinite, even something as simple as a line.

Answer 10

If it's not possible what are so many theists doing believing in something they can't comprehend? Surely it's like trying to imagine a four-dimenional cube? It just can't be done.