The following set of four documents was drafted over several years. The Marble Exercise and “A Treatise on the Irrationality of the Existence of God and the Universe” were prepared for a presentation to a denomination’s national mission staff. The “Causation: Observations and Dialogue” developed in 1993 from reflections on the first two documents. The “Introduction to a Trilogy of Papers” was drafted to provide a context for the other three documents in the set.
The following annotated Table of Contents provides a description of the four documents now available in html format.
Introduction to a Trilogy of Papers This paper describes the reasons for developing the “Irrationality” paper, and related documents.
The Marble Exercise This paper provides a mental exercise that is designed to engage the listener’s imagination and to expand the listener’s ideological framework in preparation for the discussion presented in the “Irrationality” paper. Originally designed to be presented by a speaker with accompanying slides, it has been adapted to present pictures with text.
A Treatise on the Irrationality of the Existence of God and the Universe The main document in this set explores questions such as “Is an all powerful God loving?” and “Does God answer prayer?” as well as exploring the issue of the presence of evil in the world. The proposed thesis is that the humanly cherished concept of rationality breaks down when engaging both the existence of God and the edges of the universe.
Causation: Observations and Dialogue A paper on the topic of causation was posted on the then-elite Internet. At that time, in 1993, the Internet was used primarily by scientists associated with academic institutions. The paper was posted and readers responded with messages, producing the dialogue that is included at the end of this paper.