How To Choose A Religion

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How To Choose A Religion

• Peter Hsin M.D.

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The Big Question

• Computers are worthless, they can only give you
  answers. Pablo Picasso
• 42, life, universe, everything
• Worldviews, culture, religion, and philosophy
• How do we ask the question correctly? Fairly?

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Dont All Religions Teach the Same Thing?

• Pluralism all different viewpoints are equally
  true
• tolerance is promoted above all else
• Contradiction from a classmate

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Christian Particularism

• Christian particularism is the view that only the
  gospel message of Jesus saves and all other views
  are false insofar as they contradict the message
  of Jesus
• All Religions and Philosophies are exclusive
• Christian Heaven defined by God
• Nirvana Enlightenment defined by nothingness
• Naturalism No afterlife. Only this life counts!

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Double Standard

• The real face of pluralism
• The agenda of pluralism

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Final Considerations

• Incredibly important topic, implications on all
  parts of our life and possibly afterlife
• Much on the menu
• Not much time
• Not much education and training
• So, how do we start thinking about it?

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Categorizations Our Menu

• God, gods, demons and philosophies
• Monotheism Christianity, Judaism, Islam, cults
• Polytheism, mysticism, and dark worship
• Buddhism, Pantheism, atheism/naturalism, various
  forms of skepticism.

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Buffet Fallacy

• Dont pick and choose
• Projection
• Convenience

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Tests! 1/2

• Does it claim to be true?
• Particularism?
• Superstition vs. belief
• Teaching, Evangelism, or Coercion
• Internal consistency
• Law of non-contradiction
• Self-defeating?
• External Consistency
• Integration with other fields of knowledge

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Tests 2/2

• Pragmatism and Completeness Does it answer
  existential questions?
• How do I keep from sinking? How do I keep from
  bumping into others? Why are we out here in the
  first place?
• What is the meaning of life, the universe,
  everything?
• How should I live? (self others)
• Problem of evil and mystery of suffering

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Overview of Problems

• Claims to truth
• Mysticism, superstitions excluded
• Incompleteness Why be moral? for the
  naturalistic atheist. (Ethical Egosim, or
  objectivism)
• Problem of Coercion for Evangelism
• Character of Christ

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Buddha Reincarnated

• Buddhism of philosophers vs. other forms of
  Buddhism
• Self-defeating problem
• Backdrop of Hinduism/reincarnation
• Enlightenment, realization that he was a part of
  a pantheistic deity and had forgetten who he was
  until that point
• Nirvana eliminates the cycle of reincarnation
  extinguishing of a fire
• Reincarnated Buddha would mean Buddha did not
  attain Nirvana

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Naturalism 1/2

• Naturalistic Atheists Epistemology
• We should only believe what is rational
• Occams razor
• Rational Beliefs are the product of logic and
  relevant evidence.
• Thoughts/beliefs caused by random events or
  arbitrary conditions are not rational

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Naturalism 2/2

• Metaphysics of Naturalism
• Atheism and no meaning or design to the universe
• Everything in the universe is the product of a
  long string of random events that have no purpose
• My brain is the product of random events that
  have no purpose
• My beliefs are the product of my brain
• My beliefs are the product of random events
• Self Defeating It is rational to believe in
  naturalism
• Double Standard

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Tests of External Consistency

• Philosophies vs. Religions vs. Jesus
• Cosmology and The Tao of Physics
• Big Bang, Fine Tuning Argument,
• Fossil Record, Darwinism
• Complicated
• Historicity Judaism, Islam, Jesus, and everyone
  else
• History of Islam and History of Judaism
• Uniqueness of Jesus as the lead proponent

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Problem of Evil Defined

• P1 God is OOG
• P2 God could, should, and would eliminate all
  evil
• Conclusion There is no evil
• P3 Evil exists.
• Contradiction There is no evil and evil exists.

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POE Free Will Defense

• Deny P2 God could, should and would eliminate
  all evil
• Bruce Almighty and Jennifer Aniston
• Free Will is complicated for Theists
• Free Will is complicated for Naturalists
• Free Will is complicated.

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POE Privation of Good Defense

• Evil does not exist. It is the privation of Good
• Platos Anti-Dualism
• Good and evil have equal but opposite existence
• It is arbitrary to choose one over the other
• But we should choose Good over Evil
• Thus, Good exists in a way Evil does not

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POE Anti-Dualism hints to Theism

• Naturalist and Pantheists What are good and
  evil to you?
• Naturalist Good and evil are non-physical and
  do not exist
• No purpose in the universe, thus nothing to
  explain
• There is no evil, explanation is mere physical
  and biological determinism Dancing to DNA

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Mystery of Suffering and Theodicy of Christology

• Mystery searches for an explanation and a
  theodicy seeks to explain
• Why does God allow so much suffering?
• Not why is there evil, but why is there so much
  suffering?
• Free Will, Meaning of Love, and Worship
• Trinity Christology provide a profound
  foundation to understand love and marriage
• Aesthetics, dissonance, and worship

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Mystery of Suffering and Theodicy of Christology

• Subjective suffering and the hunger for meaning
• Jesus and Buddha

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Is it True?

• Claim to be true?
• Particularism
• Evangelism, Teaching, Coercion
• Internal Consistency
• Law of non-contradiction
• Self-refutation
• External Consistency
• Science
• History
• Existential Completeness
• Normative ethics, interpersonal ethics, and
  teleology
• Mystery of Suffering

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Last Test Counting the Costs

• Ultimate Pragmatism
• Not Does it work for me?
• Is it True?
• What is truth? Jn 1833-38
• Counting the Cost. Lk 1425-33
• Why I am a Christian