dakane

Luke, I've thought about related issues some. I don't think I can resolve the issue but can comment on how I see it. I am convinced that us mortals do not know anything with certainty. Any information we can obtain about the world is filtered through our flawed senses and reasoning. Anything we think we know could turn out to be wrong. That said, flawed knowledge can get us somewhere. All of humanity's knowledge about physics cannot satisfactorily explain how the strong force - which holds together atomic nuclei - works. Am I satisfied with that? Not at all. I really wish we knew better. But that flawed knowledge about physics, and the approximate models based on it allow us to understand things well enough to make useful semiconductor devices, for example. Now, with regards to the critical issues you bring up, maybe you've already come to a similar conclusion but I feel that God exists and is honest/benevolent/etc because I feel the Holy Ghost tell me that's the case. Could the Holy Ghost really be an expression of my own emotions, or otherwise totally wrong? I can't totally rule it out and that does bug me. I accept the existence of God (and by extension that He doesn't lie) not because I can know it in absolute terms, but rather in probabilistic ones. If someone can know more certainly than that I'd love to know how as well!