Love this quote by Sir Isaac Newton. Very thought provoking

“He who thinks half-heartedly will not believe in God; but he who really thinks has to believe in God.”
― Isaac Newton

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Kwek00 · 41-45, M

How is this "thought provoking"?
It either misses a bunch of context
OR It's a fallacious appeal to an authority
OR it's a quote by someone that is just flattering himself.

Axeroberts · 56-60, M

@Kwek00 when it comes from Newton I automatically think about it

Kwek00 · 41-45, M

@Axeroberts Why? Is Newton some infallible character that made it his life work to look for God? Or was he just a person that grew up in a society that was heavily religious and became famous by advancing Science?

Because it all feels like reaching for straws to me.

ElwoodBlues · M

@Kwek00 Yeah, Newton's laws of motion held up until Einstein, and he invented calculus (as did Leibniz), but Newton was wrong about light. He viewed light as classical particles and explained refraction as acceleration inside a medium such as glass. The fact is light travels as a wave that slows down inside a medium. Newton also went deeply into the occult & numerology. Super genius; not infallible.

Kwek00 · 41-45, M

@ElwoodBlues This just sounds like:

"Smart person is religious, thus God."

... to me.
The most thought provoking part of the story is, can smart people be religious. The answer is: "yes", because they are just people after all.