Terms and Questions to Ponder

I sometimes feel as though my novel definitions clearly explain what I’m discussing, but I do realize it may be important to simply list and define. I will also list some words I will mention in future posts. So here goes:

Religious Pluralism: (rel. comparative religion) is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of different religions.
General Revelation: refers to the general truths that can be known at all times by all people about God through nature.
Special Revelation: how God has chosen to reveal Himself through miraculous means. Special revelation includes physical appearances of God, dreams, visions, the written Word of God, and most importantly – Jesus Christ.
Eternal: Being without beginning or end; existing outside of time. Often referred to as God.
Sacred Text/writing/scripture: writing that is venerated for the worship of a deity. Examples include The Bible and The Koran.
Fideism: Reliance on having blind belief alone rather than scientific reasoning or philosophy in questions of religion.
Skepticism: doubts are raised against certain beliefs or types of beliefs because the evidence for the particular belief or type of belief is weak or lacking.

I would also like to bring up some questions for discussion and get your thoughts on these issues before I get into explaining them.

1.) Is it possible to prove the existence of God without the use of the Bible? Why have traditional proofs for the existence of God failed?
a. Traditional arguments include the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, and the ontological argument.
2.) Are there rational reasons to not believe in God? Is unbelief a sin? Are we expected to believe in God? If we are expected to believe in God then we must be able to know God, how?
3.) Is faith enough to believe in God? Why or why not?
4.) Why is reason important when proving the existence of God?

Some questions to ask yourself:

1.) What is your most basic belief?
2.) How do you define God?
3.) Do you think the study of philosophy of religion is important? Why, or why not?