Admitting You're a Sinner

[Astreja]

... I see no way to have a "natural" connection to a fictional being.

Neither do I.

And from an early age (6-7), despite reading the Bible, I was never able to develop any sort of connection to the god described therein.  It has been fictional in my eyes for over 50 years so far, despite many mortals' attempts to convince me that it was real.

I do not expect this situation to change in the remaining decades of my life.

[The Grand Nudger]

Yeah, but have you heard -his- brilliant pitch, yet?  It's not total shit like all the rest of those assholes sad routines were. 

Should you tell them all about your good words, or should I, Banned?

The first thing you need to know, Astreja..is that there's a massive global conspiracy, people on these very boards working in league with the forces of evil.......
(the pay is shit but the benes are out-of-this world good)

[Astreja]

Yeah, but have you heard -his- brilliant pitch, yet?

I've probably heard a similar pitch from someone, somewhere along the line.  I do find it amusing that every new believer seems to think that they will be the one to finally crack our stony, rebellious hearts and bring us to whatever the fuck they believe.  Pretentious, arrogant gits, the lot of 'em.

The first thing you need to know, Astreja..is that there's a massive global conspiracy, people on these very boards working in league with the forces of evil.......

(hides attack codes for Black Helicopter Strike Force under keyboard)  Shh!  

[Banned]

Neither do I.

And from an early age (6-7), despite reading the Bible, I was never able to develop any sort of connection to the god described therein.  It has been fictional in my eyes for over 50 years so far, despite many mortals' attempts to convince me that it was real.

I do not expect this situation to change in the remaining decades of my life.

I appreciate that.

[Fake Messiah]

[vulcanlogician]

---

https://youtu.be/l9bX5mzdihs

[Whateverist]

Even if that were true it doesn't necessarily mean they choose not to believe.

I rather take people at their word and appreciate when they do the same for me. If someone tells me they don't believe God exists, I take it at face value. No reason for me to assume I can read their mind and tell them what they really think.

Well they don't choose to believe or not believe, they just try to avoid the conclusion of the matter, which can only fall to the side of truth. And we all do it with some issues that may confront us.

Does your certainty regarding the assertions you make regarding the capacities and intentions of others ever fail you?  Or do you think your leap of faith in believing in an omni-secret friend automatically makes everything coming out of your mouth sacred?  Had to erase the one rep you'd received for being such an unrepentant moron.

[KevinM1]

Banned, like I said earlier (I don't remember if it was in this thread or a different one), there are different types of atheism, and an individual atheist can be a different one depending on the context of the situation.

My base level is agnostic atheist.  I'm open to the possibility of some godlike thing existing, but lacking proof of one, I don't believe this hypothetical thing actually exists.

Regarding the gods I've encountered on earth, I'm a gnostic/strong atheist.  I'm entirely convinced they're nothing more than myths given how self-contradictory and absurd they are.

I'm also an apatheist.  I really don't care about gods.  They don't impact my daily life.  I only visit here to  take a mental break from living in a society that assumes god is real as a default setting.

Forgot to put this down the last time I wrote this, but I also lean ignostic... I'm not entirely sure what a god would actually be.  Attempts to define one are wanting at best.

Unlike religion, there's no incompatibility between these different aspects of atheism.  I understand that denominations tend to be a line in the sand for you guys, but atheism doesn't really work the same way.  Moreover, these terms are all well defined.  Talk to (and, more importantly, listen to) any atheist and they'll use the same words to refer to the same thing.

So, no, we're not playing games to deny a god we know exists.  We don't think there's any such creature out there, and the level of certainty of that disbelief changes depending on the god in question.

[Whateverist]

Banned, like I said earlier (I don't remember if it was in this thread or a different one), there are different types of atheism, and an individual atheist can be a different one depending on the context of the situation.

My base level is agnostic atheist.  I'm open to the possibility of some godlike thing existing, but lacking proof of one, I don't believe this hypothetical thing actually exists.

Regarding the gods I've encountered on earth, I'm a gnostic/strong atheist.  I'm entirely convinced they're nothing more than myths given how self-contradictory and absurd they are.

I'm also an apatheist.  I really don't care about gods.  They don't impact my daily life.  I only visit here to  take a mental break from living in a society that assumes god is real as a default setting.

Forgot to put this down the last time I wrote this, but I also lean ignostic... I'm not entirely sure what a god would actually be.  Attempts to define one are wanting at best.

Unlike religion, there's no incompatibility between these different aspects of atheism.  I understand that denominations tend to be a line in the sand for you guys, but atheism doesn't really work the same way.  Moreover, these terms are all well defined.  Talk to (and, more importantly, listen to) any atheist and they'll use the same words to refer to the same thing.

So, no, we're not playing games to deny a god we know exists.  We don't think there's any such creature out there, and the level of certainty of that disbelief changes depending on the god in question.

Ditto all of the above.  I'd only add that my agnosticism amounts to a disposition to recognize and accept whatever is true even if that surprises me.  The existence of the kind of god in which ShouldBeBanned believes would certainly surprise and greatly disappoint me, but I'd deal with it.  But this is purely hypothetical, we may as well be talking about the return of Sauron.  This is silly stuff and something I never lose sleep over.

[The Grand Nudger]

Whereas my gnosticism is based on the simple fact that I am not required to plumb the entire universe for novel godlike things in order to confidently state that no one is staring over your shoulder..watching you piss...making sure you don't shake it enough times to count as masturbation.

In my experience (and opinion), much "agnosticism" is predicate on the social or subconscious proposition that to say that gods do not exist is somehow a relatively difficult claim to demonstrate, or impossible to demonstrate. That it's "heavy". It isn't, that's just what the religious have been bleating for centuries, is all. Undue deference of concept.

I know that there are no gods as much and for the same reasons that I know the sun will rise tommorrow, or that there are five digits on my hand. If these things do not count as knowledge, then nothing does, and the terms gnosticism and agnosticism have no sensible referent.