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RE: Christians: A Question
January 6, 2012 at 12:35 am
Alternatively I could have no belief in gods whatsoever. If I were in a church, always assuming I didn't burst into flames Dracula-style, and I declined to make an offering on the collection plate as it passes by me, have I just made a donation of nothing or just not donated?
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Christians: A Question
January 6, 2012 at 12:58 am
No stimbo. You can't. I'll direct you back to my initial response to you.
Your analogy to donations isn't equivalent to beliefs. You are forced to form beliefs about ideas by there mere introduction to your conscious. It is impossible to be aware of something without forming a belief about what that thing is, even if your only belief is "I don't know what it is" it is still a belief.
Anyways, no donation and a donation of nothing are logically equivalent. One is "I gave nothing" the other is "I didn't give anything". Nothing and anything are antonyms. The statement mean the same thing.
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RE: Christians: A Question
January 6, 2012 at 1:21 am
Explain how my statement commits the straw man fallacy.
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RE: Christians: A Question
January 6, 2012 at 1:27 am
(This post was last modified: January 6, 2012 at 1:28 am by Cyberman.)
(January 6, 2012 at 12:58 am)amkerman Wrote:
As I said in another place, I have never watched Firefly although in this case I know it exists. It's not that I deliberately make a point of not watching it, I've just never seen it. I am aware of it, I have seen for myself evidence that such a thing exists. If someone were to tell me of a gritty reboot of the old Lost In Space series, starring the original cast, I would now be aware of the concept. My beliefs about it being real would depend on whether I find corroborating evidence or if indeed the only reference I have is that person telling me about it. In effect, the reality of the claim is deemed not guilty until something causes me to change my verdict.
And I'll thank you to capitalise my name from now on.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Christians: A Question
January 6, 2012 at 1:29 am
What was that loud whooshing sound?
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RE: Christians: A Question
January 6, 2012 at 1:50 am
No one has claimed straw man. You refuse because the fallacy is not there dreaming.
Stimbo: you "know" fireflies exist? Yet you have never seen them. I have never seen Bigfoot, but I have seen evidence of it's existence. Does that make it real in your opinion? I would doubt you want to take your line of argument to that extreme, but that extreme is the logical conclusion.
The fact that someone told you that a gritty remake of lost in space starring the original cast would make you aware of it. Yes. Given no other evidence you are still forced to believe in the possibility of that reality simply because you are aware of the idea. The idea is true regardless of the statements validity. Whether or not the remake was real would have nothing to do with your believing, disbelieving, or being unsure of the statements truth. The statements validity is true or not regardless of your belief, and regardless of whether or not you spent your entire life searching for corroborating evidence to verify the statement. You could in fact spend your every waking moment searching for evidence of the remake and find nothing. That would not mean that the statement was false and that such a remake did not exist. The only thing you could be certain of in that case is that you found no corroborating evidence besides the initial statement.
Reality is not dictated by beliefs. Things exist or don't regardless of whether we believe in them, and regardless of whether or not we are even aware of them. If you had never heard of and were never in anyway introduced to the idea of fireflies they would still exist.
