(December 21, 2016 at 12:30 pm)Alasdair Ham Wrote: "God doesn't exist" is just shorthand for "I believe God doesn't exist" and that doesn't specify how strongly I believe it. If I believe God is 99.99999999% improbable that is still believing to an extent that God doesn't exist.
I think this is a particularly astute observation. I am interested in how the "simply lack belief" atheist will respond.
(December 21, 2016 at 12:30 pm)Alasdair Ham Wrote: ...a definition of "God" where God is outside of the universe but the universe is the totality of everything. God cannot be outside the totality of everything because that's a logical impossibility therefore that definition of God cannot exist.
I haven't heard anyone seriously offer that particular definition of God. If they did my guess is that they forgot to add a qualifier to make it clear that they were talking about the physical universe.
Nevertheless the point is well taken. Not all definitions of God are coherent. Those ideas are usually offered up by believers who are not as inclined to theology as perhaps those who contribute on AF are. Christians like me, who are theologically inclined, take it for granted that they are talking about the God of Classical Theism. And even then, I am thinking of particular aspects of the Divine, like Necessary Being, since I also believe that the fullness of the Godhead is greater than can be conceived by limited creatures.
