RE: Proof that God exists
January 15, 2018 at 10:18 pm
(This post was last modified: January 15, 2018 at 10:31 pm by Agnosty.)
(January 15, 2018 at 8:45 pm)Simon Moon Wrote:*** dark matter *** <---- Pay attention. The evidence so far suggests dark matter is not baryonic, which is an entirely new concept of matter. I have absolutely no clue how that kind of matter could be conceptualized since it can have no charge (ie no electron or protons). Do you believe it exists? Science says it does.(January 15, 2018 at 7:51 pm)Agnosty Wrote: Paraphrasing: Conceptions of matter that have not been presented are of no concern to me . And are ultimately as baseless as matter that have been presented to me. Therefore you don't believe in dark matter because no one has any idea what it is.False analogy. We know matter exists, it can demonstrated. It manifests in reality.
Sigh
Quote:Gods, not so much. We have drastically insufficient evidence to support any god claim that has been presented. If someone wants to present a new god claim, and support it with evidence and reasoned argument, we will listen and evaluate the claim.
I don't believe you and I have evidence to support my belief (this thread).
Quote:All supernatural existential claims are drastically unsupported by demonstrable evidence and reasoned argument. Whether it be fairies or gods.Prove your statement; I don't believe it.
Quote:Quote:Awfully presumptuous and a bit arrogant to say evidence for god does not exist. All you can say is that evidence has not yet been presented to you. Or you could say that evidence has been presented, but you refused to see it as evidence. But to say it does not exist... that's illogical.
I actually agree with this, somewhat.
But fact is, most of us here are quite aware of all the 'evidence' provided by theists,
How can you claim to be aware of ALL the evidence?
Quote:and it just does not hold up to proper application of critical thinking and scrutiny.Yeah the "TL;DR" was an excellent display of scrutiny.
Quote:The proof? The vast majority of theists do not accept other supernatural god claims that are not part of their theistic beliefs.What others choose to believe has no bearing on absolute truth.
Quote:Atheism is nothing more than NOT being convinced of theistic claims. How is that a belief?I'm NOT convinced there are pots of gold at the ends of rainbows, therefore I believe there are no pots of gold at the ends of rainbows.
Quote:Even if we can't show you how conscious comes from the unconscious, that would not give credence to god claims.
Never said it would. I just asked what the basis for the atheist belief is if there is no understanding of how life can come from nonlife. If you have no idea how it happened, then why believe it can happen?
Quote:My hypothesis is that theists have not met their burden of proof. I have no justification to believe a god exists. That position for me, is a provisional one. If I was presented with demonstrable evidence and reasoned argument to support the claim that a god exists, I would no longer ba an atheist.
You're agnostic because you have no knowledge that a god exists. An atheist goes beyond simple lack of knowledge with the assertion that there are no gods. That assertion requires knowledge, evidence, rationale, something.
I don't know why atheists take nomenclature so personally; it's just a label to succinctly convey information about an ideology. Why does it matter if the label is spelled a+t+h+e+i+s+t or a+g+n+o+s+t+i+c???
fehjgsef = person who believes gods exist
fhadjkbb = person who doesn't believe anything
jgbrjebt = person who believes no gods exist.
Pick one. Why does it matter how it's spelled? Why contort atheism to mean agnosticism?
Quote:Theism is the belief in a god or gods
Agnosticism is the position that the existence of god(s) is currently unknown, and possible unlnowable
Atheism is the lack of belief in god(s)
The position that the existence of god(s) is currently unknown = lack of belief. So atheism = agnosticism. Now what is the word for people who believe no gods exist?
Quote:No proof is necessary for the last one. Agnosticism and atheism are NOT mutually exclusive positions. Most atheists are also agnostic.
Needless and senseless contortion of terms to further ambiguity.
Categorical definitions must be mutually exclusive.
Cats
Dogs
Birds
We don't have half-cats or a smear of definitions.
Quote:All that is necessary to disbelieve a god is responsible for life (or the existence of the universe), is to NOT be presented with demonstrable evidence to support the claim that a god is responsible.
If you come home to find a window broken and the pieces arranged spelling the word "jerk", then do you have a reason to believe *some ONE* is responsible? Why would you? There is no demonstrable evidence supporting the claim that a living being was responsible. All you have is conjecture. Life coming from nonlife is at least as remarkable, yet you choose to not suspect someone was responsible. What you choose to believe is your preference.
Quote:The position that life arose from natural processes, and the position that a god is responsible for life, are not on equal footing. We know that nature exists. We don't know that gods exist. You are the one that is adding an unnecessary entity to the equation.How do you know that nature is not alive? Because some aspect of nature, say, a rock, does not seem to be alive? Is your hair alive? Hit it with a hammer, does it say ouch? Hair is part of you and rocks are part of nature and the whole thing is alive. How do you know that is not so?
Quote:Whatever you choose to call it, that statement is as far as anyone can logically go.Quote:At best you could say "I have no seen evidence of a god nor any rationale that sways me to suspect there is a god, but I cannot say for sure there is no god." To go beyond that is a religion.
Congratulations for defining agnostic atheism (somewhat) correctly.
Quote:I do understand it. It's senseless and needless contortion of terms, apparently, for the purpose of engineering ambiguity within the context of an argument in order to gain some advantage in lieu of rationale. I understand perfectly.(January 15, 2018 at 8:20 pm)Agnosty Wrote: Yawn. Heard that a million times.Then why don't you understand it?
Quote:Atheism - disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beingsDisbelief in gods is the belief that there are no gods.
Quote:Notice the definition for agnostic does not mention belief or disbelief, only knowledge.
So the atheist has no knowledge? Exactly. It's belief.
Quote:Also notice that the definition for atheism only mentions disbelief, not knowledge.
What does it mean to not-believe? I not-believe you can answer that clearly.
Quote:I do not claim to know, with absolute certainty, that gods do not exist. This defines me as agnostic.You do not believe gods exist which means you believe gods do not exist. It's a belief.
I also happen not to believe that any gods exist. This defines me as an atheist.
Quote:Byt the way, you can have 2 words mean the same thing. They are called "synonyms". There are entire books and websites dedicated to them. They are called "thesaurus". But in this case, they don't mean the same thing.Yes, my bad. I should have said "category" instead of "word".
(January 15, 2018 at 9:39 pm)Simon Moon Wrote:(January 15, 2018 at 8:20 pm)Agnosty Wrote: I don't know what to believe and I believe that is by design
Sorry, but belief is a binary mental state.
Either one accepts a premise or proposition as being true, or they don't accept the premise or proposition as being true. There is no middle ground between belief and disbelief.
Theists actively accept the proposition that at least one god exists, as being true (belief).
If one does not accept that proposition as being true (disbelief), they are an atheist, whether they use the label of not.
It's your prerogative to define me by your contrivances, but I reject all labels except the arbitrary one that means I do not know what to believe and that I believe not knowing what to believe is by design. The purpose of life is to be put in a position of not knowing because knowing everything is hell. Life is a game of learning, but never being able to know everything. Life is for 'good' to be always in the process of winning, but never won. Good cannot exist without evil, but the illusion that it can is the game.