RE: Gnostic Atheism? WTF?
June 12, 2014 at 10:22 am
(This post was last modified: June 12, 2014 at 10:45 am by The Grand Nudger.)
"Just imagine all the chairs in all the rooms everywhere that you can't see right now. You can't know that 50% aren't floating in thin air, eating a banana split, listening to Bob Marley.......right now. Hence, gnostic atheism is irrational."
The position that I know that gods do not exist is generated by the same means to the same measure of certainty as any other piece of "knowledge" I have. I passes the same test as whether or not the sun will rise tommorrow, whether the light switch will operate the ceiling fan, and whether or not I'm a fucking sasquatch. Closes the book for me.
I've yet to see a truly unfalsifiable god claim btw, I've mused on this before. I think that human beings are hamstrung when it comes to imagining truly unfalsifiable things. We have little experience of them (for whatever reason..if there's even a "them" to begin with)-and much experience of the falsifiable and so find them difficult to conceive of at a basic level.
The claim, for example that -god is ..insert attempted description of the unfalsifiable here-....is internally inconsistent in any case. If you simply cannot know, no way to tell, then hasn't the claimant has offered up a contradicting claim while laying down their gibberish? How could they possibly claim any descriptor of what they claim to be utterly unfalsifiable - including that it is indeed unfalsifiable? As an attempt to "balance out the ignorance" it betrays the premise literally -as- it is laid down, seems to me anyway. Just jumping the gun and invoking revelation as a means of aqcuring the knowledge we're still at a loss. Unfortunately, implied in the "unfalsifiable premise" is the notion that I cannot trust my experience in any case. I can think of no better way to describe revelation...other than "an experience".
(standard response to solipsism in all of it's forms really)
The position that I know that gods do not exist is generated by the same means to the same measure of certainty as any other piece of "knowledge" I have. I passes the same test as whether or not the sun will rise tommorrow, whether the light switch will operate the ceiling fan, and whether or not I'm a fucking sasquatch. Closes the book for me.
I've yet to see a truly unfalsifiable god claim btw, I've mused on this before. I think that human beings are hamstrung when it comes to imagining truly unfalsifiable things. We have little experience of them (for whatever reason..if there's even a "them" to begin with)-and much experience of the falsifiable and so find them difficult to conceive of at a basic level.
The claim, for example that -god is ..insert attempted description of the unfalsifiable here-....is internally inconsistent in any case. If you simply cannot know, no way to tell, then hasn't the claimant has offered up a contradicting claim while laying down their gibberish? How could they possibly claim any descriptor of what they claim to be utterly unfalsifiable - including that it is indeed unfalsifiable? As an attempt to "balance out the ignorance" it betrays the premise literally -as- it is laid down, seems to me anyway. Just jumping the gun and invoking revelation as a means of aqcuring the knowledge we're still at a loss. Unfortunately, implied in the "unfalsifiable premise" is the notion that I cannot trust my experience in any case. I can think of no better way to describe revelation...other than "an experience".
(standard response to solipsism in all of it's forms really)
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
