(May 12, 2010 at 4:27 pm)Scented Nectar Wrote: I'll bite, show me your measurements. I expect objective ones by the way, since that's what Einstein used and what you are comparing godproof to.Did you completely ignore that I said my observations and measurements were subjective? Are you just blanking out certain words so you can demand empirical evidence for non-empirically provable of me? No wonder you're Atheist.
Quote:Your response to the sexy woman in bed not really being there, was to talk about how people act when they deny God's existence. The biggie that comes to mind is that they may respond differently than how a godbelieving society/family expects of them regarding religious issues such as church attendance, praying, teaching one's children to believe, etc. I was too narrow though, and would like to ask now, how one's reaction to not believing in a thing change the fact of whether the thing is real or not?
It doesn't have any baring on whether the thing is real or not. However, presupposing God's existence allows us to make certain predictions about human nature. Soceity's impact on this is irrelevant.
A demonstration:
-If God, then X.
-If Relativity, then black holes.
Quote:No, the world is the world. And my cat is my cat. And the lunch I ate was a lunch. Thoughts are thoughts. Beliefs are beliefs.And my belief is that the world is the world, which is God. You don't change being who you are if you put on a hat or a shirt, you simply look different than you are.
What looks like a duck and quacks like a duck is not always a duck.
Quote:Belief in the reality of the world happens when you are presented with a very real world being there for you to touch and see and perceive in a huge way. You can't believe in an invisible universe creator until two things happen, one, that being has to be perceived in some very real way,And for me, I have perceived it in a very real way. Oh, and stop saying 'invisible universe creator.' It makes you sound incredibly ignorant, because it's a misunderstanding of what God is and what He appears to be.
Quote:and two, one would have to be old enough to understand the concept that everything one's perceiving (the world/universe) could be created by that also perceived invisible god.I will state as I have stated before numerous times here; wisdom is not a gift of age. And wisdom is not a gift based on how much you managed to memorize what you were taught in school, either.
Quote:was not was too was not was too was not ...Quote:It wasn't a choice.It was.
Quote:Lol Glad you caught on to where this would have gone...we can stop now.Which in my book is through belief.
[quote]The world's existence only becomes the default once it is perceived in some way.
Quote:When does your god make itself known to us humans?All the time, every time, throughout the world and throughout life. It is up to us to perceive and recognize it as such.
Quote:We are not talking about the world, which I think we can all agree is perceivable, but of your invisible god.Yes, we all agree the world is perceivable; I am simply stating that, based on what I understand of God's nature, 'the world' and 'God' are synonymous words.
Quote:That's fair about my beliefs, I could be making it up or delusional. From your view, it must be considered anecdotal. As to predicting, I would like to suggest that that means you can't state as a fact godbelief is instinctual, even if you believe that it was for you.Exactly. I can't state as a fact, I can only state as a belief. My point is that there are no true 'facts.'
Quote:I put stock into tons of stuff, all completely without using faith. Do you know the actual definition of the word faith?I know the definition of the word faith; I have faith, of course I know its definition. I simply find its real definition and nature to be, more than likely, contradictory to the dictionary one. I find the dictionary definitions of real life things are usually inaccurate.
Quote:No, why would you think that? I've probably had either an average or even better than average 'early age' than most people in the world. I was just simply never someone who blindly believed others.This is true of me, as well.
Quote:I have always trusted facts and my real perceptions over things people tell me.I also trust my real perceptions, just as you do; I trust my emotioal responses and my senses to give me enough information to come to logical conclusions.
Quote:What puzzled me about the believers when I was a kid, was that they weren't usually wrong about things, yet they seemed to really believe this god stuff even though there were a bunch of holes in the story and the god was completely unperceivable, can't see him, hear him, etc.So you were angry that they propogated something which you could not understand as real instead of imaginary? I understand that, it's a reasonable enough mode of thinking. However, I think you learned from the wrong people; the God I'm aware of can be seen, heard, touched, tasted and perceived in every conceivable way. You just have to recognize what you are perceiving as such, and believe in your own feelings about said perception.
Quote:Yeah, yeah, I know in your imagination you can hear him, but let's not go there.See above.
Quote:Yikes, someone get this person a dictionary. It's the only humane thing to do people. Dial 911 on your phone. This is an emergency. Subjective personal stuff is not evidence. And faith is belief WITHOUT evidence. That's pretty much the whole point of the word.Yes, subjective personal stuff is evidence; it's subjective, personal evidence. It proves to the subjective mind that the objective idea is there, and must be learned ona subjective basis. That is why it is subjective in the first place.
And again, screw dictionary definitions. They aren't always accurate.
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Quote:There is no such thing as 'personal' evidence.There is no way of seperating the subjective perception from the objective reality. Thus, personal evidence is the only evidence that can really count to a subjective human being with a limited, human perspective.
That is a euphemism for wishful thinking and delusional thoughts.
Quote:I watched Bill Maher's documentary called "religulous" and a chap thought that because it started to rain the moment he wsihed it rained, that God exists and that was evidence!That is not the kind of evidence I am talking about, in the first place. I've watched Religulous, too, it doesn't make you any smarter or better than me.
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(May 12, 2010 at 10:35 pm)Samson Wrote: I'll accept that personally as an answer, but then it brings up another question of morality of those before a Judean type sect. In other words, the civilizations throughout our history that had moral teachings, in which, were considerably older than any type of "Judean, Christian, Islamic, sect....Almost the same type of teachings at that, and then some.....??And that's what I am attempting to point out; these lessons recorded in the Bible, these natural 'Laws of Human Nature' are observable and learnable in the real world, so that lots of religions predating Christianity had already observed them, as well.

Quote:Live and learn lessons I get.....But again, the above sentence I put forth still comes to play and why you would label/follow to a "Christian" backing...I find the Christian Bible and beliefs to be the most inclusive and knowledgable when it comes to those lessons on the 'Laws of Human Nature', as I called them above.
Quote:I believe you to be smart enough to acknowledge that this answer is nothing more than a "Goddidit" type responseThank you for believing me to be smart; I believe I am, too. xP
We all have had crazy experiences throughout our lives in which are unexplained. Hell, the so called, "Dejavu" is an interesting phenomenon...But as a rational thinker, I still do not believe the "Theist Approach" is the answers to questions unanswered. (And for many reasons)....
The experiences I am refering to, however, are not simply 'Goddidit' answers at all; they are honest observations of phenomena that I have experiened and found to be compatable with the exstence of God, if not, indicative of such a conclusion.
Quote:And everything you stated in the above response, is exactly what formed a "Theist Approach" instead of trying to identify the trials and reasons for behavioral thinking.As I said, my approach is to observe humanity and honestly look at it in comparison to God and my understanding of Him; it something doesn't fit or make sense, I attempt to find a better conclusion than the one I have come to before.
Quote:No, you believing in God and putting "IT" in "YOUR" world, is what makes sense in a world of "your"-reality, but, no more, no less.The world I observe is what is true and honest and perceivable; it is the same one you live in. I believe in that world without any subjective proof that it exists, only trusting my senses and their ability to give me an accurate depiction of the world around me.(Although, ironically, I'm color blind.)
I could state the same with any written down "God". It still does not make it true or evidential.
God, as I understand Him, matches the observations I have made about the real world.
Quote:By your definition of "Jesus", you could say the same for every other "Preacher/Priest" out there....And I do. I am a son of God, just like every single man on Earth is a son of God, just like Jesus was a son of God. The difference between Jesus and I is that Jesus was gifted with bein completely in-tune with God, which made him God's protege; the progidal son of God.
Quote:Or for that matter, what about Confucius or Buddha? You can say they were the "Son's of God", but would you say they were "His" protege as well...??Confucius was simply a man who taught of life the way he thought it needed to be lived. He, like me, made observations about the world and taught about them to the best of his ability. He was not, however, gifted by God with the same closeness that Jesus was. No, he was not God's protege; he was just another son of God.
Buddha is debatable; Buddhism's beliefs are an observation of the world, just like Christianity's beliefs are an observation of the world. I believe the teachings of Jesus Christ match up with God's far more than the teachings of the Buddha.
Quote:If so, then your labeling of yourself as a "Theist" would be a bit different....I am a theist; Christianity is a branch of theism, one I find to be more precisely in-tune with God's truth and the observations I have made about the world.
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Quote:Lack of belief isn't a choice.No, lack of belief is not a choice. Possessing belief or not, however, is.
Quote:If I said I believed in god I would be lying to you and myself, because it wouldn't be true.This is where we differ on opinions; I believe that God is a part of you, so to claim thatyou do not believe in God is a lie to you and I; from MY point of view, at least.
Quote:People don't choose to not believe in something, they simply don't believe it. Also it isn't denial. It's rejection/dismissal. You say there is a god, I'm saying I don't believe you.You say you don't believe me, which is a denial of belief; you are denying that you believe, I am proposing that you do.
Quote:So either you fail to understand this or you refuse to accept it.I refuse to accept it because it is not what I have found to be the truth.