Why Something Rather Than Nothing?

[bennyboy]

The truest kind of knowledge is the knowledge of that which one makes up. You must not doubt datc's knowledge of God, because it is the truest kind.

How can you call yourselves atheists, if you don't even know what it is whose existence you are denying?

If you observed as much as you talked, you would note that I do not identify as an atheist, but rather as a pure agnostic. And what's this "yourselves" stuff? I don't remember collaborating on my posts in this thread.

Before you can say "God does not exist," you must at least know what the word "God" means.

Did I ever say this? Are you talking to me, or to the voices in your head?

I said that your conception of God as maximally good, and of the universe as a deliberate creation by a good god, are nonsense, because only a fool would consider our universe maximally good. I'm pretty sure I never said "God does not exist."

That God is pure actuality is a proposition so basic and so far-reaching in natural theology that anyone with the remotest acquaintance with the concept of God would recognize it instantly.

Except for almost all catholics, you mean?

Since, of course, you have no idea what "pure act" means, either, you cannot deny that God is pure act.

You cannot deny that I have an apple on my desk. Oh wait, you didn't. Why am I even talking about it? I guess I'm an idiot. (hint: there ISN'T an apple on my desk. My desk represents ThereExists[empty] for all conceivable apples, proving that God is an apple. In addition, I'd like to point out that it's obvious that Apple-god could only be maximally delicious, as it would necessarily be the motive force behind all existent apple-ness. It is the seedless self-creating Apple that nevertheless creates all apple seeds. Hmmmm. . . this religion stuff makes me hungry.)

And I am not here to babysit you.

In a maximally good universe, you would be patient and clever enough to explain your super-important and logically water-tight ideas in a way that even simple little ol' me could understand. It's almost like this universe is NOT maximally good, that there is not a God who represents the creative impulse of pure good, and you are full of shit.

Oh dear, looks like I still don't "get" it. Maybe you should throw in a couple appeals to authority or some ad homs to wisen me up? Smiley faces? Cat memes? There must be SOME way you can show me that your many assumptions and bald assertions represent more than an expression of the cognitive dissonance that you started feeling when you realized the Bible, and your religion, were based on old-wives' tales and wishful thinking.