(March 14, 2015 at 12:42 pm)SnakeOilWarrior Wrote: Ok, I see the problem now. You're confused about the meaning of the word.
This should clear that up:
theism
[thee-iz-uh m]
noun
1. the belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation (distinguished from deism).
2. belief in the existence of a god or gods (opposed to atheism).
You could also add:
3. the belief in any god(s)
Theism does not mean gawd, but the belief in one (or more). If you want to continue making up your own definitions for words, there's absolutely no sense in conversing with you since we won't be using the same language.
I can never quite understand why so many people have a problem with this.
Theism is the belief in at least one god.
Add the 'a' prefix, which means 'without', and you get 'without the belief in a god'.
I guess most people use the colloquial definitions for the words 'agnostic' and 'atheism', not the formal definitions.
Drew_2013 is entering in depth conversations using colloquial definitions, when he should be using the formal ones, then wondering why he is unable to communicate coherently.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.