RE: I have some questions for the posters here.
June 23, 2021 at 11:09 am
(This post was last modified: June 23, 2021 at 11:18 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(June 23, 2021 at 10:45 am)Frank Apisa Wrote:-and if someone expressed incredulity at this statement, stating that you couldn't possibly know that....? You'd have questions, wouldn't you? That's where we're at, I believe. There are atheists and theists and agnostics alike who all contend that the existence of these things is at least in principle a knowable quantity. You can hear them explain why they know something, or make a claim to that knowledge, and at leat understand why they'd insist as much even if you don;t agree with them on the specific contents of that set. A born again christian might say that god's existence is knowable in a revelatory experience. An atheist might suggest that they got that experience wrong - but this..too, is a claim about an allegedly knowable thing.
(June 22, 2021 at 9:35 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Why do you think there's no way of knowing that there are no gods?
I do not "think" there is no way of knowing that there are no gods...I KNOW there is no way of knowing it.
Quote:Okay, I sorta agree, in part. Anyone who says "It is impossible to know if any gods exist" is way over the line. There is no way for anyone to KNOW that it is impossible to know if any gods exist. If any exist, it is at least possible it has a way of verifying its existence.I notice that there are no theistic creator gods in the world, the thing you're asking about..ostensibly. It's a pretty routine process. I state that I know my name in the same way and for the same reasons. To me, the idea that we can't know whether or not there's a personal and intervening god which created the world is as absurd as the claim that I couldn't know my own name. Which is why I ask people who believe as much to explain it, rather than assert it.
BUT...and this is a huge BUT...I can say without equivocation that IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE NO GODS.
Think about it. How can one possibly verify that there are NO GODS.?
Case in point, I asked you -why- you couldn't know whether gods existed, and you merely reasserted the initial claim. Do you know why...is there any reason at all, or is it just something you've heard said, or some bit of knowledge you don't possess, or some unspoken limit of your own epistemology? Sort of has to start there. There must be some place where you and I diverge so that each of us, genuinely apprehending the same world in a rational and coherent way, reach wildly disparate conclusions.
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!