Personal relationships with deities

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Respectfully, I'm perfectly comfortable with thinking the world is flat (to use the analogy) until we have scientific evidence to the contrary. Otherwise, if we go off the imagination of people who have "revelations about God" (and through that, the "nature of the universe"), then we wind up with "turtles all the way down".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down

[jenny1972]

Jenny: Most people define god as being outside our reality to account for the fact that it's nowhere to be found. Can you define "god" in a way that I can distinguish from nothing or a figment of people's imagination?

It's a bad analogy to compare atheism to the belief the earth is flat, because atheism isn't by default a belief. It's a lack of belief. I explain this in detail on my website here If anything it should be compared to people who wouldn't commit to saying the earth was flat, nor that it was anything else, and were awaiting further evidence.

Some atheists choose to make their own claims of positive belief or knowledge, but it's not a requirement.

Jenny's sister: I'm not sure how much was sarcasm, what are you here to save us from? Or was that banter?

i have come across some atheists who consider themselves to be 'gnostic athiests' who believe they know that God does not exist and believe they have it all figured out , and there are some atheists who are more open minded to the possibility that God could exist they just have yet to be convinced . the first type may not even be convinced if science did prove God exists or even proof from God if they are aggressively against the concept of God .

---

yes as science and history prove discovery is ongoing and constantly evolving

And yet, with all that ongoing searching and discovery all we've ever found are naturalistic explations fo things that used to be seen as acts of gawd(s). Never any supporting evidencee for any gawd claims.

Hmmmmm. Wonder why that is?

because measuring thoughts and detecting God with technology is not possible yet

[Ravenshire]

Jenny: Most people define god as being outside our reality to account for the fact that it's nowhere to be found. Can you define "god" in a way that I can distinguish from nothing or a figment of people's imagination?

It's a bad analogy to compare atheism to the belief the earth is flat, because atheism isn't by default a belief. It's a lack of belief. I explain this in detail on my website here If anything it should be compared to people who wouldn't commit to saying the earth was flat, nor that it was anything else, and were awaiting further evidence.

Some atheists choose to make their own claims of positive belief or knowledge, but it's not a requirement.

Jenny's sister: I'm not sure how much was sarcasm, what are you here to save us from? Or was that banter?

i have come across some atheists who consider themselves to be 'gnostic athiests' who believe they know that God does not exist and believe they have it all figured out , and there are some atheists who are more open minded to the possibility that God could exist they just have yet to be convinced . the first type may not even be convinced if science did prove God exists or even proof from God if they are aggressively against the concept of God .

Well, good for you. The majority, however, doesn't make the claim that there are no gawds. We just lack the belief, mostly because we've never seen convincing evidence or heard convincing arguments. If you would like to present some, we'd like to see/hear it. Beware though, if you start pulling out the some tired old debunked bullshit all your predecessors brought to the table, you'll probably get ridiculed for it.

[Ravenshire]

Jenny: Most people define god as being outside our reality to account for the fact that it's nowhere to be found. Can you define "god" in a way that I can distinguish from nothing or a figment of people's imagination?

It's a bad analogy to compare atheism to the belief the earth is flat, because atheism isn't by default a belief. It's a lack of belief. I explain this in detail on my website here If anything it should be compared to people who wouldn't commit to saying the earth was flat, nor that it was anything else, and were awaiting further evidence.

Some atheists choose to make their own claims of positive belief or knowledge, but it's not a requirement.

Jenny's sister: I'm not sure how much was sarcasm, what are you here to save us from? Or was that banter?

i have come across some atheists who consider themselves to be 'gnostic athiests' who believe they know that God does not exist and believe they have it all figured out , and there are some atheists who are more open minded to the possibility that God could exist they just have yet to be convinced . the first type may not even be convinced if science did prove God exists or even proof from God if they are aggressively against the concept of God .

---

And yet, with all that ongoing searching and discovery all we've ever found are naturalistic explations fo things that used to be seen as acts of gawd(s). Never any supporting evidencee for any gawd claims.

Hmmmmm. Wonder why that is?

because measuring thoughts and detecting God with technology is not possible yet

My bullshit detector sure is going off though.

[jenny1972]

i have come across some atheists who consider themselves to be 'gnostic athiests' who believe they know that God does not exist and believe they have it all figured out , and there are some atheists who are more open minded to the possibility that God could exist they just have yet to be convinced . the first type may not even be convinced if science did prove God exists or even proof from God if they are aggressively against the concept of God .

Well, good for you. The majority, however, doesn't make the claim that there are no gawds. We just lack the belief, mostly because we've never seen convincing evidence or heard convincing arguments. If you would like to present some, we'd like to see/hear it. Beware though, if you start pulling out the some tired old debunked bullshit all your predecessors brought to the table, you'll probably get ridiculed for it.

i think the only convincing evidence could come from God or science and then only if the atheist is the more openminded type who is not convinced they know everything and rejects the idea of new discovery .

[Edwardo Piet]

Respectfully, I'm perfectly comfortable with thinking the world is flat (to use the analogy) until we have scientific evidence to the contrary. Otherwise, if we go off the imagination of people who have "revelations about God" (and through that, the "nature of the universe"), then we wind up with "turtles all the way down".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down

Is this post about me? No calling out! It's in the rules!

(Lol I iz best turtle).

[Esquilax]

And yet, with all that ongoing searching and discovery all we've ever found are naturalistic explations fo things that used to be seen as acts of gawd(s). Never any supporting evidencee for any gawd claims.

Hmmmmm. Wonder why that is?

because measuring thoughts and detecting God with technology is not possible yet

Well, if you can't detect god in any objective sense then that's kind of the end of the idea of rationally believing in one.

"Cannot meet the burden of proof," is not the same thing as "does not need to meet the burden of proof," and I'm really very perplexed at how many religious people want to secretly substitute the former with the latter.

[drfuzzy]

Well, good for you. The majority, however, doesn't make the claim that there are no gawds. We just lack the belief, mostly because we've never seen convincing evidence or heard convincing arguments. If you would like to present some, we'd like to see/hear it. Beware though, if you start pulling out the some tired old debunked bullshit all your predecessors brought to the table, you'll probably get ridiculed for it.

i think the only convincing evidence could come from God or science and then only if the atheist is the more openminded type who is not convinced they know everything and rejects the idea of new discovery .

I've yet to meet an atheist who isn't thrilled and intrigued with new scientific discovery.  Actually having god prove himself to the scientific community would be fascinating - and world changing.  But until that happens, I tend to think that proving that vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and leprechauns actually exist is more likely.

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Respectfully, I'm perfectly comfortable with thinking the world is flat (to use the analogy) until we have scientific evidence to the contrary. Otherwise, if we go off the imagination of people who have "revelations about God" (and through that, the "nature of the universe"), then we wind up with "turtles all the way down".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down

Is this post about me? No calling out! It's in the rules!

(Lol I iz best turtle).

You = best turtle. All other turtles are beneath you, all the way down.

[TheRocketSurgeon]

i think the only convincing evidence could come from God or science and then only if the atheist is the more openminded type who is not convinced they know everything and rejects the idea of new discovery .

With all due respect, I think you have swallowed a lot of anti-atheist propaganda that is pushed constantly by the people who have an investment in organized religion (preachers, pundits, and adherents), and recognize the threat that questioners and skeptics like us represent.

If you really get to know us, you'll find that we're holding our breath every day, eagerly awaiting and consuming every new discovery. Rather than thinking we "know everything", we are the ones who must constantly explain what the principles of science and what constitutes real evidence to those who DO think they know everything. Indeed, if you keep watching, here, you'll see how often we get Creationists here who tell us that since we openly admit we don't know everything, we must not be able to know anything about the world.

I have been an agnostic atheist for 17 years, now, and a semi-agnostic for five before that. In all that time, I don't think I've ever met a single atheist who says he knows everything. Yet I hear that accusation weekly from the devout, which tells me that it is being promulgated by the groups I listed, above. It simply isn't how 99.9% of us think.

I hope you are the type who is honest enough to throw away your preconceptions and learn from us who we really are.