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Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
reply to post by spinechilling
God is contingent as Benevolent Heretic explained and there is no evidence to suggest that any god(s) exist.
Originally posted by ka119
Agreed. We, as human beings, need to have an answer to everything. It scares us when we dont, we hate the fact that there still may be some unknown out there, hence the perfect, impervious answer. God.
Originally posted by spinechilling
If people were to have invented the God of Christianity, it is unlikely that it would be the demanding God of the Bible.
Originally posted by eight bits
Not being a moron, she will see that a "belief" which she dumped as soon as she had the physical ability to do so cannot possibly be "indistinguishable" from a belief that she has retained, or remained open about, as have most of the people whom she knows. She has, in fact, distinguished the two "beliefs" by discarding the one and not the other.
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Originally posted by ka119
Agreed. We, as human beings, need to have an answer to everything. It scares us when we dont, we hate the fact that there still may be some unknown out there, hence the perfect, impervious answer. God.
I don't know how many atheists experienced what I did, but when I first started seriously doubting the existence of God, it was VERY scary to think that there might not be a God. I felt alone and on my own... (couldda used one of those buses then. LOL) But over the years, it has become quite empowering to admit that I don't believe in it and I don't believe that we need the answers to everything. We DON'T need to know where we're from and we DON'T need to know where we're going. Living in the present is the best thing I can do for myself and others. Not knowing what happens when we die and admitting that I don't know, is a very powerful position, I find. I'm very comfortable here now. It also helps me in other areas of life where it's impossible to know an answer.
we can, and do, disprove them all the time;
If Santa existed we should expect to see, but don’t, lots of evidence of that fact, including warehouses at the North Pole, a large sleigh, and so forth.
Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
reply to post by spinechilling
we can, and do, disprove them all the time;
The same thing can be argued of God(s) in some capacity. For instance, we can disprove Zeus, we can disprove Odin and we can disprove the Biblical God Yahweh. Specific God(s) are disprovable - the problem with disproving all god(s) is that the term is nebulous, there are many definitions of what would constitute a god.
My point was that in order to entirely disprove the existence of anything you need to possess all the knowledge in the entire Universe. So while we may be able to disprove the existence of Leprechauns here on Earth we don't know that they don't exist somewhere else in the Universe. The same goes for God.
Disproving the Biblical God is quite easy and is done ALL THE TIME, as you stated for Leprechauns and Santa. For instance the Biblical God was claimed to live in the heavens, somewhere in the sky, we went up into the air and didn't see any evidence of him. The same goes for Santa when we went to the North Pole and found no evidence of him. There have also been plenty of logical points disproving an All Powerful God, such as Epicurus talking about the problem of Evil.
It makes logical sense to me. And the story of the biblical God makes no sense to me.
For instance, we can disprove Zeus, we can disprove Odin ...
My point was that in order to entirely disprove the existence of anything you need to possess all the knowledge in the entire Universe.
Disproving the Biblical God is quite easy and is done ALL THE TIME, as you stated for Leprechauns and Santa.
For instance the Biblical God was claimed to live in the heavens, somewhere in the sky, we went up into the air and didn't see any evidence of him.
He doesn't live in the sky.
There is no drawing of a square whose diagonal's length is a rational multiple of its perimeter, nor any drawing of circle whose diameter's length is a rational multiple of its circumference.
Perhaps you don't know what the word heaven means.
That's mathematics and geometry.
"Can God build a rock that is so big he cannot lift it?"
Having been raised a fundamentalist Christian I spent plenty of time looking for God and looking for answers but in the end admitting uncertainty is far more intellectually honest IMO.
Actually, I do. But I also know that a poet will use figurative langauge to describe the ineffable. If you find somebody who's a Bible literalist
Also, if you don't like mathematics and geometry, then why do you mine your examples from logic, another branch of mathematics and syntactical reasoning?
None of this has anything to do with the question of gods.
There is nothing about being Christian that requires certainty.
With that said I'd say we've just about gone full circle.
Happy Holidays
Santa, like Jesus is in part a complex symbol for the shamanic experience.
His red and white costume alluding to the Fly Agaric mushroom that induces oob states.
You know, fly agaric mushrooms that elves and gnomes are always sitting on?
He comes down the chimney stack, representing the portal or tunnel so often described in near death experiences.
He flies in a sled, quite alike the magic carpet idea or nowadays.....the ufo or merkarba vehicle.
He lives in the North Pole, we hear a lot of myths about this place.