icedagger wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote:icedagger wrote:As I said, I accept some people feel what they think is the presence of the abrahamic god. I accept some people feel just as strongly what they think is the presence of vishnu, or baron samedi, or thor. Or that elvis is still alive. You're just dismissing one claim fewer than me.
No, I dismiss the claim that there is no God. We dismiss the same number of claims, exactly.
Right. So how can you criticise athiests for dismissing christians' claims when you do the exact same thing to every other religion?
I don't criticize them for being atheists or thinking they are correct. I criticize them for equating my beliefs with flying teapots and other silly ideas, as well as claims that their belief is more logical, based on more evidence than mine or even is based on evidence, as opposed to all other beliefs that are somehow not based on evidence.
Big difference!
PLAYER57832 wrote:icedagger wrote:So, you have concrete evidence for your expertise in the form of the stability of your structures. Well done, I would accept you could indeed accurately predict "certain aspects of a stream".
Except, it is not something predictable, testable, etc. More than one engineer dismissed that knowledge, in real life. (not actually mine, that of my bosses).
It eminently is testable. Your structures would tend to be more stable than those designed by engineers. If you really wanted to, you and an engineer could design structures for similar streams, and the results compared. The religious' alleged expertise can't be tested empirically in this way- the two aren't analogous.[/quote]
I am trying to get close, using an analogy.
The best analogy is love. Many people who have not been in love really and truly do not believe it can happen, or at least not to them.. then it does. That is probably the closest you can come to what it is to know God. But, they are only approximations and only approximations expressed on the internet, in a forum. I could explain more in person, but it would take time. Also, some things, you cannot explain, you have to experience.
PLAYER57832 wrote:icedagger wrote:
No concrete evidence for your expertise here though. I have no more reason to believe what you say is true than to listen to those who say elvis is alive.
You had to do it... Elvis, Tea pots.. same thing.
Concrete, testable evidence is not the only kind of evidence. If it were , no child would feel loved.
I don't understand what you're getting at here. Maybe I'm missing your point, but childrens' love of their parents isn't just based on an assessment of evidence- clearly it's evolutionarily useful for a child to unconditionally love their parent, and vice versa. [/quote]
Actually I would argue it IS based on evidence. The evidence that they cry, and are cared for, etc. Also, yes, it is a need. At any rate, it is real and true, regardless of science's inability to truly quantify and replicate it artificially. (and I don't mean "articifial" in the sense of adoption or such, I mean putting chemicals or electric impulses or whatever into the brian.. science is getting there, but not truly there yet).
PLAYER57832 wrote:As for scientific shackles. Right now, Christians still dominate. However, when you dismiss any alternative simply out of hand, then you, by its very nature, necessarily also omit many other things. For example, it is very likely that other universes exist. It is quite likely that many rules we consider "set" won't apply in that other universe. Just grasping those types of permeations, the possibilities means being able to look outside what you can prove, to consider the "other".
The "other" is what lead people to create machines that fly, it is what lead people to explore, it is what leads people to think and challenge anything that is "known" and accepted.
I don't have a lot of respect for flat earthers, there is just too much evidence contrary. However, we need folks, even folks like that who live on the "edge" to challenge us constantly. If you cannot understand that, without information, people could think the earth is flat, then you won't bother to take the time to make sure the true concepts are taught. If you don't understand that is is possible for people to think that way, then you cannot possibly communicate with whole groups of people.
I realize you consider belief in God to be equivalent to flat earthers, but the difference is that you cannot prove our beliefs wrong. We can prove that the earth is not flat.
I just don't understand how working from the premise that god exists can ever be helpful to science. It never provides an explanation more useful than "god did it". It encourages, if anything, a lack of enquiry. [/quote]
For some. For others it spurs on thinking.
But my basic point is that if you start with a preconcieved notion that x cannot be true, despite the fact that is cannot be proven yet.. then you limit yourself.
PLAYER57832 wrote:icedagger wrote:I don't believe in god in the same way that you don't believe elvis is alive. By your logic, believing elvis is dead is no more or less valid than believing he is alive.
No, Elvis being dead is not a matter of belief, it is a matter of proof. My belief in God is also a matter of proof, just a proof that does not lend itself to be trotted out to others, particularly on the internet. And that is the whole point.
Once again, you take something which is known to be false.. not even a true matter of possible believe, and claim that it is somehow equivalent to belief in God, which has proof and evidence, evidence you might not see, but which is really and truly seen by many, many people. We believe in something that you cannot disprove. You just don't wish to believe it could be true.
Scientologists believe in something you can't disprove. Do you accept that your lack of belief in scientology "is no better or worse than a positive belief" in it?[/quote]
If I cannot prove it false, then I may believe it untrue, but will never claim I have the right to deny it. However, when considering other religions, you miss a statement I made. I HAVE proof of God, not solid, scientific proof, but proof enough for me. In that regard, I don't accept other religions. I don't accept them because I have evidence that my belief is true and that theirs is not. My issue with some atheistic arguments here is that they say that just because they don't see evidence, then my belief (and everyone else's who believes in God, etc.) is illogical, stupid, etc.
One irony on Elvis, perhaps intentional in your part, is that there actually is a church of Elvis. However, as far as I know it does not include reincarnation of the man.
icedagger wrote:I would love a benevolent god to exist by the way. I don't confuse what would be nice with what is true though- it's not a question of what I "wish to believe".
Nor is it for me. I believe because God is. I wish I could explain it to everyone, show who God is to everyone, but I cannot. It is not given to me to do that. I believe I have other tasks. Particulary, not on the internet. It just is not readily possible.
I am not one trying to convert or convince anyone. I do try to clarify that say, jay is not a mouthpiece for all of Christianity. I also try to bridge a small bit the gap between some who eschew religion and those religious who eschew science, though lately my patience has worn rather thin and I don't feel I am succeeding much. Above all, I just try to learn other people's views for myself.
This who string of posts started becayse snorri, MeDeFe, neoteny etc each proclaimed variations of "believing in God is illogical", "has no evidence", is "no different than believing in flying teapots". I don't in any way dispute their right to believe as they do. I also know them to each be intelligent, thoughtful people. I agree with them often. I generally respect them even when I don't agree. But.. well, in this one area, we disagree quite firmly. And I do feel their position is harmful, to science.
icedagger wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote:No, the only difference is that atheism is your belief. Else, there is no more evidence for your position or mine. In fact, I would suggest there is much more evidence for God. If I did not see it, I would not believe.
What would you accept as evidence that god does not exist?
More a matter than I would have to not have seen the evidence that I have seen, or would have to find it false. Proving that something doesn't exist is almost impossible. Not entirely impossible, but close. When that something is God, every excuse that people find for God not existing is explained by those who believe. It is a null point. You believe or you don't, but you cannot debate yourself to one or the other idea.
icedagger wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote:That is the other distinction. I understand that you don't see any evidence. I understand that this is why you believe Atheistically. I also understand that that belief is very central to your core being, something that, if challenged would shake your world irrevocably. That is the nature of belief. Its just that you, and others here wish to assert it is not belief. That is just wrong. Just because you base your belief on a failure to see evidence, makes it no less a belief.
When I say my position doesn't take belief I mean it doesn't take a leap of faith. This is one of the distinctions between athiesm and religions. If by belief you just mean "something I think is true", then yes, athiesm is my belief. I wouldn't say my "belief" that the abrahamic god doesn't exist is any more central to my being than your "belief" that thor doesn't exist, though.
Belief is anytime you say "I think this is true", any time you go beyond evidence. Now, the distinction, though is that I include ALL evidence. In a way, atheism is sort of at a disadvantage, because it is virtually impossible to prove something like God does not exist. Atheists then have a hard time saying they have belief in the same way that theists do. That is, you don't hear many stories of people walking through fire to prove they are atheistic. However, it really is the same. Only the words differ.
PLAYER57832 wrote:There are two alternatives. 1. proof that can be shared and tested, etc. That is the realm of science. 2. things that cannot yet be tested or proven. Those are the realm of belief.
Belief is not necessarily inferior to proof. Belief takes us places where absolute proof cannot possibly go. They take us into the realms of what make us human. Art, music, feelings, emotions, etc... and religion. ALL religion, including atheism.
I can just about accept your definition of belief, but your definition of religion would have to be pretty meaningless to encompass athiesm. I'd be interested to hear it. I don't see the link between what you call belief- something someone thinks is true- and art, music, feelings, and emotions.[/quote]
The simplest, but necessarily incomplete definition is that religion is just any encompassing, base, worldview that shapes who you are. It definitely includes belief in God, but also things like scientology, pantheism, Buddhism, etc, etc. For some, political belief borders on religion, because people are willing to die for those beliefs. (I don't mean defending property or the state.. that is more concrete, I mean Republican, Democrat, Nazis, etc.)