by Quillsky 243 Replies latest jw friends
Agreed, but the "evidence" does not constitute proof. There is a difference.
Yes, that's why I reiterated:
Again, in science, such inferences are always made to some limited (sometimes extremely high) degree of probability. ;)
"Probability establishes likelihood, not fact."
Hey, you don't have to tell me that; I was on the OJ jury!
LOL. Well this has been interesting.
If I could sum up what we have learned in this debate it would be:
PS. Cyberjesus, that's not "wisdom", it's creative writing.
It appears that this definition doesn't tell the whole story. I won't pretend to fully understand the long and confusing history of the term atheist. However, here is something interesting from Wikipedia,
"The term atheist (from Fr. athée), in the sense of "one who denies or disbelieves the existence of God",[20] predates atheism in English, being first attested in about 1571.[21] Atheist as a label of practical godlessness was used at least as early as 1577."
It would appear that the 1571 definition is the original definition in English and it is remarkably similar to how most atheist describe themselves today. It's interesting that the word began to have a more negative connotation in 1577. I expect it was probably theists who began to gradually alter the impression of the word to further their agenda and criticize those who weren't in their club.
Atheism was also used by pagans to describe Jews and Christians that only believed in 1 God. They said that they were denying the power of the Gods by believing in just 1.
Theos = God
Theist = someone who believes in God
Theism = Belief in God
a = non, with out
A theos = without God
a theist = someone without belief in God
A theism = without belief in God
Elegant and simple. Beautifully done.
Folks---this is why humanity has reached the top of the food chain; a rational mind at work!!
Theist - believes in God
Atheist - does not believe in God.
Whatever reasons there are to explain that belief or lack of belief, they do not change the simple premise that an atheist does not believe in God, and a theist does believe in God.
Agnostic covers everything in the middle, I think.
I can't believe that we're at eight pages of this? Why does it matter so much? - i think that's the bigger point.
Tammy
Atheists don't know when to shut up, and try to brag that they know so much. Hence...8 pages of non sense and semantic debate.
Well shit, we've stumbled brotherdan.
I'm just being sarcastic. Plus I'm grumpy. My posts haven't been very nice today.
Blame the 8 pages on Essan....
He was twisting the definition of "atheist" so much, I now suspect he must be a 'troll' from the Bethel Writing Department...
First he denied the multiple dictionary definitions of the word "atheist" supplied to him, THEN he whipped around and co-opted those very definitions when it became convenient to his - I wouldn't call it a 'debate' - let's say argument...
In psychological circles, that's called "CRAZY-MAKING"...
Not to mention that he completely took Quillsky's thread over for his own agenda...
Zid
