by towerwatchman 315 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Still waiting for an answer to my post...
I showed that it is not self-defeating for an atheist to assert that god does not exist as long as we define god.
I notice you never actually reply to refutations. You post wordy responses that sound like replies but when you wade through the verbiage it turns out you have totally avoided the actual main point.
We posted at the same time
The Atheist reject all forms of deity. Any worldview that espouses deity that does not agree among itself, does not equate to the nonexistence of deity but the nonexistence of uniformity. If there is any question it is settled internally.Possibly the best example of gibberish in the history of the forum
First may we define our terms - TWM in the OP
Why are you still ignoring the need to carefully define the god you are arguing for? - Cofty
Why, so you can change the subject? - TWM
You actually are ridiculous.
To Cofty
How can it be illogical to fail to believe irrational claims about invisible supernatural beings? Nobody makes a "conscious decision not to believe". I just find christian theism to be on a par with all other superstitions and I don't believe it. If evidence is ever presented to support it I am listening.
No one ‘fails’ to believe. One either believes it or not. Notice the contradicting statements. “Nobody makes a "conscious decision not to believe" vs “and I don't believe it.” Which is it?
Under such a worldview, a newborn, dog or cat qualifies as a soft atheist, for they lack belief in God also.
Yes.
“Atheism means the negation of theism, the denial of the existence of God. [JJC Smart].
Answering ‘yes’ is not a flattering state of affairs. Following the soft atheist to a logical conclusion all you are giving me is a report of the state of your mind. And pity would be the appropriate response from me.
It's like trying to explain calculus to somebody who can't count to ten.
To Slimboyfat
theism - there is a being who has unlimited power and is perfect in love (how can God be both loving and all-powerful in a world full of suffering?)
Thoughtful atheists do try to provide arguments against God's existence. Undoubtedly, the most important of these is the problem of suffering. When you consider the extent and that of suffering in the world, whether due to natural disasters or to man's own inhumanity to man, then you had to admit that it's hard to believe in God. The horrible suffering in the world certainly seems to be evidence of God's absence. But as one colleague once wisely remarked to me, as a philosopher I am called upon to say what I think about some questions, not how I feel about it. And as difficult as the problem of suffering may be emotionally, that is no reason in and of itself to think that God does not exist.
The horrible suffering in the world certainly seems to be evidence of God's absence.
Natural evil is proof that the god of christian theism does not exist.
Natural evil is proof that the god of christian theism does not exist.
Two things wrong with this.
First is that it excludes the possibility God may have a reason for allowng suffering we either don't understand or possibly cannot understand. In Romans 7-9 Paul argues that humans are not in a position to question God's righteousness.
Another problem with the assertion is that there are many millions of believers who do believe in God who are well aware of suffering. Many Christians have reflected on the subject and philosophers have explored solutions. They don't think it's proof God doesn't exist.
To Cofty
It is just a way of saying you can't work out how rationality contributes to human survival or perhaps was a side-effect of other evolutionary changes.
If your moral beliefs evolved over time then we cannot have any confidence in them because evolution aims not at truth but at survival, then the morals would have been selected on either pragmatic or utilitarian bases, because that view aims at survival and not truth
