Atheist

[David88vert]

No god has ever been; seen, heard, felt, ect. thus there is no god.

... if you would have used something like the tooth fairy then maybe it would have been a good example...

Ok, let's take the tooth fairy. Since you haven't seen the tooth fairy, it must not exist, correct? Suppose you lose a tooth, put it under your pillow one night, and wake up the next morning to find a quarter in it's place? Do you believe:

A) The natural order of the universe is to replace teeth with quarters.
B) Pillows have a magical power to convert teeth to quarters
C) Some external force was messing with you and you want your damn tooth back because a quarter isn't worth anything anymore!

If you cannot detect something physically, does that mean it is not real? What about the concepts of love and hate? What about all concepts? You cannot physcially measure love, does that mean that it does not exist? Especially since "God is love" in the Bible - does that mean that you really don't want to believe in love? Also, what about hate, faith, hope, justice, etc? Do they exist? What makes them real to you?

[Blitanicle99]

I started reading your thread in order to understand whats going on. Then I got ADD as **** and said screw it.
Im not very religious... I have alot of friends that are and thats their choice. Everyone has the right to their own opinion and some people dont believe anything untill they see it.
But in a sense, I had that whole thread about haunted **** and all that. I completely believe in ghosts/demons and have had plenty of experiances. And with that, I could not understand how that could be possible and some sort of "god" or "higher being" was not possible. When you posted the Zietheist (spelling?) movie I watched it a few times. It was pretty cool not gonna lie. But the one point I did like that it emphasized that with good, there is always bad and vise versa. So with all my experiances ghost hunting or whatever you wish to call it, I absolutely believe in a god or higher power. I am not into religion that much, nothing has really touched/caught my attention/called to me that I have seen so far.

I seriously want to make friends with some native americans, and ask them about it. I mean, chillin around a fire, smoking a "peace pipe" might cause you to see some crazy ****. You never know untill you try lol

[bu villain]

Ok, let's take the tooth fairy. Since you haven't seen the tooth fairy, it must not exist, correct? Suppose you lose a tooth, put it under your pillow one night, and wake up the next morning to find a quarter in it's place? Do you believe:

A) The natural order of the universe is to replace teeth with quarters.
B) Pillows have a magical power to convert teeth to quarters
C) Some external force was messing with you and you want your damn tooth back because a quarter isn't worth anything anymore!

If you cannot detect something physically, does that mean it is not real? What about the concepts of love and hate? What about all concepts? You cannot physcially measure love, does that mean that it does not exist? Especially since "God is love" in the Bible - does that mean that you really don't want to believe in love? Also, what about hate, faith, hope, justice, etc? Do they exist? What makes them real to you?

On the tooth fairy example, my answer would be C. Some external force most likely did it. But it seems much more likely that the external force was your parents rather than a magical fairy. Further investigation would be needed to be truly confident (say set up a video camera) but without that evidence it is more logical to believe it was your parents.

Not being able to physically detect something does not necessarily mean it isn't real. Hate, faith, justice, etc are only "real" because they are the words we use for feelings. If you define God as a feeling you have then God would be real in the same sense. However, the common meaning of God is not described this way.

[David88vert]

Hate, faith, justice, etc are only "real" because they are the words we use for feelings. If you define God as a feeling you have then God would be real in the same sense. However, the common meaning of God is not described this way.

Real is either 0 or 1. There is no "real" (quasi-real). It is either detectable in this universe and is finite, or it is not. Now you want to say that non-measureable, infinite items are "real", but a god is not? Interesting....

[bu villain]

Real is either 0 or 1. There is no "real" (quasi-real). It is either detectable in this universe and is finite, or it is not. Now you want to say that non-measureable, infinite items are "real", but a god is not? Interesting....

I guess I wasn't clear then. Hate, love, etc. are NOT REAL, they are abstract concepts used to describe REAL brain functioning (feelings).

[David88vert]

I guess I wasn't clear then. Hate, love, etc. are NOT REAL, they are abstract concepts used to describe REAL brain functioning (feelings).

So you have no hate or love? Interesting....

[Maniac1]

So you have no hate or love? Interesting....

Like he said, those are feelings. Love and hate have two different definitions but they're both really just the same. Both are feelings created by our brain. Just like when you're cold or hot, our body is affected by the temperature around us, thus acting in strange ways. They're all just brain functions.

[David88vert]

Like he said, those are feelings. Love and hate have two different definitions but they're both really just the same. Both are feelings created by our brain. Just like when you're cold or hot, our body is affected by the temperature around us, thus acting in strange ways. They're all just brain functions.

So knowledge and friendship don't exist either, correct? So you can't be described as anyone's friend, and you can't be labelled as smart either (eince there is no such thing as knowledge to you).
And what tells the brain if it is love or hate? The difference has to be defined, as the brian can only detect neurosignals, and then interprets them based on its definitions. What is defining these responses? Does it exist physically? Can you measure it, or show me the location of the definitions?
And if you went through long-term sensory deprivation, would that lower your capability to love or hate? Could you measure that?