SULPHUR

Could somebody prove that is a god or not? Thats when I will stop being an agnostic.

John Page

Again, what kind of god are you thinking of?

SULPHUR

A god that atheists believe does not exist or one or more gods that the various religions believe exist.I believe that philosophical thought tends toward the idea that you cannot prove that something does not exist.

John Page

You're asking me to prove that something I do not believe exists does not exist? Well, the proof should be independent of my belief and I'm still awaiting your definition....
Can you be more specific, please.

BTW, religions do not believe, people believe. Religions promote certain beliefs and to some extent they become self-serving.

Here is the ball. Look at the pretty ball. Close your eyes. Open your eyes again. Look, the ball is gone. Where has the ball gone?

Sorry, Sulphur, couldn't resist that one and I apologize in advance if I got over-sarcastic. Seriouzna, the issue at stake here is "What is the form of the object under study?".

A "thing that does not exist" entails the concept of the "thing" existing in your mind and your supposing that it does (or does not) exist in external reality (i.e. only in mental form). I don't see any reason why it should not be (eventually?) proven that this is the form of thing that god is. Indeed, there is sufficient evidence for me to believe this is exactly the kind of thing that god is (generally believed to be).

Cheers, John

SULPHUR

You made a common mistake about the ball. I open my eyes and you say where has it gone. I say it's gone to the moon. Prove it hasn't John
You say there is no god and I say yes there is a god and is made up of dark matter. Prove it isn't true. There is noway to prove some thing does not exist. The position of an athiest is untenable.

John Page

Then let's go look for it..... I'm confident an investigation will damage your credibility.
Tell me about this dark matter of which you say this god is comprised.
For this statement to be tenable, you must prove that your god exists.

Cheers, John

SULPHUR

In philosophical terms you can never state that something cannot exist or something has to exist. as an agnostic I am taking a punt each way because I want emperical proof which you cannot supply.Think of pascals wager and its vagaries

SULPHUR

I don't have to prove god exists or not. But you have to prove that their is nosuch thing as god/s.

miscreant

To be consistent you would then of course have to be agnostic to the idea that leprechauns, bigfoot, the lock ness monster, little white pixes under my bed, and any other entity that anyone can imagine, exist. After all, nobody can offer you definitive proof that they do not exist.

If you do in fact hold that opinion to pretty much anything, then you really lose your ability to be skeptical. Most atheists I know do not claim to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that god does not exist... but like the entities above, we have yet to see any evidence of existance, so can reasonably rule it out.

Should new evidence turn up (god appears before me or something) I'm willing to reconsider the idea, but I won't be holding my breath.

Miscreant

SULPHUR

They may exist, give me proof. Iam not saying they do exist. You assume too much.