Doubting Didymus

Exactly. you can not prove they do not exist in the exact same way that you can not prove that god exists.

The logical position: Neither exists, pending revised evidence.

Keith Russell

Doubting:

That isn't exactly what I said.

I believe that the concept 'God' (as usually generally defined by most religions) contradicts many of the known facts of reality.

Therefore, I believe that it is acceptable and rational to state that God is not possible: that 'God', first, cannot exist--and thus does not exist.

Keith.

Blu

Keith,

I believe the definitions of God commonly held by many religions does not exist. But what God represents exists.

~~~~~~
Personal question: Will you be so kind as to respond to what I wrote on the other thread? Or is that discussion now void?

Keith Russell

Blu:

there are a lot of threads here. I'd be happy to respond to your other post, would you mind reminding me what it was?

Or, at least providing directions where I can go to read it?

Thanks.

Oh, you said that, although God doesn't exist, 'what God represents, does exist.'

What does 'God' represent?

Keith.

Blu

Hello Keith,

It was the "The Christian God people don't believe in" thread under Existence of God.

I wrote that religious interpretations of the characteristics of God do not exist i.e. anything related to the human condition and human reality.

Personally, "God" represents energy, wholeness, connection. For others, God may prepresent a superhuman love (unconditional), support, comfort, authority etc. I think that is why Christian religions usually refer to God as Father. There is also a cultural reason for that as well.

I believe that human beings don't have the capacity to understand the nature of "God" (if you choose this word). So because of this tendency towards misunderstanding and getting caught up in how relgions define "god," people choose simply to say "God" absolutely does not exist instead of saying, "I don't find evidence supporting anyone's idea of God." And this is where I am at, I don't find any evidence scientific or subjective supporting anyone's religious idea of God.

But as long as there is energy, life and the Universe, I will always maintain that there is "something." I just can't really define what that "something" truly is.

Keith Russell

Blu, you said: Personally, "God" represents energy--

Keith: Blu, I recognize the existence of energy. In fact, I believe that energy is all that exists: matter being, as shown by E = MC squared, just another form of energy. Yet, energy is energy; it is what it is, and only what it is. Energy is not energy and also God, for this would violate the Law of Identity: Aristotle's 'A is A'.

Blu: [snip] I believe that human beings don't have the capacity to understand the nature of "God" (if you choose this word)."

Keith: Blu, if human beings cannot understand the nature of 'God', how is it that you are able to understand even this about that same nature?

Blu: So because of this tendency towards misunderstanding and getting caught up in how relgions define "god," people choose simply to say "God" absolutely does not exist instead of saying, "I don't find evidence supporting anyone's idea of God." And this is where I am at, I don't find any evidence scientific or subjective supporting anyone's religious idea of God.

But as long as there is energy, life and the Universe, I will always maintain that there is "something." I just can't really define what that "something" truly is.

Keith: Ahh, the old 'there must be something' claim. This claim for 'God', though, is as irrational as all the others.

I don't see any evidence that there is even a 'something', and--sans evidence--that claim, too, is arbitrary, and thus irrational.

Keith.

Blu

Keith,

Let me begin by asking: What happened to your advanced social skills I commented on earlier? Alas, I should have known it was too good to be true (and last for very long)!

Anyway, the aspect of your previous post that kind of stands out is your use of the word "irrational." I think when you call me irrational you are saying so because my subjective truth doesn't connect with your subjective truth.

If we are using the word "irrational" now, I would say it is irrational to believe that anyone in this world knows enough about the Universe to decide that there is no such thing as "God" or "something." On the flip side, it is also irrational to claim to know enough about the world and the Universe to decide what the nature of God (the Universe) is. People tend to go either way. I kind of hang a bit in the middle.

Whatever my beliefs are, I understand that my beliefs are relative to me. Just like everyone else's beliefs are relative to them. Then there is this big question mark in the catagory of Absolute Truth which will never be known by a human mind because I also believe that the human mind is limited and ALWAYS relative to the individual's existence, culture, society, language, experience, education, etc.

Evidence of God (or of the intelligence of the Universe) = life, the Universe itself (solar systems, etc) human beings, our planet, and the list goes on.

So I really don't understand the concept of "there is no evidence that there is a God."

Suppose that there was "your kind of evidence of God" use your imagination and please explain what that evidence would have to consist of. Please refrain from using any human-cultural religious aspects of God such as "God would have to come up to me and shake my hand" or "God would have to show His face in the sky and talk to me in His booming manly voice."

It appears that you are looking at my evidence from a different perspective. Where you see nothing, I see something. Wait a minute.. you actually see the existence of energy and life.. you just interpret these things differently than I do. But you still see "something."

Clutch

Please go back and read what I wrote about this -- which initially moved you to claim that it was the magic hippogriff that made all the difference.

[ September 12, 2002: Message edited by: Clutch ]</p>

Blu

Just a thought..

To argue that God (the Universe) does not exist you would have to argue that there is nothing, when there is something.

Please refer to the thread.. "Lost in Definitions and Confused by Cultural Interpretations" in the Existence of God catagory.

Thanks...

Have fun with it.

Clutch

Blu,

Or, refer to this thread, which is actually about this thread and not some other one.