Why Is There An Athiest Board?

pH

An Fear Aniar wrote: »

Why would I know anything about God? Nobody knows anything about God.

No one.

Well then further speculation seems pointless.

It's like the author of the Cloud of Unknowing says:

<drivel deleted>

Oh, who'd have thought it! Turns out that further speculation is not pointless, but we can make statements of fact about him! We can get him through love and not by thought, whatever that means. It's complete and utter nonsense, random sentences, devoid of any meaning designed to impress the stupid with tortured prose that just has to be insightful if only you could understand it.

Zombrex

An Fear Aniar wrote: »

Why would I know anything about God? Nobody knows anything about God.

No one.

Er, apparently you do if you claim he exists, and the "Cloud of Unknowing" seems to know rather a bit about God.

As pH points out it is rather nonsensical to proclaim that one cannot know or understand God and then proceed to tell us about him, including that he exists and what he wants.

An Fear Aniar

Wicknight wrote: »

Er, apparently you do if you claim he exists, and the "Cloud of Unknowing" seems to know rather a bit about God.

As pH points out it is rather nonsensical to proclaim that one cannot know or understand God and then proceed to tell us about him, including that he exists and what he wants.

I didn't say anything about what God wants coz I don't know. I talked about my own experience of God but can't generalise any further than that.


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An Fear Aniar

pH wrote: »

Well then further speculation seems pointless.



Oh, who'd have thought it! Turns out that further speculation is not pointless, but we can make statements of fact about him! We can get him through love and not by thought, whatever that means. It's complete and utter nonsense, random sentences, devoid of any meaning designed to impress the stupid with tortured prose that just has to be insightful if only you could understand it.

It winds you up though....

People know nothing of God but can report how they came to experience God. And it's never been done thru thinking, thru logic. All the mystiks agree in that.


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Zombrex

An Fear Aniar wrote: »

I didn't say anything about what God wants coz I don't know.

You didn't, but the quote you posted does.

An Fear Aniar wrote: »

People know nothing of God but can report how they came to experience God

That sentence doesn't make any sense.

For a start if you don't know anything about God how do you know you experienced God in the first place

An Fear Aniar

Wicknight wrote: »

You didn't, but the quote you posted does.



That sentence doesn't make any sense.

For a start if you don't know anything about God how do you know you experienced God in the first place

I'm just trying to say that pointing out the absurdities of religions is not any sort of proof that no god exists. It's a poor sort of discourse, I would say.


You might say to me "prove that God exists" and I can't. I might say to you "prove that God doesn't exist" and if you start referring to the actions and words of certain human beings then I would have to say that is not a satisfactory proof at all. In fact, it's irrelevant to the question, I would say.

Salaam aleikum.



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Zombrex

An Fear Aniar wrote: »

I'm just trying to say that pointing out the absurdities of religions is not any sort of proof that no god exists. It's a poor sort of discourse, I would say.

You are right it isn't proof that "God" doesn't exist, but then god is such a ridiculous concept that it would be impossible to prove or even demonstrate that he doesn't exist. What humans can imagine God is or can do is limited only by our imagination, any attempt to test any of these concepts is met by believers simple changing what the concept is. We used to believe God lived in the clouds and made it rain. When we discovered he didn't that didn't demonstrate God didn't exist, because believers simply moved God to some where else, out into the heavens. When we discovered that the heavens where actually space, that didn't demonstrate God didn't exist because believers simply moved God again, this time out side of the universe and time (some where completely untestable)

So it is utterly impossible to test if God exists, and as such totally impossible to demonstrate that he doesn't exist, because believers never define "God" in those terms in the first place.

The fact that humans do this though does strongly (very strongly) suggest to me that it is all a product of the human imagination and wishful thinking.

We know why humans would invent gods. We know they have invented gods.

Given the options between gods, all of them, being invented by humans for pretty much the same purpose, and the possibility that most of them have been invented except the one you just happen to believing in at this moment, I think the former is far more likely than the latter.

stevejazzx

An Fear Aniar wrote: »

Why would I know anything about God? Nobody knows anything about God.

No one.

It's like the author of the Cloud of Unknowing says:




.

So what we now know about god is that noone knows anything about him...how would anyone know either way?

bipedalhumanoid

kelly1 wrote: »

Honestly I get tired of people comparing God with the tooth fairy, Santa, the Flying Spaghett Monster, Thor and Zeus etc. It's like me telling you that evolution is totally random. It's a bit childish really.

No, the difference is that I can show you why evolution is not totally random whereas the best response you can come up with utilises a false analogy.

bipedalhumanoid

Zulu wrote: »

Nope, I'm agnostic, and a respectful position is one that respects regardless.

That's very noble of you to offer to give up your civil liberties for those whose religious beliefs they offend... I however, will continue to pay respect only where it is deserved.

BTW, what does you being an agnostic have to do with paying undeserved respect to the dangerous and ludicrous dogmatic beliefs of others?

Zulu

bipedalhumanoid wrote: »

That's very noble of you to offer to give up your civil liberties for those whose religious beliefs they offend... I however, will continue to pay respect only where it is deserved.

BTW, what does you being an agnostic have to do with paying undeserved respect to the dangerous and ludicrous dogmatic beliefs of others?

Jesus man, that was a month ago, and it would serve you well to pay particular attention to the part where I said:

Zulu wrote:

Anyway, I don't expect anything else for this thread, I've voiced my opinion, and I'll bid you all adue!

Húrin

stakey wrote: »

You sure about that? Once you get past faith and the huge amount of damage it has done to human endeavour and thought there's a universe of amazing scientific wonders to discuss.

Atheism is not a religion of science. Religion and science generally answer rather different kinds of questions.

Dades

Húrin wrote: »

Religion and science generally answer rather different kinds of questions.

Well religion used to answer a lot more questions. But now science has shown them to be incorrect - religion has retreated to 'answering' questions that are untestable by science.

pH

Dades wrote: »

Well religion used to answer a lot more questions. But now science has shown them to be incorrect - religion has retreated to 'answering' questions that are untestable by science.

Even more so than that, religion 'answers' questions only for a very strange definition of the word 'answer'. For example an answer to the question 'What is the capital of Ireland?' would be 'Cheese', but it's an answer in technical linguistic sense only.

So does anyone have an example of "the kind of questions religion answers" and a corresponding "answer" to see what sort of questions religion does indeed answer, what answers it comes up with and how good these answers are.

Dades

Well apparently the cookies missing from the cookie jar were taken by God.

Overheal

It was actually the Hamburglar all along! the Cookie Monster is cleared of the charges!

bipedalhumanoid

Zulu wrote: »

Jesus man, that was a month ago, and it would serve you well to pay particular attention to the part where I said:

Yes I noticed your cowardly attempt to cop out on any potential response. If you don't want people responding to your drivel don't post it on public forums.

Zillah

Húrin wrote: »

Religion and science generally answer rather different kinds of questions.

Religion doesn't answer questions in any meaningful way, it just makes stuff up. Thats not an answer in my book.