Author Topic: Searching for GOD...  (Read 3871109 times)

SwordOfTheSpirit

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27600 on: March 29, 2018, 05:48:44 PM »
Fair dos - "God does not exist" is a negative claim, and the burden of proof is on those making the positive claim, that God does exist (actually, God, although real, doesn't exist, but that's a different kettle of ballgames).
It's the double-standards I don't like Steve H.

Truth is truth. It doesn't stop being truth because some here can't believe it, don't want to believe it, claim there is no evidence for it, etc.

If someone claims as fact (not belief) that God does not exist, belief in God is a delusion, etc., those are positive claims. It implies that religious belief exist despite truth to the contrary. What is this truth? Why can't Gordon or Susan Doris ever state what it is and always have to resort to pejorative comments about posts or posters instead?
I haven't enough faith to be an atheist.

SwordOfTheSpirit

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27601 on: March 29, 2018, 05:49:32 PM »
I believe I asked you earlier to list these 'properties of truth' - waiting!
Go back and read the post you referred to as utter drivel, for a start!
I haven't enough faith to be an atheist.

Nearly Sane

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27602 on: March 29, 2018, 05:50:09 PM »
I am the universe!
Godfrey, as free as the wind blows
As free as the grass grows
Godfrey, to follow your heart

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27603 on: March 29, 2018, 05:51:02 PM »
Courtiers reply doesn't survive close inspection. Atheist and theist writings are replete with criticism of it.

Sword gave us a textbook example of the genre: not for the first time either.

Stranger

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27604 on: March 29, 2018, 05:52:16 PM »
The universe is God Free is the default position. Demonstrate it's true firstly....because it is a positive assertion and demonstrate it is the default position.

It isn't hard Vlad - the default position is always that things aren't considered real unless there is some reason given to think they are.

By default the universe is leprechaun free, fairy free, comnapnif free, but also atom free and electromagnetic wave free - the difference being that we have reasons to think there are atoms and electromagnetic waves.

Any other way is just madness - for a start you'd have to take a self-contradictory default position where mutually exclusive things exist because we have no evidence about any of them.

God does not exist is a positive assertion...

Who has made this assertion?
x(∅ ∈ x ∧ ∀y(yxy ∪ {y} ∈ x))

SwordOfTheSpirit

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27605 on: March 29, 2018, 05:52:43 PM »
God does not exist is a positive assertion and has a burden of proof.

We can test God does not exist by substituting Theresa May for God so that it reads Theresa May does not exist. Clearly that requires proof.
#thumbsup
I haven't enough faith to be an atheist.

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27606 on: March 29, 2018, 05:53:29 PM »
SoTS,

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Thanks for providing what should be from here on in a citation to be referred back to, demonstrating your utter ignorance of what religious belief entails.

So you assert. Let’s see shall we?

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Before people discovered gravity, was it a subjective or objective fact that gravity exists?

Based on what we know now, it objectively existed. Prior its discovery though there was at that time no basis on which to call it a "fact".

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Did the sum of the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle being the sum of the squares of other two sides of the triangle only become objective fact when Pythagoras discovered it?

See above.

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There is *nothing* stopping you testing Alan Burns' claims for yourself. In fact, that's the advice of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: Seek and you will Find. However, that's where you guys have a problem. Your philosophy calls that a 'confirmation bias', so once again, you find yourself in the impossible position of asking for evidence of something, whilst using a methodology that makes a predictive claim about the origin of that evidence.

Oh dear. There’s everything stopping me from testing AB’s claims for myself because:

A). The claims are in any case incoherent; and

B.) He offers no method to do the testing. “Just take my word for it” is not a method.   

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You are without excuse because all of the arguments you use here against religious belief fall down flat when used on your arguments against religious belief.

In English please. If you can’t communicate the thought though, perhaps at least try to give an example of it?

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- Your worldview assumes the truth of it's position.

What assumption do you think it makes?

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- Your worldview is not falsifiable

I have no idea what you mean by a “worldview”, but as my position relies on testable and falsifiable hypotheses that’s clearly not true.

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- Your worldview requires faith (something that is wrong when people with a religious belief do it) as it is unprovable.

What “faith” do you think it requires, and what has “unproveable” go to do with the probabilistic?

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It's why you guys have a whole philosophy set up (Negative Proof Fallacy, etc) which means that you never have to account for your own position. If you could defend it, you would and if shown to be true would disprove all religious belief claims.

It’s not “a philosophy”, it’s logic. If you don’t like it when logic undoes you, then suggest a different method of investigating truth claims.

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I would go as far as to say that your position is a whole lot worse than those of religious belief. Taking the main monotheistic religions: For Christianity, the falsification test is whether or not Jesus Christ rise from the dead. For Islam, there is only one God (Allah) and that Muhammad is the messenger of God (I'll stand to be corrected by Gabriella on that one). For Judaism, the Messiah is still to come.

So? How would you go about falsifying any of these claims, any more than you would falsify the claim that leprechauns leave pots of gold at the ends of rainbows?

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You justify the double standards…

What "double standards”? You’ve yet to demonstrate them.

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…by trying to claim that belief v non-belief is not a 50-50 scenario (same as Dawkins tried in 'The God Delusion'). Again, all that illustrates is the double-standards, hence why positive claims from religious believers always have to be backed up, but positive claims by those arguing against religious belief (e.g. God does not exist, Jesus didn't rise from the dead, etc), do not appear to require justification.

And speaking of logic, why do you think trying straw men like these will help you? It’s not that there are statements that “God does not exist, Jesus didn't rise from the dead” etc – it’s that there are no good reasons to think that these things did happen.

Look, you’re an awful long way out of your depth here old son. If you want to play this game can I suggest that you try first to get a least a basic grasp of logical thinking so as to avoid embarrassing yourself like this again?
« Last Edit: March 30, 2018, 10:00:59 AM by bluehillside Retd. »
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God

Walt Zingmatilder

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27607 on: March 29, 2018, 05:54:06 PM »
It isn't hard Vlad - the default position is always that things aren't considered real unless there is some reason given to think they are.

And there are reasons.

I know you disagree with them but somehow you guys seem averse to the explanation of it. Although you have supported NDG Tyson and his is an intelligent design argument.

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27608 on: March 29, 2018, 05:55:26 PM »
Vladdo,

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It's a positive assertion Hillside end of. The universe is God Free is the default position.

Stop lying.
"Don't make me come down there."

God

Stranger

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27609 on: March 29, 2018, 05:55:45 PM »
And there are reasons.

Such as what and for which particular god(s)?
x(∅ ∈ x ∧ ∀y(yxy ∪ {y} ∈ x))

Maeght

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27610 on: March 29, 2018, 05:55:50 PM »
And there are reasons.

I know you disagree with them but somehow you guys seem averse to the explanation of it.

I would like to know what they are beyond feelings and beliefs.

SwordOfTheSpirit

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27611 on: March 29, 2018, 05:56:06 PM »
It isn't hard Vlad - the default position is always that things aren't considered real unless there is some reason given to think they are.
Well, the debate on this thread have been about the reasons. Alan Burns has supplied numerous ones. Others here keep telling him why they aren't valid. This is why falsification tests are needed on both sides.

Is love real? What is it's SI unit? One could argue that every action attributed as a demonstration of love has an ulterior motive behind it, so doesn't count. So should I conclude that love isn't real?
I haven't enough faith to be an atheist.

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27612 on: March 29, 2018, 05:57:28 PM »
Steve H,

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Fair dos - "God does not exist" is a negative claim, and the burden of proof is on those making the positive claim, that God does exist (actually, God, although real, doesn't exist, but that's a different kettle of ballgames).

Yes it would be if anyone made it. So far as I'm aware though, no-one does. You're just repeating Vlad's straw man.
"Don't make me come down there."

God

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27613 on: March 29, 2018, 05:57:40 PM »
Go back and read the post you referred to as utter drivel, for a start!

Did that: the drivel remains. A nice wee list of properties would be useful - then we can go through them one by one: waiting!

Walt Zingmatilder

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27614 on: March 29, 2018, 05:57:58 PM »
Vladdo,

Stop lying.
Saying I hold the default position of the universe being God Free or God not existing is to, er positively assert that God does not exist.

Since you are The Mighty Titan and Fu Manchu of errors why didn't you pick Be Rational up on it?

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27615 on: March 29, 2018, 05:58:48 PM »
This is why falsification tests are needed on both sides.

Now that is a prime example of utter drivel.

SteveH

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27616 on: March 29, 2018, 05:59:15 PM »
#thumbsup
No, it doesn't: it requires the Mayists to prove that she does exist, otherwise the amayists win by default. However, it is (unfortunately) easy to demonstrate May's existance.
In any case, as I've pointed out before, God's mode of reality is completely different: God is not merely an object in the world, which is what is meant by "existance".
« Last Edit: March 29, 2018, 06:01:22 PM by Steve H »
I have a pet termite. His name is Clint. Clint eats wood.

Walt Zingmatilder

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27617 on: March 29, 2018, 05:59:50 PM »
Now that is a prime example of utter drivel.
Not if you say God does not exist.

Maeght

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27618 on: March 29, 2018, 06:00:05 PM »
Well, the debate on this thread have been about the reasons. Alan Burns has supplied numerous ones. Others here keep telling him why they aren't valid. This is why falsification tests are needed on both sides.

Alan hasn't supplied any thing other than his beliefs. What is needed are facts which can be tested and which can then be used to build a model which can also be tested. Stating beliefs as facts is not what is required.

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27619 on: March 29, 2018, 06:01:48 PM »
And there are reasons.

I know you disagree with them but somehow you guys seem averse to the explanation of it. Although you have supported NDG Tyson and his is an intelligent design argument.

You must know, Vlad, that you are flagrantly misrepresenting here.

SwordOfTheSpirit

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27620 on: March 29, 2018, 06:02:20 PM »
No, it doesn't: it requires the Mayists to prove that she does[/] exist, otherwise the amayists win by default. However, it is (unfortunately) easy to demonstrate May's existance.
In any case, as I've pointed out before, God's mode of reality is completely different: God is not merely an object in the world, which is what is meant by "existance".
I gave it the #thumbsup Steve H because what was written is consistent with properties of truth. Granted, the existence of Theresa May is easy to prove, but truth does not stop being truth because it is not easy to prove.
I haven't enough faith to be an atheist.

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27621 on: March 29, 2018, 06:03:59 PM »
Not if you say God does not exist.

I don't say that though: but you already know that - in fact, who here has said this?

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27622 on: March 29, 2018, 06:05:18 PM »
I gave it the #thumbsup Steve H because what was written is consistent with properties of truth. Granted, the existence of Theresa May is easy to prove, but truth does not stop being truth because it is not easy to prove.

Fuck me: these 'properties of truth' again - when do we get a clearly set out list of them?

Stranger

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27623 on: March 29, 2018, 06:10:54 PM »
Well, the debate on this thread have been about the reasons. Alan Burns has supplied numerous ones. Others here keep telling him why they aren't valid.

All that Alan has said has been nebulous, logically impossible, unfalsifiable, self-contradictory, or absurd for some other reason.

This is why falsification tests are needed on both sides.

Since nobody here (as far as I know) is making the claim that there definitely isn't anything that somebody might call a god in all of reality - but are simply saying that there are no good reasons to think any of the many gods exist - the falsification test is simply a solid, objective reason to take one or more of the gods seriously

Is love real? What is it's SI unit? One could argue that every action attributed as a demonstration of love has an ulterior motive behind it, so doesn't count. So should I conclude that love isn't real?

Just silly. Love is a label for a rather vague set of loosely related states of mind - is your god a subjective state of mind?
x(∅ ∈ x ∧ ∀y(yxy ∪ {y} ∈ x))

Walt Zingmatilder

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #27624 on: March 29, 2018, 06:13:58 PM »
You must know, Vlad, that you are flagrantly misrepresenting here.
Not at all he and a.n.other tout NDG idea as naturalistic and therefore more reasonable than the well er, exactly the same, theistic idea declared frequently as completely unreasonable.

Stranger is of course quite free to denounce NDG Tysons idea of simulated universe as completely unreasonable here and now if he wishes. Bluehillside too for that matter.
I don't say that though: but you already know that - in fact, who here has said this?
Be Rational since he has claimed God does not exist as the default position. I never accused you .