From here:
[QUOTE=Kobal2]
mounting evidence points to there not being any “soul”
[/QUOTE]
Where did Kobal2 find out about this evidence?
Which assumes the existence of “spiritual beings”, and there being a “spiritual world” where they can do whatever it is they do without bleeping on the material radar.
This has not been demonstrated so far, to me or anyone else.
That is quite a trick you pulled there.
First you accuse me of strawman-ing your position, then you opt to play the role of that supposed strawman your own self.
It’s quite a spectacular way of shooting yourself in the foot, there. Points awarded for style, if not for substance.
If I were to ask you if Spiderman exists, what would you say?
Lack of belief is what defines atheism. It’s the default state of humanity, and not an affirmative belief. Just as you’d say, “Of course there is no Spiderman.” because there is no evidence for him really existing, atheists would say something similar about the God of the Abrahamic religions.
I’m not an atheist because I think hell is a terrible idea. I’m an atheist because there is no evidence for God existing.
Since there is no evidence, why should I care what nonsense gullible people force themselves to believe?
I drank a fifth of vodka.
Then I got really mad, then I got sad, then I dropped like a log, snored a lot and forgot all about it. IOW, ingestion of a compound modified the way my meat works, which in turn tweaked the way my mind and thoughts worked. My spirit got touched by spirits (HA ! I’ll be here all week, I’m afraid).
If my ego, or soul, or whatever you opt to call it was independent from flesh, that would not happen, would it ?
So by your logic, if someone says “I lack a belief in God,” that’s different than saying “I do not believe that there is a God,” right?
Yes.
You can think of it as the wiring of the mind, the lack of belief does not have a filter on the God issue, the Atheist has the filter of No God, the Theist has a filter that there is God. Both will use that filter to define their world.
Even though the atheist lacks a belief in God.
Everyone on Earth is an atheist until they are indoctrinated into some religion. If you grew up in India, you’d probably be a Hindu.
Atheism isn’t a filter, it’s the natural state of humanity.
Presumably JudeoChristians also have a “No Zeus” filter, and a “No Thor” filter and a “No Vishnu” filter, and filters for every other deity, to explain why they believe those gods don’t exist.
There is a belief, the multiple choice questing has been filled in:
Is there a God:
a Yes ( )
b No (X)
c I don’t know ( )
From the above you have the possible answers:
a = Theist
b = atheist
c = agnostic
and if the person didn’t get the question then it does not yet exist for them - I believe this is where you are trying to define Atheism, but I don’t see how it could fit here.
Actually no one knows if there is a God or not. So by your quiz there everyone should be an agnostic.
Not that that’s what agnostic actually means, mind you.
Again, you don’t believe in Spiderman because there is no evidence for him. That doesn’t mean you have an affirmative belief in No-Spiderman. It means that you need evidence to accept something so silly.
As a Christian, I have little problem with Annihilationism. The Hebrew Scriptures certainly seem to support it. Only three passages in the New Testament seem to support never-ending torment as opposed to others which could be seen as annihilationist & those three passages are still ambiguous.
I do think there would be a Resurrection & Judgement, tho- to let unbelievers & outright rebels know they didn’t get away with a thing, that they could have had Eternal Joy & threw that chance away. Of course, I do believe that future opportunity could be allowed those who would benefit from it. I mostly lean to the Eastern Orthodox version- in the words of Father Theodore Hopko, those who will persist in rebellion against God-Jesus will dwell in His Love and Grace for ages of ages, tormented by His Presence as long as they blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
Wouldn’t Eternal Joy (indeed, Eternal Anything) start to wear thin after a while? Even if it takes a million years before you start getting tired of it (and I’d be surprised if most people could handle it for more than a week), you’ve still got eternity more to go.
But you aren’t factoring in that God is Magic. He makes it so you still love it. Because, magic.
Well, if such a God wants me to be a devout loving worshipful believer, he could rewire my brain accordingly. In fact, what’s stopping him from doing so either now, or upon my death or (given the scope of this discussion) after my death?
“I love those wonderful X-1 robots!”
But you’ve been saying there’s a difference between “I lack a belief that X” and “I do not believe X”. Or, as you put it:
Bolding mine. If, as you say, there’s a difference with regard to lacking a belief in Tom Fiskaa – and a difference, as you say, with regard to lacking a belief in God – then we need to structure your multiple-choice question to reflect that difference.
Please post the multiple choice question to that structure.
In the way I structured it, the ‘not yet have received the question therefor no answer’ would be lack of belief, while answering ‘no’ would be disbelief. The former would indicate a open learning state of the mind, the latter would indicated a preconception that is used to define the world.
First, I’d like to see your answer to the following:
Do you believe Tom Fiskaa is presently trekking across Antarctica?
a) I do believe that Tom Fiskaa is presently trekking across Antarctica.
b) I lack that belief.
c) I do not believe that Tom Fiskaa is presently trekking across Antarctica.
Do you answer B or C or both or neither?