This is no better than the ‘schoolboy’ definition “believing in something you know isn’t true”
Fair enough, it was a sloppy definition (or rather, it relies on a specific definition of the word “fact”).
How about the definition “firm belief in something for which you have no proof” (Webster)? I think few would question the proposition that God offers proof of his existence only to a select few, and still expects people to believe.
Or how could we accurately define “knowledge” of religious matters (such as “knowing” that there is no god but Allah) in a way “knowledge” that can be proven from observing natural phenomena (such as “knowing” what color the sky is)? You can hardly argue that an all-powerful deity would have the first kind of knowledge about the world.
Add the word ‘tangible’ in there and we’re getting closer; many theists (myself included) feel that they have all the proof that they personally need, but it’s not the same sort of proof that you’d offer in support of a scientific assertion.
Still doesn’t make God an atheist though, sorry.
[Quote]
by God
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Does this sound like the statement from an atheist?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by kniz *
**
You’re right, of course. I think it’s fascinating how you can follow the “evolution” of the idea of God through the Bible. In the early books, such as the Pentateuch, Judaism is clearly a monolatrous religion (a religion that doesn’t deny the existence of other gods, but forbids its followers to worship them, kind of like your girlfriend might not deny the existence of other women, but forbid you to date them). He is also very anthropomorphic, to the point of going for walks in the garden of Eden in Genesis, making bets with the Devil in Job, and almost wiping out the human race in a fit of rage, which he later regrets. At the end of the NT, he has become almost completely abstract, and the possibility of other gods is not hinted at.
Mangetout: Heck, I’m a theist too. The reason I submitted the OP was not so much that I thought I could disprove the existence of a higher being (I really don’t think that’ll ever be possible), it was more that I was irritated by the tendency of many believers to think that their deity must necessarily share their worldview (which in my view is what makes the idea of an omnipotent god so problematic).
aegypt wrote:
Are you kidding? Anthony Robbins is a salesman. What are the chances that a salesman is going to wind up in Heaven? 