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"All Notions of Deity are Necessarily False"
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
I honestly don't know who the author of that statement is. I've heard it kicked around for years.
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
Not all, but I could agree that probably most are.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
I think all notions of deity are true in terms describing something accurate and meaningful about the human beings who invent them.
No, I don't.
My issue is with the "necessarily": notions of deity stand or fall on their own merits. I haven't seen one yet that does stand on its merits, but I also see no justification to say that they're all necessarily false.
It's the belief in a deity that's true or false.
If the belief is true, then the concept ("the map") corresponds to reality ("the territory"). If a deity is ineffable - i.e. can't be mapped - then any belief in such a deity is necessarily false, since holding a concept of a deity that can't be conceived is an oxymoron.
Again, it's off-topic.
MattersOfTheHeart
Active Member
I've done my best to experiment living life with a deity and without.
Much more is clear while with a deity than without.
I do find some deities nearer to what I perceive as truth, and some farther away. I believe there can be only one real God though. Scientifically it just makes sense.
Demonslayer
Well-Known Member
I agree with the statement, there are no deities. I simply can't imagine there is such a creature as a deity.
It's like asking someone if every notion of Wizard is necessarily false. Some folks might believe in Merlin but not Gandalf, Allanon or Harry Potter. But if you agree with the statement what you're saying is you feel a Wizard is not really a thing, only a fictional idea.
It's like asking someone if every notion of Wizard is necessarily false. Some folks might believe in Merlin but not Gandalf, Allanon or Harry Potter. But if you agree with the statement what you're saying is you feel a Wizard is not really a thing, only a fictional idea.
Why of course. God's true nature is incomprehensible, indescribable. Personality and impersonality are one of many of God's qualities.
If you think that God is ineffable, what do you mean when you say "God"?
Liu
Well-Known Member
I don't know, but I consider it possible. Many deities are thought of as having several aspects. Being a pantheist I basically equate reality with the divine, and reality obviously has quite some aspects.
That's rather similar to what I described in my former comment, and I agree that such a notion of deity is (depending on the details) either per definition as true as x = x, or simply not falsifiable.
The word "notions" is what jumps out at me in this assertion/question.
I'm thinking along lines of "kill the buddha" type reasoning.
Expression of "God" (for instance) is clearly a symbol, or notion, and is not to be understood as 'reality of God.' But given the way language or our way of communicating works, there's not a way around this.
To me, it would be equally accurate to say "all notions of atoms are necessarily false."
Kinda shuts down all discussion and where's the fun in that?
Deity is often called "ineffable", but are atoms often called "ineffable"?
No, because of deification.
That notion of deity whereby it is a status conferred on a person or object by external devotees, rather than a description of inherent qualities and attributes, cannot be necessarily false, due to being inherently subjective.
It'd be like saying "all notions of monetary value are necessarily false", or "all notions of authority are necessarily false."
Am I to speak for everyone?
Interesting! Thanks!
I've never heard atoms described as "ineffable". Have you?
I can't recall the last time I heard anyone use the word "ineffable" and so it applies to deities, for me.
I don't think the mental conception I have of an atom is what atoms actually look like. I highly doubt the vast majority of people have accurate perception of what atoms look like. Thus, all the notions that (large majority of) people do have about atoms are arguably false. Arguably the term "atom" is a false notion, but helps in identifying the 'thing' that large majority of people have false notions about.
