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Atheism and Faith

Terry Sampson

Well-Known Member
Yeah, that is the real world where things seem to contract and extend in length and particles appear from nowhere and dissolve in nowhere. This is 'maya'.

I have a growing interest in maya. I'll share my unsolicited speculations in a private conversation, ... when I can peel the dogs off my leg. :D
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
Personally? I'm inclined to believe we're destined for the same destination. To the extent that some residual sense of "self" remains, whether that destination is heaven or hell will depend on our desire to be there. I suspect that if there is no remnant of "self", then heaven and hell would be irrelevant, wouldn't they? If, on the other hand, each of finds our self somewhere, it will be heaven for those who want to be there, ... and hell for those who don't. IMO.
I wrote according to your beliefs. In my belief, there is no God, no 'self', not even a creation (no birth, no death, no hell, no heaven, no judgment). All these are denied (as I believe) in 'maya'. Of course, most 'Advaitists' differ from my view. I have a radical view of non-duality.
 

viole

Ontological Naturalist
Premium Member
I have several half-baked thoughts on which I would enjoy seeing discussion and development.

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual. I wrote somewhere once that a least a part of me is atheist as I have moments when I want to believe only what I see (at times almost a temptation to be cold blooded) and as sometimes my healthy skepticism keeps me from being superstitious or hyper spiritual.

2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity. Like the blind men and the elephant, what each one is experiencing must be integrated to put the whole puzzle together, so perhaps it is with culture and knowledge. Even doubting Thomas had a role to play in the story of Jesus, and I assume other religions address the role of questioning and the need of faith not to be blind faith.

3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, as the the phantoms of imagination are separated from reasonable ethos and as legitimate intuition (arising from vast amounts of study and experience) is separated from gut feelings inspired by indigestion. I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I'll stop here as these are indeed half-baked thoughts.

you are not going too far. I would love to be proven wrong. As I love to learn something new, and unlearn something wrong.

Ciao

- viole
 

It Aint Necessarily So

Veteran Member
Premium Member
And since choosing unbelief (in gods) IS choosing a position, it begs to be justified. Just as choosing "belief" (in gods) is a position, and likewise begs to be justified.

The justification I hear, constantly, from atheists is that "there is no evidence". But "no evidence" does not justify "unbelief". It only justifies "undetermined". Yet almost none of you EVER refer to yourselves as being "undetermined". And in fact, you nearly always INSIST on using the term "unbelief". So "unbelief" it is, but then your collective defense is just plain illogical nonsense. Which I suspect you all know deep in your hearts. Which is why you all are trying so hard to pretend that you're just "undetermined", when clearly you are not. Because being "undetermined" excuses you from having to justify your position.

You don't seem to be making any effort to understand. Or perhaps you just can't. Being an atheist does not mean claiming that gods don't exist. Some do that, but that quality is not necessary to atheism, and in my experience, most atheists don't make that claim. I don't.

I have explained what agnostic atheists believe and claim about gods, as well as telling you that I am an agnostic atheist. I need no justification to take that position apart from it being the only logical conclusion possible for the rational skeptic who believe that there is neither sufficient evidence to rule gods in or out.

You also seem to be unwilling or incapable of entertaining the idea that we are and believe what we say we are and believe. You're sure that were all lying - that we are sure that no gods exist despite telling you that we are agnostic - and trying to hide the fact that we have : "Which is why you all are trying so hard to pretend that you're just "undetermined", when clearly you are not" You seem to think you know what I believe better than I do.

I am capable of holding a middle position - the position of agnosticism, which is not limited to god beliefs. You were talking about innocence and guilt elsewhere. It is very possible to have no firm opinion one way or another.

Likewise with trust. You meet a stranger. Do you consider him trustworthy or dishonest / unreliable? For me, it's neither. I presently have no reason to trust or distrust him. I'm in that third, agnostic space between. Get back to me when I have had some experience with this person. By then I may have good reason to call him trustworthy or the opposite.

That's where I am with gods as well. Although it apparently seems impossible to you, I neither believe in gods nor believe that they cannot or do not exist. I have zero means of ruling out the deist god, for example, or any other kind of deity that doesn't manifest in our world whether that is because it is unaware of us, is unconcerned with us, or simply has no means of reaching us. What are the odds that something like that exists? I can't give an answer, so I don't.
 

Terry Sampson

Well-Known Member
OK, you aren't understanding what a Loedel diagram is.

*sigh* For being such a clever kid, you're having a hard time keeping up.

I'm gonna try to show you "why" I drew two Loedels when you think I only needed one. If you still don't get it, I'll look around for an interpreter.
  • First, here's the table of events again. Note that there are nine of them that I'm interested in.
  • Next, is another Loedel for you. Most of it should be familiar to you.
    • Note that I have identified the nine events with a "frame-independent" color: yellow. Do Loedels typically have frame-dependent colored lines and frame-independent boxes that identify events? No.
    • Note also that three of the boxes have numbers in them: 1, 5, and 9. Those numbers correspond to events listed in the table. They happen to be events that both frames' observers describe identically. In other words, everybody in the spaceships agrees that when A1 is adjacent to B1, B1 is adjacent to A1; when A2 is adjacent to B2, B2 is adjacent to A2; and when A3 is adjacent to B3, B3 is adjacent to A3. And it so happens that everybody in the spaceships agrees on the chronological order of those three events, to wit: #1 happened first, #9 happened last, and #5 happened in the middle of all the events.
    • Now, pray tell, what is the chronological order of the other six events? To show that order, please number the boxes and let me know when you're done. Thanks.
Double Triplets Loedel Diagrams B.jpg

Basic Double Triplets Loedel Diagram.jpg
 
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Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
To no one in particular, the scientists have found a star which had a companion. The Black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy devoured the companion star and flung this star so hard that it is on a space journey with a speed of 3.7 million miles per hour (S5-HVs1). The star is 29,000 light-years away and would soon (100 million years) leave the Milky Way galaxy. This happened about 5 million years ago. The Milky Way galaxy Black Hole is 4.2 million times heavier than our sun.
Black hole hurls star out of Milky Way | EarthSky.org

"It’s great to be able to confirm a 30-year-old prediction that stars can be flung out of a galaxy by the supermassive black hole at its center."

star-leaving-milky-way-illustration-e1574014999646.jpg
 
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PureX

Veteran Member
What's confusing or convoluted about it?

You don't have to assume someone's innocent in order to not be convinced of their guilt. How is that confusing?
It's both deliberately confusing, and dishonest, to pretend to have taken no position when one has taken the position of "disbelief" ("unbelief"), rather than "undetermined".

"Belief" and "disbelief" (even when hidden behind "unbelief") are both asserted positions. Only "undetermined" can stand as a non-assertion.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
Again, those two phrases are not equivalent. The fact that you don't believe Bob is guilty (because the evidence sucks) doesn't mean you're convinced he's innocent either.
Then there is no honest reason to assert one's disbelief (unbelief) when what they purport to be is undetermined.

For the same reason that in a court of law we find people "not guilty" instead of declaring them, "innocent." When people are declared, "not guilty" that doesn't mean the jury is convinced the person is innocent. It means the evidence presented was insufficient to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt that the person is in fact guilty.
And the logical result, then, is that their guilt remains undetermined. If however, the defense has show with sufficient evidence that the accused IS innocent (couldn't have or almost certainly didn't do the deed), then the logical result is that they are presumed to be innocent.

No evidence does not equate to no gods, and so does not justify "disbelief (unbelief) in the existence of gods. In fact, no evidence does not justify ANY kind of belief. Which why it's both deliberately confusing and dishonest to be proclaiming one's "unbelief" and then pretending that they are "undetermined". If they were really undetermined, they would not believe, or disbelieve (unbelieve).
 

PureX

Veteran Member
Once you have asserted your belief, or your disbelief, you have asserted your position, and you become responsible for justifying your assertion. If you are really undetermined, then you should not be asserting your disbelief.

It's that simple.
 

j1i

Smiling is charity without giving money
I have several half-baked thoughts on which I would enjoy seeing discussion and development.

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual. I wrote somewhere once that a least a part of me is atheist as I have moments when I want to believe only what I see (at times almost a temptation to be cold blooded) and as sometimes my healthy skepticism keeps me from being superstitious or hyper spiritual.

2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity. Like the blind men and the elephant, what each one is experiencing must be integrated to put the whole puzzle together, so perhaps it is with culture and knowledge. Even doubting Thomas had a role to play in the story of Jesus, and I assume other religions address the role of questioning and the need of faith not to be blind faith.

3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, as the the phantoms of imagination are separated from reasonable ethos and as legitimate intuition (arising from vast amounts of study and experience) is separated from gut feelings inspired by indigestion. I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I'll stop here as these are indeed half-baked thoughts.


If you make an individual effort to search for the truth of God, you are like the one who will develop perceptions that are not finite and will die of thirst
Like the one lost in the desert looking for hope for water

Doubt in the presence of God it may be a need or a desire
Because a person does not like to adhere to the burdens or know a disturbing truth such as those who get sick and afraid to go to the hospital to hear unpleasant news because of laboratory results

The fact that there is a God must not be excluded and the reason that the existence of every body has a maker
In short, if we are honest investigators
We will find that every time the thought takes us to a larger founder and maker
Until we reach the finish line
This is what we call the first source of existence

I believe that the first source is the one who created everyone, and my faith in him is that he is God worthy of worship

people love to worship even if we find a sexy and wonderful girl who has sexy feminine feelings
Many are associated with it as if it were worship, as well as if influenced by a historical figure or cartoon character or a character from the movies relate to it a lot in a lifetime
As well as the worship we have when we see the forms and allegations that they are unusual we believe exist

But some like atheism are not convinced that these objects that will wear out and end and disappear from the universe are a part of divinity and this good thinking reflects the sophistication of this category in society

But at the same time we must give in to the idea that there is a maker

It does not make sense to see a building in the desert (skyscraper) made without an engineer

Thank you
 

halbhh

The wonder and awe of "all things".
I have several half-baked thoughts on which I would enjoy seeing discussion and development.

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual. I wrote somewhere once that a least a part of me is atheist as I have moments when I want to believe only what I see (at times almost a temptation to be cold blooded) and as sometimes my healthy skepticism keeps me from being superstitious or hyper spiritual.

2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity. Like the blind men and the elephant, what each one is experiencing must be integrated to put the whole puzzle together, so perhaps it is with culture and knowledge. Even doubting Thomas had a role to play in the story of Jesus, and I assume other religions address the role of questioning and the need of faith not to be blind faith.

3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, as the the phantoms of imagination are separated from reasonable ethos and as legitimate intuition (arising from vast amounts of study and experience) is separated from gut feelings inspired by indigestion. I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I'll stop here as these are indeed half-baked thoughts.

I was atheist for around 10-12 years, and then agnostic about that long. But one day I did something pretty radical, or unusual, that is uncommon. I took a real leap of faith and did the following, though I didn't realize it, didn't know I was following a specific instruction, but did it without being aware: "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jer chapter 29). What happened not long after that was so...clear and impossible (I would have thought), that I no longer could speculate 'maybe God exists', but instead I had to admit 'Something clearly exists which is beyond the ordinary surface of the world, past ordinary physics' (in which I have a degree). It compelled me then to turn to read Christ's words (the "Teacher") very carefully, as I was then aware He was talking about real things, to my continuing shock. If one actually reads what Christ said (in the 4 gospel accounts), it's not at all like the popular notions you get 2nd hand (or even in a church from sermons). It's....so much more interesting and better. Perhaps I had a very good aid in that time in that I didn't expect that preachers would understand that much (in my experienced they had not, by evident proof of their sermons), so I listened to Christ, instead of those popular notions, which is a kind of real listening. His words seem clear or simple at times, but are deep like the ocean really.
 
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Terry Sampson

Well-Known Member
I think that a better way of evaluating the truth content of a proposition is by its efficacy in helping one correctly predict outcomes under various circumstances. This eliminates many of the semantic difficulties of using words like proof and correct.

So, to answer your question, I wouldn't use the words true or false to describe Einstein's theories. I would say that they work, and are thus useful and should be implemented where they can help.

I can't speak for anybody else, but I, for one, consider that to be a substantially reasonable opinion. I'd have been frustrated, annoyed, and offended far less often, had the typical relativist response been: It works and has proven effective and useful in predicting outcomes, given our current technological limitations; or something along those lines.

As Polymath257 recently noted elsewhere, Newton's formulation of gravity has been superceded by Einsteins, which is necessary for certain applications in physics and its implementation in technology and engineering, but for most applications, including sending probes into space, Newton's formulation still works.

Pardon me if I disillusion you, but just because I'm not a fan of Einstein does not mean that Newtonian physics is my default preferred theory. In fact, I favor a Neo-Lorentzian ether approach over Einstein's, although I view Neo-Lorentzians as quasi-relativists because they don't incorporate an Absolute Space or Absolute Time in their discussions. In the Neo-Lorentzians' favor, IMO, is the fact that they are, as a rule [based on my own personal experience], a far more friendly lot and I have never encountered one who was quick to insult, demean, and belittle me in the manner that relativists habitually do. The worst characters, by far, are the pseudo-relativists (i.e. the wannabies): Quickest to insult, demean, and belittle and invariably uninformed regarding important details of just the theory of special relativity, and even more ignorant of details in the theory of general relativity. Experience has proven that those who understand the least are the quickest to offend anti-relativists and novices.

Faith cannot possibly be a path to truth

Maybe, maybe not ... I suspect that whether "faith can be a path to truth" or not calls for some kind of clarification of the domain of the truth that is sought.
 
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Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
*sigh* For being such a clever kid, you're having a hard time keeping up.

I'm gonna try to show you "why" I drew two Loedels when you think I only needed one. If you still don't get it, I'll look around for an interpreter.
  • First, here's the table of events again. Note that there are nine of them that I'm interested in.

No. That is NOT a table of events. There *are* nine events:

1. When A1 is adjacent to B1
2. When A2 is adjacent to B1
3. When A3 is adjacent to B1
4. When A1 is adjacent to B2
5. When A2 is adjacent to B2
6. When A3 is adjacent to B2
7. When A1 is adjacent to B3
8. When A2 is adjacent to B3
9. When A3 is adjacent to B3

Furthermore, *everyone* agrees that Event 1 happens before Event 4 which happens before Event 7. Similarly for 2,5,8 and 3,6,9. Also, *everyone* agrees that 1 happens before 2 which is before 3. Similarly for 4,5,6 and 7,8,9.

But what *you* write for event 2 is a combination of *two* different events: my event 2 and my event 4. Remember that an event has both a time and a location. those two events have different locations.

  • Next, is another Loedel for you. Most of it should be familiar to you.
    • Note that I have identified the nine events with a "frame-independent" color: yellow. Do Loedels typically have frame-dependent colored lines and frame-independent boxes that identify events? No.
The lines are the space and time axes for the two spaceships. For example, the lines labeled as A1, A2, and A3 are three different fixed locations in spaceship A's frame. In the Loedel frame, however, the markers are NOT at rest, so you get these angled lines.

The same is true for the lines labeled B1, B2, B3, only they are for spaceship B.

The other blue lines are the lines that spaceship A sees as being simultaneous. So, being on one of these lines means spaceship A will see those events as happening at the same time. Similarly for the unlabeled red lines and spaceship B.

The events are simply events: locations in spacetime.

    • Note also that three of the boxes have numbers in them: 1, 5, and 9. Those numbers correspond to events listed in the table. They happen to be events that both frames' observers describe identically. In other words, everybody in the spaceships agrees that when A1 is adjacent to B1, B1 is adjacent to A1; when A2 is adjacent to B2, B2 is adjacent to A2; and when A3 is adjacent to B3, B3 is adjacent to A3. And it so happens that everybody in the spaceships agrees on the chronological order of those three events, to wit: #1 happened first, #9 happened last, and #5 happened in the middle of all the events.

OK so far.
    • Now, pray tell, what is the chronological order of the other six events? To show that order, please number the boxes and let me know when you're done. Thanks.

In what frame do you want the chronological order? In the frame of spaceship A? spaceship B? or in the Loedel frame?

The answers are different depending on which frame you mean. And, like I said, you have to be clear about what the events are. You seem to confuse the event when A1 and B2 are adjacent with the event where A2 and B1 are adjacent. They are at the same time *for spaceship A*, but are at different times for spaceship B and for the Loedel frame.


According to how I gave the events above, this is trivial. For example, the box you labeled as 1 is the event when the A1 and B1 lines intersect, so it is event 1.

Now, going by my designation of events above, the second row, left box is event 2, the right box is event 4, the left box on the third level is event 3, the right box is event 7, the left on the fourth level is event 6 and the right is event 8. Just look at which labeled lines are crossing and identify the number of that event.

The Loedel diagram is NOT a diagram from the frame of A or B. It is in the frame in which both A and B are moving at the same speed in opposite directions. That is the *definition* of the Loedel frame.

And, like I said above, we can read off the order of the events in each frame from this. For example, for spaceship A (blue lines), the event I have labeled 4 happens after 1. The events (notice the plural) 2 and 7 also happen on the same blue line (although it is not given) and so are simultaneous for spaceship A. Then event 5 happens, then 6 and 8 are simultaneous for A. Then 9.

For spaceship B, we use the unlabeled red lines. the sequence is 1, 2 and 3 simultaneous, 4, 5, 6 and 7, 8, 9.

For the Loedel frame, use horizontal lines for equal times, and find 1, 2 and 4, 3 and 5 and 7, 6 and 8, and finally 9.
 
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Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
Then there is no honest reason to assert one's disbelief (unbelief) when what they purport to be is undetermined.

Being undetermined means you don't believe. Which is what unbelief means.

And the logical result, then, is that their guilt remains undetermined. If however, the defense has show with sufficient evidence that the accused IS innocent (couldn't have or almost certainly didn't do the deed), then the logical result is that they are presumed to be innocent.

No dispute here. Your confusion is that you think "unbelief" means "believe the opposite." It doesn't.

No evidence does not equate to no gods, and so does not justify "disbelief (unbelief) in the existence of gods. In fact, no evidence does not justify ANY kind of belief. Which why it's both deliberately confusing and dishonest to be proclaiming one's "unbelief" and then pretending that they are "undetermined". If they were really undetermined, they would not believe, or disbelieve (unbelieve).

:facepalm: Again, unbelief means not believing. We are literally telling you verbatim what we mean. We're telling you we're not believers. We even clarified that we're willing to distinguish between "disbelief" and "unbelief" to clarify that we mean "not believe" vs. "believe the opposite."

I've now explained this multiple times to you, very clearly. You have resorted to accusing me of lying repeatedly about my own position, even as I go out of my way to clarify it. It would be insulting if it wasn't a transparent, desperate attempt to shift the burden of proof.

Instead of going through all this melodrama over semantics, just give us some good evidence for a god.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
And I say 'tisn't. Ergo, you and I have an irreconcilable difference which ends discussion on the matter.

Well, the simple fact that it can accurately predict the results of future observations is all that is required for science. You have even agreed that it does. And that *means* it is a very accurate approximation.

I can't speak for anybody else, but I, for one, consider that to be a substantially reasonable opinion. I'd have been frustrated, annoyed, and offended far less often, had the typical relativist response been: It works and has proven effective and useful in predicting outcomes, given our current technological limitations; or something along those lines.

But that is what it *means* to be 'true' in a scientific context. The ability to correctly predict outcomes *is* the definition of 'true' for a scientific theory.
 
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