There is no evidence for God, so why do you believe?

[ElishaElijah]

You know something about them, but don't believe in them?

Your definition of faith and belief in is different than mine.

 

[Sheldon]

This is what an unevidenced claims is.

No it isn't, astronomy and cosmology are based on empirical evidence, as was demonstrated in the explanation I offered that you asked for. You have quoted just one single word and out of context, I'd bet my house you didn't follow the link to the NASA site and read the full evidence either, so such dishonesty and sophistry is not a compelling rebuttal. I am more inclined to believe NASA scientists have a good grasp of the evidence for the origins of our solar system, than you or your unevidenced archaic creation myth.

 

[Sheldon]

Your definition of faith and belief in is different than mine.

You claimed to know something about demons, in the same post you claimed to not believe in them?

I don’t believe in demons,

I do know they’re unclean spirits that torment people and are expelled in the name of Jesus.

Which is it?

 

[ElishaElijah]

You claimed to know something about damsons, in the same post you claimed to not believe in them?





Which is it?

They are real but I’m not placing my trust in them or relying on them for anything.

 

[syo]

Who told you there's no evidence?

 

[Polymath257]

Tomatoes do exist.

Yes, they do. But it is a matter of opinion whether they taste good or not.

 

[Polymath257]

They are the universal questions everyone wants an answer to, unless they are mentally unstable or just dishonest with themselves.

And, once again, they are mostly matters of opinion, not of truth.

That doesn't mean they are unimportant. It just means they don't have the qualities you want.

For me, it is quite satisfactory to say I exist because my parents had sex. That is how new humans are made and specifically how I came about. Why you would want more is beyond me.

Why humans exist is another question, mainly having to do with conditions in east Africa over the last couple of million years. Again, why you want more than that is beyond me. It seems like you want an answer that caters to your ego and not an answer that is correct.

Where the universe came from seems to be an ill-formed question. it assumes causality in a context where it probably does not apply. But, if there is an answer, I know that the answer is to be found through observation and testing our ideas and NOT by looking in a book of myths written by a pre-scientific civilization.

As I see it, you don't want answers that are true. You want answers that make you feel good about yourself.

 

[Sheldon]

They are real but I’m not placing my trust in them or relying on them for anything.

Well firstly I am going to acknowledge the hilarity of my typo, that changed demons into damsons.

However this is not what you said, you said you don't believe in them, so it is axiomatic you cannot "placing trust in them or relying on them for anything." However you then claimed to know something about them, and again claim here that "they are real"?

So you believe they are real yes? So back to my question what objective evidence can you demonstrate for this belief?

 

[Subduction Zone]

Well, your diagnostics are wrong and that’s your only answer when people share their testimonies about how they came to know and experience God.
I don’t believe in demons, I do know they’re unclean spirits that torment people and are expelled in the name of Jesus.

I am not so sure about that. You keep confirming them. And you just confirmed them again more than once in just this post.

Why not prove me wrong? There is a way to do it.

Repeating obviously false claims won't do it.

 

[Polymath257]

I don't claim I can answer for all, but that God does.

Why would I care what God's opinion is about anything?

For example if God has a purpose for me, why would I care?

Why is it relevant to me why God made humans?

Why should I care what God thinks is good?

So, you see, even *if* a God exists, it doesn't greatly affect how I want to live my life, nor what I think about the universe.

Suppose that our universe was a school project for a child in a race of higher dimensional beings that have the technology to make universes. By most definitions, the child would qualify as 'God' since s/he would be the designer of the universe. But their opinion of what I should do or think would be completely irrelevant.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I don't claim I can answer for all, but that God does.

No, you try to claim that you know that what God does and says, and then you tell us that you are almost certainly wrong.

 

[Polymath257]

@Sheldon Is there a physical world? What is the origin of this physical world?

I'll answer for myself.

Yes, there is a physical world.

It makes no sense to ask about the origin of the physical world since it is all that exists.

There is no non-physical world.

 

[Subduction Zone]

If you can't trust your own experiences you can't trust anyone else's either. We all trust what we experience or we would be considered insane.

Experiences of the sort you ramble on about can be easily show not to be trustworthy. How do we know this? You have been told more than once.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Your definition of faith and belief in is different than mine.

Yours appears to be incorrect.

 

[Polymath257]

If you can't trust your own experiences you can't trust anyone else's either. We all trust what we experience or we would be considered insane.

I do not absolutely trust my own experiences. I know that I can misinterpret things, that I am subject to illusions, and that I do not reason perfectly, especially when stressed.

I trust my experiences to some extent, but require that they be repeatable by others before I have much confidence in my interpretation.

I would point out that one of the hallmarks of insanity is trusting your own experiences to an excessive degree. maybe you have a feeling that something horrible will occur and you do some rituals to prevent it, showing you have OCD. Or you have a feeling that people are working against you and you take steps to prevent them, showing you have paranoia. or you have some other forms of delusion and refuse to believe what others tell you about how you are wrong.

Trusting *all* of one's experiences is much more a sign of insanity than it is of a healthy mind. Knowing the difference between reality and fantasy is an important ability.

 

[Polymath257]

Nonsense. Most people are theists and have an answer. Just because you don't agree with it doesn't make it untrue. It's just your opinion.

But somehow different theists get different answers. Which suggests they are just stating their opinions and not some sort of truth.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Yours appears to be incorrect.

I suspect it is as don't like/accept as a positive/consider good is the same as don't believe in.
E.g. I don't believe in democracy, but I know it exists.

 

[Sheldon]

If you can't trust your own experiences you can't trust anyone else's either. We all trust what we experience or we would be considered insane.

That depends whether that experience can be validated with objective evidence, you're talking about trusting it solely. Have you ever seen an illusionist perform magic tricks? I will assume you don't delude yourself they are really performing magic, so it is obvious your experience can be wrong, more importantly it can be wrong even when you know beforehand someone is about to deceive you, and you have no contrary explanation for the events. Yet would believe identical claims for miracles, bizarre.

This does not mean experience is always wrong, if it can be supported by sufficient objective evidence for example.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

But somehow different theists get different answers. Which suggests they are just stating their opinions and not some sort of truth.

Well, the funny thing is this:
Someone: I know there is a God.
Someone else: I know all of existence is physical
Me: I know neither.

When I realized that about knowledge and indeed truth, I became after further investigation a strong philosophical skeptic.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

I do not absolutely trust my own experiences. I know that I can misinterpret things, that I am subject to illusions, and that I do not reason perfectly, especially when stressed.

I trust my experiences to some extent, but require that they be repeatable by others before I have much confidence in my interpretation.

I would point out that one of the hallmarks of insanity is trusting your own experiences to an excessive degree. maybe you have a feeling that something horrible will occur and you do some rituals to prevent it, showing you have OCD. Or you have a feeling that people are working against you and you take steps to prevent them, showing you have paranoia. or you have some other forms of delusion and refuse to believe what others tell you about how you are wrong.

Trusting *all* of one's experiences is much more a sign of insanity than it is of a healthy mind. Knowing the difference between reality and fantasy is an important ability.

The fun thing is the cross over. I am in a limited sense insane, but I know it with another part of my brain, so if my medication works and I am not to stressed, I can compensate for it, but a part of my brain is still insane.