Why do Athiests challenge Thiests?

[Kilgore Trout]

Or, maybe God's looking to out-Luther Luther; maybe God wants us to withhold belief, and keeps an especially cozy spot in Hell reserved for those who suspend their rational intellect just to try to get ahead in the game...

It is hard to swallow the notion of a god who desires to spend eternity surrounded by millions of credulous, vapid groupies. Also, who would want to spend eternity with such a narcissistic being?

 

[Poeticus]

Also, who would want to spend eternity with such a narcissistic being?

The numbers are frightfully staggering: 31.59% of the world.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

If they understand the doctrine correctly, yes. The Qur'an never accuses Christians of being polytheists.

However, the behaviors and attitudes of most adherents of large religions indicate that they often do not understand the doctrine correctly. It's hard to suppress the urge to intepret doctrine to support tribalistic divisions and biases.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

The numbers are frightfully staggering: 31.59% of the world.

The vapid groupie contigent is sizeable, indeed.

 

[Willamena]

Um, no... Theism requires people that believe God exists- not "for whom God exists" (no more than people believing in Bigfoot means that for them, Bigfoot does exist- Bigfoot's, and God's, existence is the same for everyone...).

People for whom god exists are people who believe in god. If you want to promote belief as something other than the attitude that god exists, you are welcome to do so.

 

[Poeticus]

The vapid groupie contigent is sizeable, indeed.

It's frightfully...quite a sizable quantity, indeed. And, by frightfully, I mean: quite a threateningly large contingent of vapidity.

 

[Poeticus]

...

Of Paramount Importance (and quite off-track): I'm looking forward to the new episode of Atlantis coming out this weekend! Yay!

 

[Enai de a lukal]

People for whom god exists are people who believe in god. If you want to promote belief as something other than the attitude that god exists, you are welcome to do so.

Um... What? I'm saying that theists are characterized by their belief/attitude that God exists- not that they are a class of people "for whom God exists"; this is, at best, a misleading way to put it to say the least, and at worst is a nonsensical doctrine of double-truth.

 

[Enai de a lukal]

It is hard to swallow the notion of a god who desires to spend eternity surrounded by millions of credulous, vapid groupies. Also, who would want to spend eternity with such a narcissistic being?

Exactly. If there is a Heaven, I'm not sure I want to be there.

 

[Willamena]

Um... What? I'm saying that theists are characterized by their belief/attitude that God exists- not that they are a class of people "for whom God exists"; this is, at best, a misleading way to put it to say the least, and at worst is a nonsensical doctrine of double-truth.

There is nothing misleading about it unless you're unfamiliar with the phrase.

I'm sorry that I used language you were unfamiliar with.

 

[Enai de a lukal]

If you can't see how "for whom God exists" would seem to imply that God exists, for them, and thus be misleading, or seem to imply that you're suggesting some sort of double-truth, then perhaps you should look again...

 

[Poeticus]

What in the world are you two arguing about?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Exactly. If there is a Heaven, I'm not sure I want to be there.

I'll meet you in the other place. We can spend eternity arguing about how I think you're too abstruse and pedantic, and you think I'm too pithy and flippant. Then we can get some hot demon hookers and drink til we fall down.

 

[Willamena]

If you can't see how "for whom God exists" would seem to imply that God exists, for them, and thus be misleading, or seem to imply that you're suggesting some sort of double-truth, then perhaps you should look again...

If you like I can apologize for saying what I meant to say the way I wanted to say it, rather than saying it how you'd like me to say it, but I doubt that would be fruitful.

Nevertheless, get used to it because I will use such phrases again.

 

[Willamena]

What in the world are you two arguing about?

Arrogance.

 

[Sunstone]

Or, maybe God's looking to out-Luther Luther; maybe God wants us to withhold belief, and keeps an especially cozy spot in Hell reserved for those who suspend their rational intellect just to try to get ahead in the game...

Although some people might believe in a god because they are intellectually convinced that the existence of a god makes sense, I suspect most people who believe in a god do so firmly more or less to the extent they derive some emotional reward for doing so -- such as feelings of security, purpose, meaning, a sense of community, and so forth. Those are common enough reasons for believing in anything, let alone deity. But there are many mystics who have asserted that god or ultimate reality cannot be known by people who have an agenda -- any agenda -- for believing in a god. If so, then a person who, say, believes in deity because it gives him or her a sense of community with other believers is actually moving away from god, rather than closer to god. Just a thought. I myself wouldn't know.

 

[Enai de a lukal]

lol...

 

[Sunstone]

I'll meet you in the other place. We can spend eternity arguing about how I think you're too abstruse and pedantic, and you think I'm too pithy and flippant. Then we can get some hot demon hookers and drink til we fall down.

Are you talking about heaven, or your most recent Friday in town?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Are you talking about heaven, or your most recent Friday in town?

I'm having a hard time seeing the difference between the two.

 

[Valjean]

Um... What? I'm saying that theists are characterized by their belief/attitude that God exists- not that they are a class of people "for whom God exists"; this is, at best, a misleading way to put it to say the least, and at worst is a nonsensical doctrine of double-truth.

This "double truth" is perfectly reasonable to many 'Eastern' ways of thinking. There are levels of reality, and different truths in each.

Even from a western point of view, what is true from a Quantum perspective is impossible from a Relativistic perspective is impossible from a Newtonian perspective.

Why can't God both exist and not exist?
If a cat can pull it off it should be child's play for a God.