Vinterland

Disbelieve as in discredit. The agnostic atheist discredits theism based on lacking evidence to its' claims. Therefore, one who does not disbelieve, believes, right?

Imo (and I am not certain of this), it is not agnostic to rule out the possibility of any God. I have not ruled out the literal or non-literal Christian representations of God in Bible despite the former having made seversal testable claims (such as the flood which should have mixed dinosaurs and humans within the same strata, and so forth) that have failed, there still exists the possibility of its existence. If I were to deny the possibility then I will consider my sellf a gnostic atheist.

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And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.
And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment."
—Gibran Khalil Gibran, “The Greater Sea.”

romansh

Could you not use the same argument for the weak and strong atheist definitions?

'I disbelieve god does not exist' (believe god exists) is not the same as 'I do not disbelieve god exists'? The latter could mean either strong theist or I'm not sure.

for me a theistic god is totally irrational, I cannot reconcile all the evidence we have, with a theos. Now there could be some evidence I have misinterpreted or yet to be discovered? I cannot rule out a deistic god.

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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams

Gettin' In Tune

I probably won't get it and you won't either, but lets discuss.

Yes it does. If you don't believe in god, then you are atheist. Your resistance is futile.

Every conception of god is a man made conception fabricated on irrationality. Tell me one conception that is not fabricated and based on evidence. God is a fabrication of the human mind. If the human mind did not exist, then god would not exist.

What type of god? Where is the evidence to support a definable god?

You atheist, you.

Again, describe this god of yours. I think you still grasp to the idea of god for an explanation. I think you seek an explanation and not god and hold open the possibility that this explanation might be god.

I am just being a smart-ass.

Agnostics do not have any empirical evidence to support the notion of god, but they entertain the possibility of a nebulous conception of god. Why? Because they seek explanation rather than god. They think "god" may hold that explanation.

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"But to find the truth we need imagination and skepticism both. We will not be afraid to speculate, but we will be careful to distinguish speculation from fact."--C.Sagan

Symposium

I don't believe in the bible god, and I am not an athiest.

An agnostic believes you can neither prove, nor DISPROVE the fact of a higher power.

That means we believe there could be one, or there could not be one. Basically, no one knows.

And why not? An athiest pretends to know what no one can, just as a devout follower does. Have you died before?

Then how can you pretend to know? I agree there is no concrete evidence there is a god. I also agree there is no concrete evidence that there is not a god.

Millions of people claim to see miracles and evidence of a god every day. Millions of people claim there is no such thing, or that they have not seen miracles or evidence of a god.

That is all.

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Heather

romansh

Hi GiT
Can I suggest you let agnostics decide what they are and if you disagree just ask questions to clarify the point. Telling people what you think they are might just come across as intolerant and arrogant?

A good question to ask Skepti might be "why do you not discount the existence of a god?" I would be interested in that answer, wouldn't you?

all the best

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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams

MAYBE

I am not an atheist because atheism is just silly


everyone knows there HAS to be a God... it's so simple and obvious even a child would understand


amen friends

shadowind

then why do people not get it?

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remember "for mere impulse of appetite is slavery, while obedience to a law which we prescirbe to oursleves is liberty"-rousseau: the concept of the general will "if we can not reconcile all opions, then let us endeavour to unite all hearts."-?"to be is to be perceived"-? "‘We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know’-Robert G. Ingersoll

MAYBE

people don't like having to answer to anyone

Believing God exists means one must follow his rules

Believing God doesn't exist opens the doors to do as one pleases without hesitation

path of least resistance coupled with most self gratifaction

Satan set forth this path when he told Adam and Eve they would be Gods, therefore not have to listen to Godtell them what was right and wrong... obvioulsy man has wanted this from the beginning


amen friend

shadowind

being god sounds like a good goal

besides people not wanting to answer to a higher power, why else do you think people don't get it? or is that it?

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remember "for mere impulse of appetite is slavery, while obedience to a law which we prescirbe to oursleves is liberty"-rousseau: the concept of the general will "if we can not reconcile all opions, then let us endeavour to unite all hearts."-?"to be is to be perceived"-? "‘We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know’-Robert G. Ingersoll

ThomasHenry

" ... there HAS to be a God" ... Just HAS to be ... Now, there's a compelling reason to believe in god if ever I heard one.

I think that (maybe) what Maybe is trying to express is the Teleological Argument for the existence of god. That being essentially that the Universe is too complicated to not have had a designer. There are many philosophical refutations of that argument which I will not bore anyone with.

Respectfully.

TH

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A spark of the Divine lies within us all.

T. Henry