Suppose you were to try to convince someone of your non-belief in the existence of God, what (in less than 200 words) would you say?
Russell Glasser once said something like...if me TELLING you I don't believe in your god doesn't convince you, I don't know what will. (I think that was during a Halloween episode years ago when the caller said Russell must believe in god because he dressed up for Halloween. They explained at least three times that no, you can dress up for Halloween and not believe in god. And no, he doesn't believe in any gods. The caller just kept insisting that the Halloween costume proved Russell believed in god. Eventually they just hung up on him.)
Do you believe in Santa? Or Zeus? Or Ganesha? Shiva? Convince me you don't believe in them and then I'll convince you I don't.
I would say "Prove it!"
Actually I had that discussion with someone once.
Question: "What is your proof that god exists"
Answer: "It's in the bible!"
Question: "How do you know the bible is true?"
Answer: "Pfft... it's the bible!"
Who can argue with that sort of circular logic?
I believe in evidence. If god would just show up, I would believe. But he remains as invisible as the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. Therefore, we must look for signs of his existence - which are subject to interpretation, confirmation bias and pareidolia. Faith is what children use to believe Santa Claus exists. Adults should not resort to using the same method to believe a god exists - or anything else.
@attila You need to savvy up here! No one here will take seriously the idea that one has to give proof of non-existence.
You may as well say that unicorns, trolls under bridges and elves that live in oak trees exist because you can’t prove they don’t.
It is not a sensible starting point for an intellectual argument. It is no more than an immature way of saying ‘prove I am wrong’
In your world there may be some supernatural support group, but generally the proof of non-existence will go nowhere and your argument will dissolve into personal angst because ‘no one is taking you seriously’
@attila I'm still waiting for that "evidence on both sides" you were talking about earlier. Any time now. Links are fine.
If you wanna have fun, "What about the dinosaurs, and the melting glaciers and ice caps, and the earth quakes and volcanoes, and plane crashes,..."
And then whop them with, "WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH BABIES WITH CANCER!!!!!"
"""god works in mysterious ways."""
"Bullshit!!! Only a psychopathic asshole would do that to babies!"
That will prolly end the party. At least, you will be made to leave. And live with never being invited again. Not really a loss. But i am sure the increase in your reputation for honesty will endure.
Be proud. Stand silent against the onslaught of ignorance and stupidity.
And, oh yeah. Stop watching the news. And stop thinking about religion. You don't have much time left, no matter how old you are. Stop wasting it.
Why would I want to do that?
@attila
Engaging, in my mind, would be doing the same thing as the thumpers that knock on your door and ask "do you know jesus"
John 17:6-8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
So as we can see, Jesus was GIVEN everything he had! This all included miracles, doctrine etc. Basically Jesus did not do anything of his own, he never performed a miracle by his own power, he was given the miracles. He never taught anything of his own, rather he was taught by God and spoke what God told him to speak.
John 7:16New American Standard Bible (NASB)
So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
John 8:26New American Standard Bible (NASB)
I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.”
John 14:24New American Standard Bible (NASB)
He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
So everything Jesus had was from God, from the Gospel to his miracles. God needs no one to give him power, God needs no one to tell him what to do, therefore Jesus is not God.
Your phrasing is ambiguous. Perhaps you meant to ask how I would convince another person of the correctness of my view. I would not attempt to do so. When I say that I have not seen any evidence to warrant a belief in the existence of a god I am not making any affirmative assertions. Therefore, I do not assume any burden of proof.
The gibberish sound gott gawd gods are unnecessary as are beliefs ABOUT doors....doors exist to walk in or out...."belief in" is a non sequitur
The God of the bible is extraordinarily cruel and bigoted, and there is no scientific evidence to suggest that any sort of being created the universe. The trends that have been established within the natural mechanisms we have observed thus far would make it seem much more likely that other such mechanisms, while admittedly unknown at the present time, are the culprit for the big bang and thus all of known existence, rather than a white, bearded man in the sky who tallies sparrows and watches people masturbate.
I think I would just tell them how I came to the conclusion after 30 years of being a Christian
2)Religion is basically self-hypnosis. You believe so much that stuff happens and you think it’s a miracle from god. Other people that don’t believe have miracles too.
There’s no evidence for any of it.
@attila ...and the evidence on both sides is?
A couple of references will do, we don’t need an essay
@Geoffrey51 Yes, I'd very much like to hear this evidence myself.
Am wondering why I would want to expend the time and energy....yet again. Like trying to convince someone invested in trump, that he really is a self-grandizing, neurotic, jerk, and that to believe him, or in him, is foolish, and dangerous.
Use what little time you have avoiding those things. Most of them CANNOT change. It is a waste of your life time.
Get away from them if you can. Avoid them if you can't. And never talk about what they want to talk about, unless it pertains to your job.
Just smile for a moment and then change the subject to like the weather, or the cubs, or something far more important than their limited minds can comprehend.
Due to huge confusions about what this concept of god would really be, we are stuck in this ridiculous situation of God being some kind of an old white man, clothed in a robe, wearing sandals with a shepherd's crook in hand, used for what reasons I do not know. God would NOT be of either gender, as that goes against the concept of godhood.
With the very limited power of logical reasoning in many men and women, we just keep going around and around in circles on this. They have their comfort zone of their beliefs and emotions, and do not wish to break out of it in order to embrace facts, logic and knowledge.
There should be no argument about your lack of belief. That is your personal value judgment that requires no proof.
If you want to prove that God does not exist you are taking on a formidable project. There are various concepts of God and I don’t think any of them offer much of a definition. God simply can not be defined in human terms. You can argue about the biblical portrayal of God, but because something is wrongly described does not prove that it doesn’t exist.
In our everyday lives we think we know the meaning of the word “exist”, but if you read physics you’ll learn that our understanding is superficial and illusory. Also, nobody understands conscious awareness, without which the entire question is meaningless because there would be no “I” to begin with. We really don’t know what we are, and are not in a position to argue over ultimate reality.
For me, belief and disbelief are inappropriate responses. Abject bewilderment seems about right.
Which one? How’s she/he going against logic and science? Bartender!!!... get another round on me..