lets debate.

cheshirecat · 09-17-2007, 01:32 AM

I myself a a self proclaimed agnostic.
But i pose a question purely for the purpose of discussion;
How can you disbelieve in something that doesn't exist?

Josh1579 · 09-17-2007, 07:49 AM

Well that depends if you believe in absolutes. If you believe in absolutes then the act of unbelief is just acknowledging that the entity does not exist. However, if you don't believe in absolutes, the entities existence depends on belief. Therefore, the entity may not exist to you, but to others it may exist, so in theory, you can have unbelief about an entity that does not exist.

cheshirecat · 09-17-2007, 12:27 PM

oh i like you.

**Ristaron** · 09-17-2007, 08:14 PM

Disbelief is not simply suspended belief, where you think something exists and yet deny it. Disbelief is the state of not believing.
I assume that by "agnostic" you mean "unsure of whether or not there is a God". This is a mistake people make in terminology. "Agnostic" is an epistemological term describing the belief that we cannot know God. What you probably mean is that you're a Deist, in that you believe that there is probably some kind of supernatural entity, but he doesn't perform miracles and he doesn't interfere in human life (though he may bestow divine revelation). This is the category that the Founding Fathers of the United States fell under, not Christianity, contrary to what every religious political figure in America would have you believe.

When people ask me my religious association, and I reply "I'm an atheist", they commonly ask "so you don't believe in God?". To this I say "which God? Zeus? Thor? There are thousands to choose from, I just don't proscribe to any while you proscribe to one".
And inevitably they try to vindicate their decision with a number of flat-out subjective arguments, eventually coming to the Bible. At this point I promptly beat them over the head with a science textbook to drive home the point that there's nothing special about their faith, and then walk away.

So when you ask how can I not believe in something that I don't believe exists, well that's just needlessly complicating the point. I don't believe that any god exists, and I think that anybody who picks and chooses one out of the multitude is being arrogant in thinking that their subjective perspective is correct.
So, for the next point of debate, what makes the God from the Bible seem like the most likely (but, yet, also not certain) candidate for being real to you?

**Twizt3d** · 09-17-2007, 08:20 PM

Good ol' rist...
Almost as good as an encyclopedia eh!

**Ristaron** · 09-17-2007, 08:23 PM

Yeah, I should write a paper, eh?

**Twizt3d** · 09-17-2007, 08:26 PM

Hell yeah eh!

**Nøz** · 09-17-2007, 08:42 PM

So is this topic going anywhere eh?

**Twizt3d** · 09-17-2007, 08:43 PM

Not really eh....

cheshirecat · 09-17-2007, 09:39 PM

Actually.
I am well aware of the true meaning of agnostic, hence why I put self proclaimed. The reason I posed this question is to complicate the point. Why? because thats all that debating religion ever has been to me and i was curious to see if the results here would be any different. Personally, I find it disgusting that most people will hope off to any belief they think they know something about. Christian are the worst of this, but I find Atheist, agnostics and deist are to. In all honesty, most avoid studying farther into religion because they don't want to admit their wrong. Not saying anyone of the above is wrong, Just that people usually don't know what the hell their saying, and fill in the spaces wth insults and big words. Rarely ever actually having an opinion or point. just rallying behind what they think a trusted opinion is.
pls forgive all typos.
i cannot type at all.