Exactly. If Willamena wants to define God as her toe (without any further claims), then fine. I believe in her God (but I will continue to think of and refer to it as her toe, thank you very much). Some people define God as energy, nature, the Universe itself, and so on. All of those things...
No, it was a very apt analogy. Just like the tooth fairy, there are claims made about God, his interaction with the material world, and there is cultural context that we can use to get a clear look at what people mean when they say "God".
No "God" claims have been proven true. Prayer...
I've been a devoted theist, so it's not as though the concept of "God" is alien to me. But even so, I know my old view of God are not necessarily anyone else's, and would not ascribe them to anyone. But you're creating a situation where no atheist can ever have a conversation about God.
If...
I'm usually pretty good at telling the difference, but some of my satiracle works have been taken seriously on occasion...
Libs must die appears to be a parody. The Westboro Baptist Church is real. I actually somewhat enjoy their sister-site "God Hates the World". You can click on...
Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry if there was confusion.
Which is why I used the example of taxes. One person proposes raising taxes (my idea of God exists) and the other doing nothing (no it doesn't). There is no need for the atheist to present an alternative worldview, just a contradictory...
Hehe.... :rolleyes:
Leviticus:
9 " 'If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.
10 " 'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both...
all because of the wanton lust of a harlot,
alluring, the mistress of herbs,
who enslaved nations by her prostitution
and peoples by her drugs.
:confused:
I'll grant you that kashaph is probably rooted in "herb user", but that doesn't mean "poisoner". Kings have them among their...
Just putting the point you like in bold doesn't negate the other parts.
You're not answering my original point: the other uses of kashaph seem to be about sorcerers. Why are those uses about witchcraft, but this one is about poisoners?
No problem. Thanks for your response. (Didn't mean to seem impatient by PMing.)
Can you point me to the Joseph Smith translation of the other passages that I quoted? Their contexts seem to me to be very obviously "sorcery" related. If kashaph meant sorcery in those passages, what's...
No, we must have a shared definition. If two people want to purely discuss Person 1's definition, it becomes a shared definition for that conversation.
But not all. My point is that, if they want to have a fruitful debate, they must agree on a shared definition, which could be the wiccan's...
No, there's not. What you did was tailor your definition of God to suit your premises. It doesn't matter how you come to a definition, you're defining it. If I say "I can prove pigs fly" then define pigs as "anything that can fly", I'm discarding the original definition of a pig to suit my...
If we don't have a shared definition, for the sake of the conversation, I agree.
If a wiccan and a Christian were going to discuss God, then they could either discuss the wiccan's concept or the Christian's concept. The Christian accepts, for the sake of argument, the wiccan's concept, or...
To be honest, I would have thought it less likely that matter could escape the event horizon of a black hole, but there we are...:rolleyes:
Just because something is possible doesn't mean that it has ever happened, or ever will. This just appears to be the Universe we live in.
I'm actually...
The question is rendered meaningless if you define God as existence. I thought you were saying that "Does God exist?" is a meaningless question. Sorry if I misunderstood.
But why must we "empower" the concept?
I'm not saying everyone has to believe in one definition. I'm saying: "If we're...
Forgive me if I feel that you're blatantly lying to my face, then. You said: "it follows logically that God must be.....Existence Itself." You began every element of your proof claiming "if God is existence itself..."
How, then, are you not defining God as existence when that seems to be...
It seems more realistic to you because you desire the Universe to be ultimately deterministic. You seem to be saying: "Gee, I don't really like how this appears to work, so I'll just make something up without any real reason."
Personally, I think the observations we make are indicative of...
That's why it's important to define God at the outset. You say it's a meaningless question. Explain why it is meaningless. "Is the King of France bald?" is a meaningless question because there is no King of France.
What makes "Does God exist?" a meaningless question?
How do you use...