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I am fine with not knowing something. I don't know if there is life on other planets. We have zero evidence. Yet my mind is open to the possibility and I do not ridicule those who believe that life does exist on other planets.
I do notice that, while many atheists say they "don't know", they behave as if they Know there is no God.
With that said, I would be dishonest to say " I really don't know if God exists". I do know God exists.
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Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer
There is nothing inherently wrong with saying you don't know. But it's funny to me that this stance is usually only taken with respect to the question of God. Hardly anybody ever says they're agnostic about anything else.
I guess God gets special treatment.
One's eternal destiny does not depend on whether Santa Claus is real.
I do notice that, while many atheists say they "don't know", they behave as if they Know there is no God.
What does that mean?
One's eternal destiny does not depend on whether Santa Claus is real.
And of the world's religious beliefs, how many include the tenet that 1) belief is necessary, and 2) eternity depends on it?
If I were to tell you that your eternal destiny depends on whether Santa is real, how would you change your beliefs? And why do you keep behaving is you know there is no Santa?
While I do loathe the person who coined the phrase...it is a very apt one:
.. there are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know. ”
—United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
And anyone who claims otherwise is either a fool, deluded or a charlatan or just a plain old fundi theist.
I am fine with not knowing something. I don't know if there is life on other planets. We have zero evidence. Yet my mind is open to the possibility and I do not ridicule those who believe that life does exist on other planets.
I do notice that, while many atheists say they "don't know", they behave as if they Know there is no God.
What else should they do? Practically speaking, do you think it is a good idea for someone who doesn't a reason to believe in any god to go to every church out there, donate time and money to all sorts of religions, as some sort of act?
Do you go to every religious service where you can't absolutely disprove the existence of the god(s) being worshiped? If not, you're behaving the same way as the atheists you "notice" here. They just lack belief in one more god than you, but they behave the same as you do towards all the gods you don't currently have a reason to believe in.
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One's eternal destiny does not depend on whether Santa Claus is real.
No reason to think that it depends on god(s), either. What's your point?
Think about the ancient Greeks pondering the question, "Where does lightning come from?"
Their answer was, or course, from the God Zeus, usually because something brought about his wrath.
But they really should have said "I Don't Know." And indeed, it would be the 19th century before electromagnetic theory could answer the question in full.
I do notice that, while many atheists say they "don't know", they behave as if they Know there is no God.
Why would we behave as though there is a God if we don't think there is one? That wouldn't make much sense now, would it?
And how does one "behave" as though there is no God, exactly? By not going to church? Not praying? Not reading the Bible? Not mentioning Jesus's name every 20 seconds? Not saying a blessing before dinner? Not giving credit to God for every good thing that happens in our lives?
I just don't know what we're supposed to be doing, as atheists, that makes it look as if we believe in something we, in fact, don't believe in.
I suppose we atheists could invade your churches and pretend to worship, but nah ... that would be a colossal waste of time.
What's more is that religion is absolute. There is no "maybe" in religion, there is no "I don't know."
You either believe or you don't, and since we don't believe, there's just no point in getting involved with religion, especially since most of us really don't want to be around the opiate, if you take my meaning.
I am fine with not knowing something. I don't know if there is life on other planets. We have zero evidence. Yet my mind is open to the possibility and I do not ridicule those who believe that life does exist on other planets.
I do notice that, while many atheists say they "don't know", they behave as if they Know there is no God.
Of course. What else would they do? Do you behave as if there is life on other planets? Do you behave as if bigfoot exists? Or any other number of things we don't know.
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