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Anybody else struggle with an addiction so severe that they don't see a way out? (long)

IFireflyl

Gold Member
Counter: there's no more evidence to suggest the existence of god than there is the easter bunny. I need no faith to know he/she/it doesn't exist.

However... this is not the right place to get into this stuff. I've made my point, and I'm not going to labour it, as it takes away from the OP's achievement (regardless of how he accomplished it).

Your comment wasn't a counter at all. The Easter Bunny is a relatively new concept (only about 300 years old), and, like Santa, was a fictional character by design. It originated around the 1700s, and nobody claimed the Easter Bunny was real (except as a children's story). Again, you're free to not believe in God. I never disputed that. What I said is that it takes just as much faith to believe that God exists as it takes to believe there is no God. You can't disprove the creator of the universe when you're constrained to that universe. Believe what you want. You brought this up, so when someone counters you don't act like this they're derailing the thread. If you have the right to make your point then I have the right to make mine.
 
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Ionian

Member
Your comment wasn't a counter at all. The Easter Bunny is a relatively new concept (only about 300 years old), and, like Santa, was a fictional character by design. It originated around the 1700s, and nobody claimed the Easter Bunny was real (except as a children's story). Again, you're free to not believe in God. I never disputed that. What I said is that it takes just as much faith to believe that God exists as it takes to believe there is no God. You can't disprove the creator of the universe when you're constrained to that universe. Believe what you want. You brought this up, so when someone counters you don't act like this they're derailing the thread. If you have the right to make your point then I have the right to make mine.

My father always hid the Easter eggs. In the garden, infuriated me as a kid and sister ones were easier.

I angrily ate it once I found it. Which was wrong. I was a boy, had to try harder. Cruelty, got some exercise though!
 

MHubert

Member
That makes me very glad to hear OP. I know how hard it can be to struggle with addiction both personally and through relations. It sounds like you have found a way to deal with it in a positive way. I wish you every bit of strenght in your fight going forward.

there's no more evidence to suggest the existence of god than there is the easter bunny. I need no faith to know he/she/it doesn't exist.
A lack of evidence isn't evidence in and of itself. Something can be true (or untrue) regardless of your ability to prove it.

Saying that you know is simply an untrue statement since if you knew you would be able to clearly show how that would be epistemically possible. There is no proof of the inexistence of god, and since no amount of circumstantial evidence will ever add up to a proof, you are left with a premise of belief. That means all amount of faith is required for you to say he/she/it doesn't exist. This is elementary logic, but it's something atheists have a particularly hard time coping with for some reason. But I digress.
 

TheDreadBaron

Gold Member
That makes me very glad to hear OP. I know how hard it can be to struggle with addiction both personally and through relations. It sounds like you have found a way to deal with it in a positive way. I wish you every bit of strenght in your fight going forward.


A lack of evidence isn't evidence in and of itself. Something can be true (or untrue) regardless of your ability to prove it.

Saying that you know is simply an untrue statement since if you knew you would be able to clearly show how that would be epistemically possible. There is no proof of the inexistence of god, and since no amount of circumstantial evidence will ever add up to a proof, you are left with a premise of belief. That means all amount of faith is required for you to say he/she/it doesn't exist. This is elementary logic, but it's something atheists have a particularly hard time coping with for some reason. But I digress.
Hey, stupid atheist here that can’t cope with elementary logic. It’s impossible to prove a negative by definition, but the burden of proof is a actually on the people making incredible claims about there being a guy in the sky who cares about my personal thoughts, and since there’s absolutely no evidence to suggest the truth of religion I’m forced to go with the default explanation of the universe being so unfathomably massive it doesn’t know or care we exist. The fact that atheism isn’t a religious philosophy and doesn’t require any faith seems like something that is particularly hard for christians to cope with. You’re still trying to frame it through the lens of god, saying atheists must provide proof for the inexistence of god, which your spell check may have alerted you isn’t even a word. Atheists don’t believe in the inexistence of god, they just don’t believe he exists. There is a difference, maybe they teach that in elementary logic?
 

MHubert

Member
Hey, stupid atheist here that can’t cope with elementary logic. It’s impossible to prove a negative by definition, but the burden of proof is a actually on the people making incredible claims about there being a guy in the sky who cares about my personal thoughts, and since there’s absolutely no evidence to suggest the truth of religion I’m forced to go with the default explanation of the universe being so unfathomably massive it doesn’t know or care we exist. The fact that atheism isn’t a religious philosophy and doesn’t require any faith seems like something that is particularly hard for christians to cope with. You’re still trying to frame it through the lens of god, saying atheists must provide proof for the inexistence of god, which your spell check may have alerted you isn’t even a word. Atheists don’t believe in the inexistence of god, they just don’t believe he exists. There is a difference, maybe they teach that in elementary logic?
Unless you claim to know that God doesn't exist the post was not directed at your position. No you cannot prove a negative that's kind of the point.

You can believe whatever you want. My comment towards atheism was specifically aimed at those who seek to disprove god on the premise that if god exists, he should be provable, yet fail to demonstrate how that would even be epistemologically possible. That I didn't clarify that is of course my bad. Also, actively believing something (ie. believing god doesn't exist) is not a neutral position like merely being a non-believer. It is an active engagement of enquiry, so I must assume that you find it justifiable to believe in something unprovable.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inexistence
Atheists don’t believe in the inexistence of god, they just don’t believe he exists. .... :messenger_moon:
 

TheDreadBaron

Gold Member
Unless you claim to know that God doesn't exist the post was not directed at your position. No you cannot prove a negative that's kind of the point.

You can believe whatever you want. My comment towards atheism was specifically aimed at those who seek to disprove god on the premise that if god exists, he should be provable, yet fail to demonstrate how that would even be epistemologically possible. That I didn't clarify that is of course my bad. Also, actively believing something (ie. believing god doesn't exist) is not a neutral position like merely being a non-believer. It is an active engagement of enquiry, so I must assume that you find it justifiable to believe in something unprovable.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inexistence
Atheists don’t believe in the inexistence of god, they just don’t believe he exists. .... :messenger_moon:
Oh well in that case I just hope you’re not one of those christians who says they know the god of the bible wasn’t actually birthed from the cosmic pink gorilla’s stinkhole, as it’s impossible to prove he wasn’t. Simply elementary 🧐
 

MHubert

Member
Oh well in that case I just hope you’re not one of those christians who says they know the god of the bible wasn’t actually birthed from the cosmic pink gorilla’s stinkhole, as it’s impossible to prove he wasn’t. Simply elementary 🧐
I didn't say I was christian. I have a major in philosophy so that's my lens.
 

Dai Kaiju

Member
Counter: there's no more evidence to suggest the existence of god than there is the easter bunny. I need no faith to know he/she/it doesn't exist.

Sure there is. Unfortunately, most of it is anecdotal for obvious reasons.

I'm fully confident I wouldn't have gotten any results had I reached out to the Easter bunny instead of God.

edit: Thanks to whoever gave me Gold!
 
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AJUMP23

Member
Counter: there's no more evidence to suggest the existence of god than there is the easter bunny. I need no faith to know he/she/it doesn't exist.

The nature of the universe is complex and ordered, governed by universal laws that by their very nature of existence speak to a creator. There is far more evidence for higher power than the Easter bunny. But the Easter bunny derives from Babylonian fertility god Ishtar, that over time transliterates to Easter, that becomes a spring festival, and then gets co-opted by the Christians as a celebration of Christ resurrections. Rabbits in modern times equate to fertility hence the correlation.
 
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