quote:
Originally posted by Yorick:
No. He has no belief in (a) God. Neither does a cat or an ant. Nonbelief is not a belief, it is the absence of belief in the thing referenced.
It's funny how we can turn "nothing" into something isn't it. What's in that box? Nothing? Actually there's air inside it.
Space is true nothingness. The absence of anything. Yet it's so beyond our experience that it perceptionally becomes a "thing" or a "place". Space. Up in space, through space.
Space is just that. Void.
Similarly not believing in something is simply having no belief in it. A negative line. Belief is positive. Like any positive action, it's harder to excercise belief than not. It's proactive.
I realise that as an apostate you have a different view on the matter as you excercised choice to reject that which filled your life for so. Still, I believe the definition stands, in spite of whatever mental processes brought about the current state on "nonbelief". (notice the negating language)
Hey! We are going to disagree again! YES!!
Belief can be negative as well as positive! I BELIEVE there is no such thing as a ghost. I cannot prove I am right, therefore, my conviction is a BELIEF. Negative belief.
Jabidas BELIEVES there is no god. He cannot prove there is not, therefore his conviction is a BELIEF. Negative belief.
YOU BELIEVE there is a god, but you cannot prove it, therefore your conviction is a BELIEF. Positive belief.
(Don't say you can prove god exists! You can't prove it, which is why christians and others with a belief in a god are called BELIEVERS).
Belief can be either positive or negative, but if a thing is not proveable, but you are convinced of it anyway, it is a BELIEF! So there! [img]tongue.gif[/img]