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Atheists: Why does theism still exist?

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True love waits in haunted attics
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Logical precedence isn't chronological precedence. That's why it's called logical precedence and not chronological precedence.

An appeal to "common sense" when questioning the very basis of the universe and the possibilities of matter under the most extreme circumstances patently ridiculous.

Nah, it's just admitting the possibilities: a universe that's eternal or one that began. Common sense. You're smokescreening infinite possibilities.


I'm sure it is.
 
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True love waits in haunted attics
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You're not getting me, variant. I'm saying this completely apropos your pointless psychological speculations that have no relevance to argument.

Of course you think you're right. My point is that, well, I don't think you're right, and never think you're right when you attempt to call me out, so any time you try to call me out it's either completely pointless (if your goal is to, I don't know, change my behavior) or because you get turned on by having imaginary power trips through calling people out. That's the pointlessness of calling out and other psychological addendums you've made.

So keep making them. And remember that I'm a therapist and am getting a kick out of all of them, and how much it says about your psyche and your probable interpersonal past.
 
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variant

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Logical precedence isn't chronological precedence. That's why it's called logical precedence and not chronological precedence.

Why does it matter in this case? I'm saying that the timeless thing is both logically and chronologically prior.

Nah, it's just admitting the possibilities: a universe that's eternal or one that began. Common sense. You're smokescreening infinite possibilities.

You attached a lot of other stuff to those two conditions.

You know where you tried to say that if the universe began it had to be started by supernatural things???

I mean I can quote you if you like:


You do indeed seem to make all the claims I seem to remember you making....

I'm sure it is.

And how. It is a mind boggling amount of pretense.
 
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variant

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You're not getting me, variant. I'm saying this completely apropos your pointless psychological speculations that have no relevance to argument.

As I said they are the thesis. There are all these protective layers around your psychological needs, it's fascinating to peel one back and see what pops up next.


I'm not just calling you out for your sake, I understand that you don't listen.

So keep making them. And remember that I'm a therapist and am getting a kick out of all of them, and how much it says about your psyche and your probable interpersonal past.

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself.
 
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As I said they are the thesis. There are all these protective layers around your psychological needs, it's fascinating to peel one back and see what pops up next.

It sure is.

I'm not just calling you out for your sake, I understand that you don't listen.

No, I don't.

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself.

Eh, nothing's on Netflix now and I don't feel like reading. So this is third place.

Oh yeah, keep going. I'll even leave space below:







There.
 
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Why does it matter in this case? I'm saying that the timeless thing is both logically and chronologically prior.

No, the timeless thing isn't chronologically prior. That's why it's called timeless. The universe contains every bit of time imaginable, hence the only way the cause could be a cause is logical precedence, not chronological precedence. Remember, the cause is timeless, not the universe, hence the act of causing by the timeless cause takes up no time, and the moment the universe is caused, whoops, there goes time with it!


Yeah, they're subpoints to the two possibilities. That's how logic works.

And how. It is a mind boggling amount of pretense.

Your mind is boggled pretty easily.
 
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Deidre32

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I wish we could 'like' posts here. For this one, I definitely like. Well said.
 
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variant

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In this scenario the timeless thing collapses into the universe so time is a byproduct that starts at that given T = 0 rather than a substance required to be in the timeless thing.

Yeah, they're sub-points to the two possibilities. That's how logic works.

I give your logical musings a big fat does not follow.

Your mind is boggled pretty easily.

You've been working hard today.
 
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In this scenario the timeless thing collapses into the universe so time is a byproduct that starts at that given T = 0 rather than a substance required to be in the timeless thing.

Time isn't a substance. The timeless thing doesn't "collapse into" the universe; its action creates the universe, and the moment of action is itself the moment of the universe being created, at which time exists; prior to which there is the timeless thing and no universe.

I give your logical musings a big fat does not follow.

I give this comment a big fat not surprised.

You've been working hard today.

It comes naturally.
 
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variant

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In this scenario the timeless thing isn't separate or separable from the universe, it is the universe in a different form.
 
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In this scenario the timeless thing isn't separate or separable from the universe, it is the universe in a different form.

How do you reach that conclusion? The reason we say there is a creator is that there is something needed other than the universe for the universe to be created, which means it can't be part of the universe, unless you're saying an author is his story in a different form when he writes one.
 
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variant

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I am giving you a scenario where that is false. This thread of the conversation started with post 182 with me giving you an alternative that did not meet your criterion.
 
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I am giving you a scenario where that is false. This thread of the conversation started with post 182 with me giving you an alternative that did not meet your criterion.

variant, please justify your statements. The last few in this and the other thread have been vague statements that can only be taken as authoritarian or "trust me on this" (same thing). How does post 182 prove that what is false and in what way?

Do you want to take a few days' break and come back to this later?
 
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variant

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I'm just giving you a scenario that doesn't fit your preconceptions.

You can tell me what is metaphysically, physically or logically wrong with it if you so desire.

Your argument was that the supernatural is necessary to create a universe based upon your metaphysics understanding, and that this is common sense. So, I gave you an alternative which should be easy to dismiss using that same common sense.
 
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What does it mean to say you have timelessness but not necessarily supernaturalism? That the universe is timeless in some way before it becomes the universe? Or that there is some sort of protouniverse that's timeless and then something happens and you have the universe?
 
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Archaeopteryx

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Ah, the hidden contempt for metaphysical possibilities shows itself again.

Where is the contempt in asking you how you know what you claim to know?


The problem is still present. You've just opted to sidestep it. One does not require a complete theory of causation to observe that causes are not wholly unlike their effects in that both are comprised of the same substance. You are proposing a cause that is wholly unlike its effects, but which is still able to exert an effect somehow. This gives rise to the question Eight Foot Manchild asked earlier: how is the supernatural able to causally integrate with the physical?


No, the former need not require an intelligence at all. You're assuming your own doctrine satisfies the question. If you're happy to admit that you don't know how intelligence in a timeless and spaceless sense could work, then why aren't you happy by my admission that we don't know how matter in a timeless and spaceless sense could work? Admitting ignorance on the latter point is apparently unacceptable, but admitting ignorance on the former is?


It's not the same reasoning at all. We don't even know if the Platonic nothingness you are referring to is or was ever a real state of affairs. You're equivocating on two different meanings of "nothing."
 
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variant

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What does it mean to say you have timelessness but not necessarily supernaturalism?

That I can't tell you as I don't have an operative definition of "supernatural" that would allow me to make fine distinctions.

What I mean is that the timeless universe was a physical entity in a pre-"this" universe state.

That the universe is timeless in some way before it becomes the universe? Or that there is some sort of protouniverse that's timeless and then something happens and you have the universe?

I am saying that it is the same universe in a different state.
 
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Archaeopteryx

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Except when we need to make exceptions to our understanding of causality so as to accommodate theological doctrine, amirite?
 
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JimFit

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BVG Theorem put an end to this argument, the Physical Universe can't be past eternal even if it was quantum fluctuations it demanded a beginning. Cyclic Universes was debunked also by Entropy and Thermodynamics.
Either the Universe had a transcendent cause or it popped out of Nothingness like magic, the Universe is Deterministic therefor it was pre-determined to be created, you can't have Randomness to Determinism, its a paradox, therefor Nothingness as a Creator not only is illogical because it doesn't provide a cause but it is random, nothingness is the absence of laws, constants, materialism, its pure Randomness, not only that but in the last 13.8 billion years we haven't observed something from Nothing. The right answer would be is the transcendent cause a Mind or something mindless?
 
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Archaeopteryx

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BVG Theorem put an end to this argument, the Physical Universe can't be past eternal even if it was quantum fluctuations it demanded a beginning. Cyclic Universes was debunked also by Entropy and Thermodynamics.

Are you referring to BVG or Craig's misinterpretation thereof?

Either the Universe had a transcendent cause or it popped out of Nothingness like magic,

Given that creatio ex nihilo is literally magic, why would that be problematic for you?

the Universe is Deterministic therefor it was pre-determined to be created,

Where did you get that idea from?

Nothingness as a Creator not only is illogical because it doesn't provide a cause but it is random, nothingness is the absence of laws, constants, materialism, its pure Randomness,

That's incoherent. In what way is nothingness random?

not only that but in the last 13.8 billion years we haven't observed something from Nothing.

So how does this count as evidence for creatio ex nihilo?
 
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