How do athiests know if something is true or not?

Saying 'listen to my wisdom or suffer' is just the repeated Appeal to Force logical fallacy that CARM specifically told Christians not to use because it is flawed. So it is dismissed.

I am sure you do not quake in your boots when a Hindu tells you that if you do not wise up and follow Ganesha you'll be in trouble, right? Why on Earth do you think doing the same to us will be different?

Maybe...just maybe...someday you'll realize your empty threats are no different than the Muslim telling you to follow Allah or suffer. Maybe.

Or not. Either way I'm having tacos tonight.

:)
You're not paying attention.

It's not listen to me or suffer.

It's,

This is what God is saying is necessary to know the truth.
You then have to decide whether or not you want to know the truth.
And then do what is necessary for you to know the truth for yourself.
The truth includes all the necessary elements, which include the previously explained dangers.

We're making sure that we give you the entire content which would allow you to make an informed decision about your eternity.

As there's good news and bad news regarding this issue, it'd be wrong to leave out the bad news portion.

Especially when God has explicitly stated that he wants you to know about it.


Eze 18:4 WEB Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.​

Eze 33:1-20 WEB 1 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; 3 if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people; 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’ 7 “So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me. 8 When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. 9 Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. 10 “You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’ 12 “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. 13 When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right; 15 if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live. He will not die. 16 None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live. 17 “‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. 19 When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. 20 Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”​

If you don't actually want to know these things, do you really think that you are going to get off Scot-free without any responsibility or culpability for your life?
 
And have you ever had any responses to your prayer...

"Lord.. If you are there?
Please let me know."


Something let me know before I prayed for that..... But, remained hidden. It was to prevent me from rationalizing it away.

In order to do so? It took me ten years to finally find out who it was who was effecting and guiding my life.

Background: I was a Jew when I first believed. The born again experience was the furthest thing in my mind. No idea that God has a personal relationship with those who believe.

All I could know was that something 'very mysterious' had entered into my mind and emotions in a powerful way... In my ignorance I simply

assumed I must have become psychic. I began to study the likes of Edgar Cayce in my quest to find out what it was that was working in my life.

After ten years of this? Then the unveiling for me took place.

I know its real.

You have my sympathy.
 
A long discussed idea, which has never actually been reasonably developed by atheists.

By what means do you measure truth?

Is it something you "just know"? Or do you have a methodical means to work it out and come to the conclusion that it's actually true?
They arrive at truth by the belief that certain techniques and criteria are valid ways of arriving at truth.

They will observe, for example, that their own perceptions are prone to error. And believe that by aggregating the observations of many will diminish the error. Thus is truth approached. At a certain point, with enough observations, the margin for error is considered negligible and so truth is considered arrived at.

But the foundations on which this all stands is the starting belief.

That belief makes sense and so the belief is considered sound, if not proven or provable. Since the alternative is solipsism, there is little alternative but to hold the belief sound.

Theists do the same thing, both with the empirical world and with the spiritual world. We believe our conclusions and approach are sound and make sense and work from there.

Ultimately, all we know, whether atheist re: the empirical world or theist re: the empirical and spiritual worlds, rests on our own conviction that we know.

There is no higher court to appeal to other than ourselves. The atheist attempt to refer the matter to empirical method (multi external observations which correct for individual error) is a decision made by the individual, him being the highest court and decider that this is the best way to go.

It obviously levels the playing field, since the atheist claim as to what he knows is no different than the theist claim to what he knows. All are just claims.
 

How do athiests know if something is true or not?​


They find out definitively when its too late. But, they do find out.
 
For all I know about you?

survey-captcha-example.png
Please come up with something better.
 
Please come up with something better.
Better? To fill up your emptiness with something to entertain you? For, without Christians who know God to irk you? To be a challenge for you to prove them wrong? What would you have? And, if you do have something? Why waste your time here?

It find it hypocritical of atheists who spend time in Christian forums. To me? That would be like spending my time. Any time. Trying to convince people that there is no Santa Claus. Its trivial.

I think we cause you to find a challenge to your ego.

Christians come in the full spectrum of a bell curve. Some are idiots who lack common sense. You can have those if you like wasting your time. But, for the ones of intelligence,... even genius? You have nothing to offer. Why bother?

Its you who are the fool if there really is no God. For you keep wasting your very limited and finite time with such fools like us. Why do it? All is vanity.


Some people live to prove themselves superior to others... But, for what? When you are dead? For what?




.
 
Better? To fill up your emptiness with something to entertain you? For, without Christians who know God to irk you? To be a challenge for you to prove them wrong? What would you have? And, if you do have something? Why waste your time here?

It find it hypocritical of atheists who spend time in Christian forums. To me? That would be like spending my time. Any time. Trying to convince people that there is no Santa Claus. Its trivial.

I think we cause you to find a challenge to your ego.

Christians come in the full spectrum of a bell curve. Some are idiots who lack common sense. You can have those if you like wasting your time. But, for the ones of intelligence,... even genius? You have nothing to offer. Why bother?

Its you who are the fool if there really is no God. For you keep wasting your very limited and finite time with such fools like us. Why do it? All is vanity.


Some people live to prove themselves superior to others... But, for what? When you are dead? For what?




.
So why do you post here?
 
A long discussed idea, which has never actually been reasonably developed by atheists.

By what means do you measure truth?

Is it something you "just know"? Or do you have a methodical means to work it out and come to the conclusion that it's actually true?
Capital T truth is supported by evidence (that can be verified). The more extraordinary the claim (of truth) then, the more robust the evidence required.
It may not be possible to determine the truth about a claim.

No it is not something that you just know, because you might be mistaken, deceived, or not be in possession of relevant facts.
 
Did he say that? Nope.

Who cares what CARM says? I don't. You do, though. You're so funny...
He did say that. I paraphrased but yes - his argument is 'you better believe in God or you'll suffer'.

That is a well recognized and understood illogical, invalid argument - it is called The Appeal to Force. So I reject it - as does the rest of the logical world.

And if you do not care what CARM says then this is a very strange place for you to post.
 
Can you prove your mom and dad had sex to produce you?
Yes. This is absurd. Instead of providing empirical evidence for God you are trying to argue that we really cannot prove anything now can we?

I am not going through the empirical process to prove my parents had sex because you do not have any evidence for God. This is a distraction.
 
Many of them do experience what is unexplainable to the atheist.
It is completely explainable - many have told me of their experiences with God or Jesus or Ganesha or Allah. It is very easy to explain and understand.
With one difference...

Their experiences are caused by demons.
How do you prove this is true?
Since they reject the Word of God? They can not detect the nature of what they have been seduced by.

They remain deceived. Yet, knowing that what they experienced was something genuinely "supernatural."



Dear friends, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to see whether they are
from God...
1 John 4:1a


Only way to know what spirit it is? Its got to be verified by knowing Scripture with accuracy....

As far as atheists goes? You're your own problem.
Telling me I am my own problem just shows that you have no way to prove you are right about God and my friend is wrong about Lord Ganesha.

Its fine that you do not have any empirical evidence for God. You just have to say, "I cannot prove God is real but I believe anyway."

Thank you.
 
You're not paying attention.

It's not listen to me or suffer.

It's,

This is what God is saying is necessary to know the truth.
You then have to decide whether or not you want to know the truth.
And then do what is necessary for you to know the truth for yourself.
The truth includes all the necessary elements, which include the previously explained dangers.

We're making sure that we give you the entire content which would allow you to make an informed decision about your eternity.

As there's good news and bad news regarding this issue, it'd be wrong to leave out the bad news portion.

Especially when God has explicitly stated that he wants you to know about it.


Eze 18:4 WEB Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.​

Eze 33:1-20 WEB 1 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; 3 if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people; 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’ 7 “So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me. 8 When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. 9 Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. 10 “You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’ 12 “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. 13 When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right; 15 if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live. He will not die. 16 None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live. 17 “‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. 19 When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. 20 Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”​

If you don't actually want to know these things, do you really think that you are going to get off Scot-free without any responsibility or culpability for your life?
This is all just an Appeal to Force. You can keep saying 'follow God or suffer' in a hundred different ways if you like. It fails. Just as me saying 'follow Shiva or suffer' fails to convert you to Hinduism.

But have it it if it helps you cover the fact that you have no empirical evidence. I got time.
 
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