There are only two worlds, the real world, and the world that is not real. The first is the same for everyone, it is called reality and it is commonly accepted to be actually there. Mainly this is established because reality is inherently the same to everyone, though some people deny this for reasons coming from something that is not real - the other world.
In essence, everything that is not real, doesn't exist in reality. This is quite a key notion, and I believe it is quite sturdy. Of course the term "real" might raise some questions, but let's say everything that is real is that which is found in reality. This immediately counts out the divine.
Obviously a Deity is not real. It has never been witnessed, not even its actions; and every realist would agree that it is improbable that a Deity exists. For two simple reasons:
1. We have no idea what a Deity is.
2. The vague hint that we do have is completely incompatible with what we've already established to be real.
The only way a Deity can exist, is if we completely review the term, get rid of its divinity and superpowers and reapply the name to a plant which is currently known as Coffea Arabica. Not only would this eliminate a lot of the bickering over the largest nonsense in the world, it would turn something stupid into something delicious. Like the term gay turned from overjoyful to applying to homosexual males.
Perhaps I should point out a few arguments to support my two "simple reasons"...
First of all, the definition of God: (Deity refers to God, hence I supply you God)
God (MAKER)
noun [S not after the]
(in especially Christian, Jewish and Muslim belief) the being which made the universe, the Earth and its people and is believed to have an effect on all things:
Do you believe in God?
god (SPIRIT)
noun [C]
1 a spirit or being believed to control some part of the universe or life and often worshipped for doing so, or a representation of this spirit or being:
the ancient Greek gods and goddesses
See also the gods.
2 someone who is very important to you, whom you admire very much, and who greatly influences you:
His most devoted fans think of Elvis Presley as a sort of god.
Uncommunicated courtesy of http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
This is all terribly vague and all boils down to some superbeing with superpowers which is somewhere but ultimately has never been discovered. Especially going into individual details (there are multiple Gods, according to some) the different versions of God tend to disagree with eachother, and are sometimes by definition mutually exclusive. This is especially true when someone gets the numbers wrong, a person who believes in one God and a person who believes in several hundred Gods are unlikely to agree on any Deistic matter.
In the end it is truly preposterous to see people bickering over different Deities, while its all the same gotten-out-of-hand mind experiment. (<- understatement of the year)
The second point is that all we know of reality is compatible with eachother or at least makes some sense when sided with another theory of what appears to be real. In debating what is true or not (or what is real or not), it is comforting to be certain that something is either true or not. Of course, when debating Deities, this is not the case - since neither part has any real evidence to back up a statement, it turns to a childish yes-no arguing. Deists usually settle this with the phrase "I guess it all boils down to faith" which translates to realist-language as "well this is getting nowhere, I give up trying to convert you". The nice thing about spirituality, Deism as I've called it throughout this post, is that you'r never wrong. I've really enjoyed every minute of practicing Deism since I first touched His Noodley Appendage, and got saved as a born-again Pastafarian. It felt so, well, superior.
Unfortunately the realization came a bit too soon that I was equally right as every other Deist, which - taking in the theory that something is either true or not true, that I was equally wrong as everybody else.
My point is that if something is not real, or related to reality (like scientific theory, derived from observing and testing reality), it does not exist in the real world. Sure a billion and more things could exist in the imagination or actually be courant in a person's regular thought - but that doesn't make them "real". Religion, the scientific theory of Deists, is not real, and therefore should not have any authority in reality. A key notion in philosophy is that mind-experiments are kept inside the mind - like a chemist does not take his experimental material outside the laboratory. The only way you can let experiments see the light of day safely, is by writing it down. More people should understand this.
In essence, everything that is not real, doesn't exist in reality. This is quite a key notion, and I believe it is quite sturdy. Of course the term "real" might raise some questions, but let's say everything that is real is that which is found in reality. This immediately counts out the divine.
Obviously a Deity is not real. It has never been witnessed, not even its actions; and every realist would agree that it is improbable that a Deity exists. For two simple reasons:
1. We have no idea what a Deity is.
2. The vague hint that we do have is completely incompatible with what we've already established to be real.
The only way a Deity can exist, is if we completely review the term, get rid of its divinity and superpowers and reapply the name to a plant which is currently known as Coffea Arabica. Not only would this eliminate a lot of the bickering over the largest nonsense in the world, it would turn something stupid into something delicious. Like the term gay turned from overjoyful to applying to homosexual males.
Perhaps I should point out a few arguments to support my two "simple reasons"...
First of all, the definition of God: (Deity refers to God, hence I supply you God)
God (MAKER)
noun [S not after the]
(in especially Christian, Jewish and Muslim belief) the being which made the universe, the Earth and its people and is believed to have an effect on all things:
Do you believe in God?
god (SPIRIT)
noun [C]
1 a spirit or being believed to control some part of the universe or life and often worshipped for doing so, or a representation of this spirit or being:
the ancient Greek gods and goddesses
See also the gods.
2 someone who is very important to you, whom you admire very much, and who greatly influences you:
His most devoted fans think of Elvis Presley as a sort of god.
Uncommunicated courtesy of http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
This is all terribly vague and all boils down to some superbeing with superpowers which is somewhere but ultimately has never been discovered. Especially going into individual details (there are multiple Gods, according to some) the different versions of God tend to disagree with eachother, and are sometimes by definition mutually exclusive. This is especially true when someone gets the numbers wrong, a person who believes in one God and a person who believes in several hundred Gods are unlikely to agree on any Deistic matter.
In the end it is truly preposterous to see people bickering over different Deities, while its all the same gotten-out-of-hand mind experiment. (<- understatement of the year)
The second point is that all we know of reality is compatible with eachother or at least makes some sense when sided with another theory of what appears to be real. In debating what is true or not (or what is real or not), it is comforting to be certain that something is either true or not. Of course, when debating Deities, this is not the case - since neither part has any real evidence to back up a statement, it turns to a childish yes-no arguing. Deists usually settle this with the phrase "I guess it all boils down to faith" which translates to realist-language as "well this is getting nowhere, I give up trying to convert you". The nice thing about spirituality, Deism as I've called it throughout this post, is that you'r never wrong. I've really enjoyed every minute of practicing Deism since I first touched His Noodley Appendage, and got saved as a born-again Pastafarian. It felt so, well, superior.
Unfortunately the realization came a bit too soon that I was equally right as every other Deist, which - taking in the theory that something is either true or not true, that I was equally wrong as everybody else.
My point is that if something is not real, or related to reality (like scientific theory, derived from observing and testing reality), it does not exist in the real world. Sure a billion and more things could exist in the imagination or actually be courant in a person's regular thought - but that doesn't make them "real". Religion, the scientific theory of Deists, is not real, and therefore should not have any authority in reality. A key notion in philosophy is that mind-experiments are kept inside the mind - like a chemist does not take his experimental material outside the laboratory. The only way you can let experiments see the light of day safely, is by writing it down. More people should understand this.
