Are Atheists doing it wrong?

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Originally Posted by EtHnic Cleansing

Yes, everything comes with a concept. Sometimes we can invent objects or concepts in our mind. They still don't exist though.

If you have the concept of a business, you don't suddenly have a business. Existence isn't reserved for things that are concrete and solid. War exists for example. Thoughts exist. But to conceptualize isn't to create. Yes there are things beyond our conceptualization or perception that exist, and God may very well be one of those things, but in the event that there isn't a deity, the shear concept alone doesn't will it into existence.

If you wanted to break it down, the benefits and negatives of a deity exist. Someone's life may be changed, good or bad, based on the concept of a deity. But that deity isn't any more in existence because of it.

Another example is perception of people who are no longer here, or the belief in fictional characters. If someone is raised to believe that Columbus was a good guy, that did good things and helped the world...that may be the concept, but that doesn't bring that tale into existence. The reality still exists, and that's the only thing that will truly exist.

You contradict yourself a bit. On one hand, you say we invent objects or concepts in our mind. On the other hand, you say to conceptualize isn't to create. Isn't inventing concepts in the mind the same as conceptualizing, and isn't to invent the same thing as to create? You're right that just by having a concept doesn't mean there's a material reality of what we are conceptualizing. My whole point is that there are different forms of existence and things can be said to have nominal existence. Something that exists nominally doesn't need to have physical existence. Let's take truth, for example. Truth is just a value. It's not a material or concrete object. Would you argue that truth doesn't exist? If not, what would you call it, for example, when people calculate that 2 + 2 equals 4?

[NOBLE]

Originally Posted by EtHnic Cleansing

Yes, everything comes with a concept. Sometimes we can invent objects or concepts in our mind. They still don't exist though.

If you have the concept of a business, you don't suddenly have a business. Existence isn't reserved for things that are concrete and solid. War exists for example. Thoughts exist. But to conceptualize isn't to create. Yes there are things beyond our conceptualization or perception that exist, and God may very well be one of those things, but in the event that there isn't a deity, the shear concept alone doesn't will it into existence.

If you wanted to break it down, the benefits and negatives of a deity exist. Someone's life may be changed, good or bad, based on the concept of a deity. But that deity isn't any more in existence because of it.

Another example is perception of people who are no longer here, or the belief in fictional characters. If someone is raised to believe that Columbus was a good guy, that did good things and helped the world...that may be the concept, but that doesn't bring that tale into existence. The reality still exists, and that's the only thing that will truly exist.

You contradict yourself a bit. On one hand, you say we invent objects or concepts in our mind. On the other hand, you say to conceptualize isn't to create. Isn't inventing concepts in the mind the same as conceptualizing, and isn't to invent the same thing as to create? You're right that just by having a concept doesn't mean there's a material reality of what we are conceptualizing. My whole point is that there are different forms of existence and things can be said to have nominal existence. Something that exists nominally doesn't need to have physical existence. Let's take truth, for example. Truth is just a value. It's not a material or concrete object. Would you argue that truth doesn't exist? If not, what would you call it, for example, when people calculate that 2 + 2 equals 4?