@Frank Apisa,
Frank Apisa wrote:“I do not believe gods exist”….is NOT the same as “I believe gods do not exist.”
No, they're the same thing. Or rather, they're the same thing for those who use the words in those sentences in a commonly understood manner. Obviously, those statements are different
for you, but that's largely because you're using the word "believe" in an idiosyncratic fashion.
Frank Apisa wrote:Sorry you cannot, or will not, see that.
This isn't about my failure to understand. I understand your position just fine -- I just don't agree with it. Rather, this is about
your failure to understand why people think you're taking an inherently contradictory position. I'm not sure why you can't see that, despite many here explaining it in very clear terms.
Evidently, there's something else going on here. Ordinarily, if someone wants to convince someone of something but is having problems getting their point across, they would try to say it in a different way, not insist ever more forcefully on the original formulation, as if repetition can make an obscure statement clearer. For some reason, though, you are abnormally invested in this particular formulation of your position. I don't know why, but you should be aware that your failure to communicate is not a problem with everyone else's failure to understand, it's a problem with your unwillingness to get your point across in a manner that others can understand.
I'm reminded of the joke: a woman sees a report on television that there's a driver going the wrong way on a congested highway on which she knows her elderly husband is driving. In a panic, she calls her husband. "Honey," she says, "there's a report that there's one guy going the wrong way down the highway!" "One guy?" her husband replies, "they're
all going the wrong way!"
That's you,
Frank. You think everyone else is going the wrong way with your statement, when in fact it's you who is headed in the wrong direction with your idiosyncratic definition. The question, then, isn't why everyone else is wrong, but why you insist on being right.
