I do not believe that God exists.
and
I believe that God does not exist.
2006-07-29 12:04:04 · 13 answers · asked by avi0l 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
No.
The first statement indicates a lack of belief.
But does not fully discount the possibility that God may exist. It's an agnostic statement.
The second statement expresses a firm belief that God does not exist. It is an atheistic statement.
2006-07-29 12:14:58 · answer #1 · answered by klunk 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I really did not mean to make it so long and confusing but I really liked thinking about this question and what I thought of it and also reading other people's opinions. ( I think that -.- has a really good point in his answer and I didn't see it till after I wrote my answer, but his example makes more sense)
I think they are similar in ways and in the fact that both currently believe in non-existence of God, but they are different in the end. The first is a lack of belief in God based on no proof to believe otherwise. The second is a statement about what someone believes and has already decided within their mind based on whatever they want to base it on.
The first sounds like a statement that is made by someone who has decided where they stand on the existence of God, but that they may feel that there is room to debate, discuss, or be proven otherwise. When someone says they do not believe something, often they can be changed into believing it if they are shown other facts or evidence that the thing they didn't believe in is worth believing in. It is like someone not believing that ghosts exist, but if someone were able to physically show them a ghost, then they might say they believe ghosts exist.
But the second takes on the position that someone has decided firmly that they believe something is not there even if there is evidence to prove it is there. If someone says, "I believe...." then they usually have taken the time to think it over, debate, discuss, and have decided that they believe one way or the other. This statement sounds like it would be made by someone who is willing to defend the non-existence of God and that they would have research or whatever of their own to back up their reasoning. They are going to deny God's existence even if there was some sort of physical proof to show. And back to the ghost example, if someone says they believe ghosts do not exist, then if they were physically shown a ghosts somehow, they would probably deny the proof/experience/whatever and give facts from previous experience that prove they do not exist.
When I was thinking about why I thought they were different, I used ghosts instead in my mind to try to see if that made a difference in my mind. If you say " I do not believe that ghosts exist," as opposed to "I believe that ghosts do not exist," they come out sounding a little more different than in the context of God (or at least for me because I am Christian and do believe that God exists.)
2006-07-29 19:34:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No
1) X~believesY =/= 2) Xbelieves~Y
For example, someone who's never heard of the NY Yankees, cannot definitionally believe the Yankees won the World Series. But 1) doesn't imply 2). Lack of reasons to believe, namely that such a thing as Baseball exists, the Yankees are a professional team, and they, in fact, won the World Series, does not legitimate 2) whereby X, who is ignorant of Y, nevertheless believes Y is false.
2006-07-29 19:19:19 · answer #3 · answered by -.- 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe the sentences are equal but they are not true. God does exist!
2006-07-29 19:09:10 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No,
The first statement says that the person does NOT have a belief about Gods existence.
The second actually states the person has a belief about God, the belief that God does not exist.
2006-07-29 19:16:20 · answer #5 · answered by Chris 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on definition of believe being the same in both sentences.
1 Awareness of possibility of fact.
2 Faith in unsubstantiated view.
2006-07-29 19:26:59 · answer #6 · answered by SirStupid 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope. The first is a negative statement, the second a positive one. The first means that you hold no particular belief in God; the second, that you hold a particular belief in NOT-God.
It's the difference between agnosticism and atheism.
2006-07-30 15:42:48 · answer #7 · answered by Keither 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do not believe that anyone is correct, however I do believe that everyone thinks they are correct, thereby making correction to the former statement of the belief to everyone is correct.
What did I just say?
2006-08-02 18:22:15 · answer #8 · answered by blugoo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, different treatments but logically equivalent.
2006-07-29 19:08:15 · answer #9 · answered by fcas80 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These are not logic[al] constructs.
But no, they are not equal - as you know.
2006-07-29 22:19:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋