THEIST: "One who believes in the existence of a God; especially, one who believes in a personal God."
ATHEIST: "One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."
Yell at http://www.answers.com , not me!
2007-11-23 08:15:37 · 13 answers · asked by I'm an Atheist 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
one refers specifically to a personal God.. and the other one doesn't
2007-11-23 08:20:32 · update #1
Nice... quoting a site that has the wrong definitions. Very good.
The actual definitions....
the·ism
–noun
1. the belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation (distinguished from deism).
2. belief in the existence of a god or gods (opposed to atheism).
a·the·ist
–noun
a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings. from a- "without" + theos "a god"
2007-11-23 08:25:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are very few exact antonyms in the real world.
Antonyms are linguistic short-cuts to signify things that are more or less opposite in their meaning - i.e. hot/cold, healthy/sick, flammable/inflammable... errrr...
Most of them are actually relative positions. There's no real definition for "hot" - a potato at 400F might be considered hot compared with a bag of ice, but compared with a lava flow, it's downright chilly.
2007-11-23 08:22:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Theism is the belief in the existence of one or more divinities or deities.
There is also a narrower sense in which theism refers to the belief that one or more divinities are immanent in the world, yet transcend it, along with the idea that divinity(s) is/are omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.[1]
The term is attested in English from 1678, and was probably coined to contrast with atheism, a term that is attested from ca. 1587 (see the etymology section of atheism for details).
Atheist=
2007-11-23 08:23:08 · answer #3 · answered by Art 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
This Site Might Help You.
RE:
Why aren't "theist" and "atheist" exact antonyms?
THEIST: "One who believes in the existence of a God; especially, one who believes in a personal God."
ATHEIST: "One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."
Yell at http://www.answers.com , not me!
2015-08-06 12:47:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Theist implies belief in a particular god or set of gods, atheist means a lack of belief in all gods.
2007-11-23 08:19:26 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
ANTONYM, n: A word having a meaning opposite to that of another word.
DOLT, n: A stupid person; a dunce.
2007-11-23 08:22:12 · answer #6 · answered by mam2121 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
All these "words" and "definitions" get in the way of thought. Lets get rid of them all.
2007-11-23 08:20:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that is accurate. Perhaps I don't understand your question?
2007-11-23 08:22:22 · answer #8 · answered by PROBLEM 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are. And it takes faith to believe either of them as no one can prove God exists ... or doesn't exist.
2007-11-23 08:24:34 · answer #9 · answered by thundercatt9 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I blame the fact that answers.com has a bad definition of theist.
2007-11-23 08:38:43 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋