Believers, non-believers and nothing
June 26th 2008 05:22
One thing that seems to be common to theists and atheists is nothing. Both sides hate it. Believers cannot accept the idea of nothing, since that would mean a situation where God is not present. Atheists have a similar problem with the idea of the universe being formed from nothing. For both, there was always something. For believers, it is God; for atheists/scientists it is energy, according to the First Law of Thermodynamics that states that energy cannot be created or destroyed.
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Comment by Sven Topp
Parent Debate
Deafblind Dad
The real question is "What is nothing?" Of course, since we phrase this using the questioning word "What" it suggests that even nothing is indeed something.
Comment by Ronald
nothing
Nothing is problematic - which makes it so fascinating. My definition? Nothing is the absence of everything.
Comment by Sven Topp
Parent Debate
Deafblind Dad
But then if the absence of everything is nothing, then indeed nothing is still something. But then there's a problem seeing as nothing is something therefore forms a part of everything.....
Thus nothing can't really be the absence of everything as it would also need to be absent of nothing too........
Comment by Ronald
nothing
The absence of everything includes ourselves. It's not just blankness, but a state where we are not. That is a situation that we can't even imagine; it is the state of being dead (unless one is a believer, in which case there is something after death). In that case, nothing is not something, as you indicated.
I see your point about everythig including nothing as well. What you have shown is the impossibilty of nothing - for the moment the difficulty of understanding it, since the absence of nothing would not be nothing, but something.
Comment by Sven Topp
Parent Debate
Deafblind Dad
But don't they always say "Nothing is impossible"
Comment by Ronald
nothing
How about these for ambiguities:
I like nothing better than chocolate.
Nothing is important.
Nothing makes sense.
Comment by Sven Topp
Parent Debate
Deafblind Dad
Well better check out "Nothing Compares to you" while we have tea....
Comment by Sven Topp
Parent Debate
Deafblind Dad
Comment by Ronald
nothing
Here's another one: Nothing matters. That was said by Mersault, the hero of Albert Camus’ novel “The Outsider”.
Perhaps nothing really does matter.