Hgq: Let’s say, what if god or reincarnation is real and—
Answer: But there is no evidence of god or reincarnation being real.
Hgq: That’s why i said what if. You know, let’s say you had eggs for breakfast.
Answer: But I didn’t have eggs for breakfast. I had bacon.
anyways.
I now understand why hypothetical questions about god such as “what if this” and “what if that” don’t typically get answered by some people.
Because 1, they are just hypothetical and
2 because IF there is a god, there’s only two choices a human being can do in the presence of such thing:
submit to that god or divine process (or whatever it is theists believe in)
question that god or divine process (or whatever it is theists believe in)
and according to most theists, they claim number 2 wouldn’t go so well on people. which would lead to more questions if number 1 is even worth it at all, considering this deity might be acting like a dictator.
I think quite often, believers use contrived hypotheticals to “prime the pump” so to speak, to get people fantasizing / imagining and talking and some non-believers understand this and just don’t want to go down that road. Why even start a discussion unless it can be evidenced that there’s something to discuss? Also why put yourself on your opponents game board and play even provisionally by their rules?
By doing that you’re also giving them an opportunity to “cold read” you to see if you can be manipulated. Do you seem like the anxious or guilt-ridden type of person? Do you on some level wish the holy BS were true? Do you have angst around any of the Great Questions / unknowns? These are all places they can stick a shim and start prying. What they are looking for is need, insecurity and/or desire. And they believe it’s there, even if the “mark” acts like it’s not. Their belief system doesn’t allow for skeptics. Skepticism simply doesn’t compute; it’s outside their limited repertoire.
I would imagine that those folks who come in here with some imagined “gotcha” argument only to discover we’re impervious to it, that it’s not some novel thing we haven’t already thought through or heard a hundred times before, must be quite the bucket of cold water in their face. So it gets rationalized as denial on our part – denial of that imagined “god-shaped vacuum” we surely must have.