A question for atheists...how do you know that God does not exist?
You always seem to be so convinced that God does not, could not possibly exist. Doesn't that mean that, in order to know for sure, that you would have to posses ALL knowledge in the entire universe, and be able to know that God isn't anywhere out there? Even if you knew 50% of all knowledge, isn't it conceivable that God could be in the other 50% you DON"T know about? And if you did posses all knowledge (which would be necessary in order to make the claim that God does not exist), then wouldn't that make YOU god? I'm just sayin'....something to think about.
?2010-03-25T12:26:38Z
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because God hasn't revealed Himself the way they want Him to when the Bible clearly tells us how God has in fact revealed Himself to us. this is a very convenient method atheists use if they don't want to believe.
Lack of evidence either way (if that were the case) doesn't mean there is an equal chance of existence and non-existence. If there is no good evidence for a thing, and no logical reason to deduce its existence, then the conclusion should be that it most probably does not exist. It's just imaginary. I can't prove that there aren't invisible fairies circling my head, but I don't entertain it as a real possibility. Why should I?
And there are actually a lot of good logical reasons to believe that god doesn't exist, at least not the sentient, caring, tinkerer/designer, theistic type of god. The universe, for example is 99.9...% lifeless. We can see that pain and suffering exist in abundance and is experienced arbitrarily without relevance to deservedness, unless inflicted by us. Where do hemmorhoids fit into the divine plan?
Not knowing the answers to fundamental questions also does not allow us to to simply posit a deistic answer and declare the problem solved. That is primitive, magical thinking, and ultimately meaningless.
Of course if you define god as some sort of non-specific force which is the reason there is something in existence at all, well there is certainly a possibility that such a thing exists, but why are you calling this thing god, and what does that mean?
The bottom line is that there is no reason to think that any entity exists that created us, monitors us, or wants anything from us. To worship such an imaginary thing or to allow such beliefs to influence important decisions is folly.
No one is claiming to have all the knowledge of the universe. But it is logical to conclude that the God of the Bible is not real, given all the evidence (or lack there of). For 2000 years man has been trying to prove God exists, searching for him...and nothing. Not one scrap of proof. While we have mounds of evidence to support evolution and the Big Bang.
Certainly there is the *possibility* that in some far flung corner of the universe that God *could* exist. It is possible...but it is not probable. There is no evidence, no proof, for God...and a great deal of evidence against God. Of course it will be impossible to say with absolute certainly that God does not and could not exist at some place or time in the universe. It is totally possible and logical to say that there is no creditable proof, and therefore no reason to believe.
I don't say that gods do not exist. I do say that there is absolutely no credible, non-contradictory evidence for any of them.
Are you arguing that it's logical to believe something to be true until someone can prove it false? I highly doubt that you apply that same rule to other unproven things, like leprechauns or Big Foot; why is it any different for the god of your choosing?
If I told you that I knew that leprechauns existed because I had a book that told me it was true, and that I had a personal relationship with the leprechaun king through wishes, would you tell me that I was wrong? After all, I've just presented you with the same amount of evidence you have for your god.
First, atheists do not say that god does not exist. They simply say that they have found no evidence that god does exist. Fundies keep saying that we say that god does not exist, but then they say a lot of things. Some day there MIGHT be evidence that god does exist and then we will accept god. We will not believe since there will be proof. But the same question you asked goes to fundies. They say that god absolutely does exist yet they have absolutely no proof. Some say they believe god exists but you seem to be put out when we say we believe that pink tap dancing elephants exist also.
A god might exist, but I am absolutely sure that the god of the bible is a fairy tale.