Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

How do people know there is no superhuman being with super powers, i.e. God?

The obvious answer is because he doesn't exist, but how do people know that for absolute certainty?

I know it's as easy to ask the people who do believe the same question, from another angle, but they always quote the Bible or their holy book.

Is not seeing or feeling, or having the ability to comprehend something, proof of non existance.

I just want to know how anyone can be so certain when most of us don't even know what we're looking for.

27 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Nobody is 100% certain that anything doesn't exist. To use Bertrand Russell's example, how do you know there hasn't been a fully-formed teapot orbiting the Earth since time immemorial? If I believe there is one, there is no real way for you to prove to me with absolute certainty that there isn't.

    When people say they don't believe God exists, what they mean is that the existing evidence (that a tradition of belief in God exists (and that the Bible etc exists), various philosophical justifications which I personally find easy to refute) does not establish that there is one, with 100% certainty or with any satisfying amount of certainty. If you're very nearly 100% certain that belief in God is a human error, it seems ridiculous to give it any credence regardless of this. Yes, if God does exist he will be p*ssed with you; then again, you can't prove for certain that vampires don't exist but it doesn't seem worth wearing garlic around your neck just in case.

  • Vivi
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    That's why the whole Flying Spaghetti Monster thing got started.

    Can you prove that the Earth, life and all of The Universe was not created by a giant flying spaghetti monster? Well can you? Can you prove the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't exist?

    No you can't, and the reason why you can't prove that he doesn't exist is because he isn't there. There is no such thing.

    It's exactly the same reason for us not being able to prove that God doesn't exist. How can you disprove what isn't there?

    God isn't there, so that's why we can't prove that he doesn't exist.

    Source(s): The Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster website: http://www.venganza.org/ (Check out the hate-mail page for a really good laugh!)
  • 1 decade ago

    The existence of God can be explained through the following process:

    If you conjure up an image in your mind, it becomes a thought.

    If you share that thought, it becomes a common understanding of a shared concept which, eventually, develops into the human becoming emotionally respondent to the concept.

    If people similarly respond to that concept in a way that influences their lives and others, then it becomes a rudimentary ideology.

    Ideology becomes religion.

    However, if that is the agreed path to creating a religion then is fashion not a religion, with Vivienne Westwood the almighty creator?

  • 1 decade ago

    how man can fore sure know that there is God is the simplest thing that man can find. any one who can answer the why he is on earth and be from inside him there no second option to it can answer all other question that man has not been able to answer. if at this time of man on earth he is still having to find things then certainly some one else did it . because only a man knows what he has done. but because someone else made man , that person alone know what he has made. God is God because he is God if you know how you started then there is know God. But God knows when all started.

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • 1 decade ago

    There is are no absolutes. Therefore no human begin can know for a certainty that god exists or does not exist.

    There are a number of rational and sceintificly logical reasons to life a live that does not include a belief in any supernatural ideas.

    - It is difficult to credit any one religion as being True or any one god as being True when there have been so many throughout human history. None appears to have any greater claim to being more credible or reliable than any other

    - Theists often claim that their gods are perfect beings; they describe gods, however, in contradictory and incoherent ways. Numerous characteristics are attributed to their gods, some of which are impossible and some combinations of which are impossible. As described, it's unlikely or impossible for these gods to exist. This doesn't mean that no god could possibly exist, just that the ones theists claim to believe in don't. I've never came across a coherent, understandable definition of god.

    - No religion is perfectly consistent when it comes to doctrines, ideas, and history. Every ideology, philosophy, and cultural tradition has inconsistencies and contradictions, so this shouldn't be surprising — but other ideologies and traditions aren't alleged to be divinely created or divinely sanctioned systems for following the wishes of a god. The state of religion in the world today is more consistent with the premise that they are man-made institutions.

    - A few cultures, like ancient Greece, have postulated gods which appear to be as natural as human beings, but in general gods are supernatural. This means that they are fundamentally different from human beings or anything on earth. Despite this, however, theists consistently describe their gods in ways that make the supernatural appear almost mundane. Gods share so many characteristics with humans that it has been argued that gods were made in the image of man

    - Theism means believing in the existence of at least one god, not that one necessarily cares much about any gods. In practice, though, theists typically place a great deal of importance on their god and insist that it and what it wants are the most important things a person can be concerned with. Depending upon the nature of a god, however, this isn't necessarily true. It's not obvious that the existence or desires of gods should matter to us

    - In most religions, gods are supposed to be the source of all morality. For most believers, their religion represents an institution for promoting perfect morality. In reality, though, religions are responsible for widespread immorality and gods have characteristics or histories which make them worse than the most vile human serial killer. No one would tolerate such behavior on the part of a person, but when with a god it all becomes laudable — even an example to follow.

    - Closely associated with taking action that should be considered immoral is the fact that there is so much evil in the world today. If there are any gods, why don't they act to eliminate it? The absence of substantive action against evil would be consistent with the existence of evil or at least indifferent gods, which is not impossible, but few people believe in such gods. Most claim that their gods are loving and powerful; the suffering on Earth makes their existence implausible

    - A common characteristic of both theism and religion is their reliance on faith: belief in the existence of god and in the truth of religious doctrines is neither founded upon nor defended by logic, reason, evidence, or science. Instead, people are supposed to have faith — a position they wouldn’t consciously adopt with just about any other issue. Faith, though, is an unreliable guide to reality or means for acquiring knowledge

    - Most religions say that life is much more than the flesh and matter we see around us. In addition, there is supposed to be some sort of spiritual or supernatural realm behind it all and that our "true selves" is spiritual, not material. All evidence, though, points to life being a purely natural phenomenon. All evidence indicates that who we really are — our selves — is material and dependent upon the workings of the brain. If this is so, religious and theistic doctrines are wrong.

    - Perhaps the most basic reason for not believing in any gods is the absence of good reasons for doing so. The above are decent reasons for not believing and for questioning — and eventually leaving — whatever theistic and religious beliefs a person might have had in the past. Once a person gets beyond the bias in favor of belief, though, they may realize something critical: the burden of support lies with those claiming that belief is rational and/or necessary. Believers fail to meet this burden, though, and thus fail to provide good reasons to accept their claims.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    No, i do no longer think of that he's devil, I in simple terms think of that he's bored to death in the middle-decrease earnings human beings of u.s.. in the previous the government did placed a stop to hikes in gas fees, the sub-top lenders would desire to have been prevalent approximately by utilising the government earlier all of those human beings lost each thing. there replaced right into a time while government did it extremely is interest for all individuals, no longer basically the wealthy few. it is not all G.B's. fault, even though it extremely is the fault of people who he has appointed to positions that would have made extra powerful judgements for the rustic as an entire.

  • mecasa
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    We don't know. Science fiction writers have played with the idea for decades.

    It seems to me that mankind is constantly pushing in the direction of creating something. We want to be like God. Would we create something and then be invisible to our creation and occasionally interfere with the direction our creation is taking, and be pleased with some of the outcomes and displeased with others? I don't know. But it all doesn't seem impossible.We could be the creation of a being who to us, has supernatural powers.

  • 1 decade ago

    No one knows with absolute certainty that there is a superhuman being with super power; i.e, God.

    God, or a superhuman being with super powers, is accepted upon faith.

  • 1 decade ago

    You have only to look at reference sources, other than a Bible or religious text - ie. something that is impartial and independent, with nothing to be gained from promoting God, etc.

    Of course there is nothing to be seen... etc for any evidence about God, etc etc.

    There is proof/evidence for things as elusive as God... eg

    http://plain2.tripod.com/pagea.htm

    There is such evidence for many supernatural and unusual things - but for God --- nothing at all. Really. Now, isn't that strange - or rather, unsurprising...

  • 1 decade ago

    Burden of proof. If you cannot provide even a single shred of evidence for the existence of something, it's better to assume it doesn't exist.

    Like leprechauns.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.