Does God Exist?

[etexaslady]

I am taking a philosophy class and my assignment this week is to prove God's existence without using scripture . I need a lot of help!!!! If anyone has a suggestion please let me know!!

Thanks

[sunlight]

I got this in an email once... :grin: not sure if it will help, and it has a few scriptures in it... but yeah.

Atheist?

So you say you're an atheist?

By Charles Blair

Well, I don't believe you.

No, I'm not angry with you, and I don't want to debate all the classical arguments for the existence of God; you've probably considered them all already and rejected them because of your own personal thoughts.

And no, I'm not going to use the familiar line "God doesn't believe in atheists" as a premise here.

It's just that you, as an educated person, should know the virtual impossibility of proving a negative, especially a universal negative. To claim to do so implies omniscience, and frankly, neither of us have that. We haven't been everywhere in the material universe, nor have we explored the entire world of thought.

It's as if one were to say, "There is no such thing as a leprechaun, or a unicorn." To be sure, none of us have seen such creatures, but one documented sighting by an otherwise credible person would be enough to disprove such a sweeping universal negative. And one documented encounter with Deity from an otherwise credible person is sufficient to disprove the universal negative "There is no God."

But there have been far more than one such encounter; millions of otherwise credible people, many of them the best people in their community in terms of human relations, the founders of hospitals, schools, mercy missions by the hundreds, the kind of good neighbors all of us love to have, all have claimed such "close encounters of the main kind." Now, a claim to have seen a unicorn from someone on heavy narcotics wouldn't impress me a great deal, and the fact that the Authorized Version of the Bible uses the word isn't final evidence; checking the Hebrew results in another term ("wild ox" in some versions, though I still like the song where God tells Noah, "And don't forget My unicorn.") And an Irishman heavy into his celebration of St. Pat's with the "drinkin' of the green" might not be the most credible witness concerning the "little people." But when you have multiplied thousands of witnesses, many of whom would be clinchers on the stand in any court case, over all 7 continents, over thousands of years, all with the same testimony, there is surely a presumption in favor of their words.

Which, of course, leads to the relatively small number of self-professed atheists, agnostics, and skeptics (a recent national "Atheist's Convention" drew some 500, according to the news). More cautious thinkers prefer the terms "free-thinker" or "agnostic" and simply state, "I haven't been able to find God," and with Confucius may say, "We do not yet understand man; how then can we understand God? We do not yet understand this life; how then can we understand another?" Interestingly enough, this is precisely what at least three writers of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures also said.

Isaiah, in the last portion of that book (55:8-9) quotes God as saying, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." The writer of Psalm 139 states (in v. 6) "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it." And Paul, in Romans 11:33, concludes an in-depth discussion of God's character with the doxology, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" Evidently these Bible writers believed that for man to search out God on his own was not to be expected, and that God to be known must choose to reveal Himself.

Thus the agnostic is correct in stating that he has not found God, but the real question may be, are we willing to be found by Him? As Augustine once said, as if it were God speaking: "Fear not, for thou would not seek Me if I had not found thee."

My reason for writing this brief discussion is not to seek an argument, or to try to win a debate; it is intended to help honest doubters think their way through the most serious issue of life. If God exists, then all else is insignificant in comparison to that truth. If there is no God, then nothing else really matters; life is ultimately, in the poet's words, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." One thinker wrote that he could not have the atheist's humility, to consider life insignificant. As a believer in the One Creator and Sustainer of the universe, it is my prayer for you that this brief essay will help create in your mind a desire to enjoy that sense of meaning in life that can come in knowing the One Who is beyond knowledge. Feel free to contact me if you want to talk about these matters.

==

AUTHORS NOTE:

I hope most of us know someone who hides behind the label "atheist" to keep preachers away. If you're not comfortable handing this material to them, or forwarding it, possibly this line of reasoning will be helpful as you witness to them. I am strongly convinced that there are really no atheists, only skeptics and people who are so inured in their sin that this argument scares off some witnesses, and staves off some conviction for sin. If any of you are able to use any of it, I would be pleased to know the results.

R. Charles Blair

[Raven180]

Testify!

You don't have to quote any particular Scripture to share what God has done in your life (and the life of others) and how you know and interact with Him on a personal basis. Paul often proved that Jesus is Messiah from his personal testimony, i.e. when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. (He could also prove it Scripturally, of course!)

Therefore, our testimony is the greatest, legal evidence for the existence of God.

From Revelation 19:10,

10. ...for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

So, if you are a recipient of God's grace, if He has revealed Himself to you, if He has performed miracles in your life, et cetera and et cetera, you have all the proof you need to share with your class.

[titushome]

Other evidence that points to the existence of God includes the planet on which we live and the teeming life on it, and the universe beyond this planet.

Many have argued that all of nature, living creatures and non-living objects alike, exhibit an apparent design, which necessitates a Designer.  The weakness with this argument is that there are some very strong counter-arguments that plausibly explain how natural selection can result in the appearance of design.

A stronger argument, perhaps, in favor of God's existence is to posit the question of how this all got to be here to begin with.  The current scientific guess, the so-called "big bang," still isn't fully satisfactory; the idea has its merits, but the calculations of scientists show that the big bang would have produced equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, which cancel each other out and leave... no universe at all - just a vast field of radiation!  That the universe as we know it even exists is an enormous mystery that scientists so far have been unable to crack.

If this kind of stuff interests you, I suggest checking your local library for recently published popular books about the big bang, matter and anti-matter, and maybe quantum physics/quantum mechanics.  By "popular" books I mean books that are written for the general public - that's us - since such books usually do a pretty good job of explaining these scientific concepts and theories without getting bogged down in lots of technical jargon or complicated math.

God bless you with your project!

[dnr1128]

What created the stuff that "banged" in the big bang? 

What about the motion argument?  Every motion in the universe is caused by something that moved it, which means that somewhere there is an unmovable force; God. 

Then there's the second law of thermodynamics, which has NEVER been disproven.  It states that the universe tends towards disorder.  If it is tending towards disorder, then it cannot by infinite.

    * Discoveries in astronomy have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the universe did, in fact, have a beginning. There was a single moment of creation.
    * Advances in molecular biology have revealed vast amounts of information encoded in each and every living cell, and molecular biologists have discovered thousands upon thousands of exquisitely designed machines at the molecular level. Information requires intelligence and design requires a designer.
    * Biochemists and mathematicians have calculated the odds against life arising from non-life naturally via unintelligent processes. The odds are astronomical. In fact, scientists aren't even sure if life could have evolved naturally via unintelligent processes. If life did not arise by chance, how did it arise?
    * The universe is ordered by natural laws. Where did these laws come from and what purpose do they serve?
    * Philosophers agree that a transcendent Law Giver is the only plausible explanation for an objective moral standard. So, ask yourself if you believe in right and wrong and then ask yourself why. Who gave you your conscience? Why does it exist?
    * People of every race, creed, color, and culture, both men and women, young and old, wise and foolish, from the educated to the ignorant, claim to have personally experienced something of the supernatural. So what are we supposed to do with these prodigious accounts of divine healing, prophetic revelation, answered prayer, and other miraculous phenomena? Ignorance and imagination may have played a part to be sure, but is there something more?


Plus, DNA is needed to create the proteins needed to create DNA, so which came first, the chicken or the egg?

If you have time, get ahold of a copy of Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell, or The Case for Christ by  Lee Strobel.  Any major library should have copies. 

[drummr]

Just looking at the patterns in the universe would make you wonder if
there was a God.

Entropy or chaos, 2nd law of thermodynamics or whatever, proves scientifically that
order becomes disorder, not vice versa.  With this in mind, it makes more sense that
there is some intelligence at work, whether it would be called God or not.

[Ashlee]

Laminin click here

[johndoherty]

You can't disprove or prove god exists, thats why people in the religious sect call it faith, believing in something you prove, otherwise they would just know. Any proofs you could come up with to "prove" a god's existence could be easily argued away. The case for there being no god is a lot easier to be proved.

-don't get huffy puffy people this is my view as an atheist.

[drummr]

You can't disprove or prove god exists, thats why people in the religious sect call it faith, believing in something you prove, otherwise they would just know. Any proofs you could come up with to "prove" a god's existence could be easily argued away. The case for there being no god is a lot easier to be proved.

-don't get huffy puffy people this is my view as an atheist.

To some degree you are correct, except the assertion that it is easier to prove that God does
not exist.  It contradicts your first statement that you can't prove, or disprove that god exists.

[Tsalagi]

First off, your teacher is playing a trick on you.  One cannot (from scripture) prove the existence of Someone who PREDATES scripture.   Secondly, philosophy is almost as useless as psychology in terms of anything useful.  Third, research the work of one Immanuel Kant for the answers you need.

Your "teacher" (I use the term loosely) is attempting to discredit your faith.  Don't let him.

I would like to be the first on this forum to point to sentience as one of the main human arguments for God's existence.

Have we any proof for universal evolution?

No we do not.  We ain't even got concrete proof of terrestrial 'evolution', which is why it remains a "theory".

We have no proof whatsoever that "extraterrestrial" sentient life exists. (Unless you've made contact with aliens, in which case you're more than likely to be carted off to the looney bin as believed.)

Humans are the only sentient species we have ever encountered.

WHO OR WHAT MADE US SENTIENT IN THE FIRST PLACE?

In other words, if there is no GOD, how in the CAT HAIR are we even having a discussion about the existence of such an entity?

Don't you get it, Mr. Doherty?  The very fact that we can debate His existence is proof enough for me.  High order intelligences don't just pop out of the aether, sir.

If they do, if you can prove they do, introduce me to one of them.  I'd like to speak to one of these representatives from another world myself.

I'd also like to figure out how such a puny critter as Homo Sapiens managed to claw it's way to the top of the food chain, considering we ain't got no claws, or even useful teeth.

We don't even have any fur, no protective covering, comparatively poor eyesight, we are weak. 

HOW, SIR?  A creature more UNFIT TO SURVIVE couldn't possibly be dreamed up.  And yet you say billions of years?  HA...HA...HA.

One noise made by vibrating the vocal chords and releasing air (commonly called a "word") can be measured by the fleshy lumps on either side of our cranium and translated into a whole range of ideas.

ONE NOISE.

Let's use the noise arrangement called 'freedom', just for grins.  I bet I could say the word, ask you to thoroughly explain it, and you'd still be going an hour later.  AND THAT'S JUST ONE WORD.

You can attempt to rebut if you like, but NO ONE has ever answered that one satisfactorily.  Good luck.

[Tsalagi]

* Biochemists and mathematicians have calculated the odds against life arising from non-life naturally via unintelligent processes. The odds are astronomical. In fact, scientists aren't even sure if life could have evolved naturally via unintelligent processes. If life did not arise by chance, how did it arise?

To add a bit here, the odds (mathematically speaking) against even the simplest form of RNA arising spontaneously are greater than the estimated half-life of 'the universe'.

[Melody]

the new movie Expelled had some good info in it!