Does God Exist?

Question

Please give your defininition of what god is in your response. Also please ensure your argument is philisophically sound that it references establised theories and ideas along with there author.

Answer 1

The answer in a sense was given by Einstein. During one of his discussion with Bohr on the meaning of quantum mechanics he replied: "God does not play dice".

Here is my interpretation. Einstein was a Jewish. As such he believed in God in a natural sense. According to his religion (but again this is my personal interpretation) the proof of the existence of God is the creation of the world (the first story in the Old Testament...there is no nonsense as in Catholic religion: believing without seeing). The image of God developed in this religion is based on "determinism". The creation of the world as described in the Bible is a deterministic event.

The answer to Einstein comment: "God does not play dice" is not that according to quantum mechanic, yes it does, but rather that reality is not deterministic and therefore is not consistent with such a notion as "God".

Note that up to now Quantum mechanics was shown to always give the correct experimental answer and is consequently the basis of our understanding of nature.

So the answer is that God does not exist (at least under the form proposed in the Bible or Catholicism).

In modern cosmology, there may be today another demonstration that goes in the same direction. The notion of a "Multiverse", for instance, renders the creation of life less a miracle (almost impossible event) as an almost sure thing considering the amount of possible Universes. However, I do not find the idea much appealing (since the physics behind these interpretations is largely unknown).

One thing is sure is that there exist something (no metaphysic in this statement). The ancient called the source of this experience God. I think modern science has gone much farther than that in its description of reality and that keeping such a belief today may even be quite dangerous (we make war because of religion, not because of science), in particular, concerning the foundation of our moral values. If God is not the foundation of moral values then what is it?

Not having the answer to this question may put our future in peril.

Answer 2

This a question we may never have a solid answer to. It goes right along with, "what is the meaning of life?"

If God exsists, then [he/she/it/they] is/are very secretive. And rightly so. Imagine being bombarded with all sorts of philisophical questions and personal requests. Maybe that is why only certain few are blessed, and some are not even believers!

If God does not exsists, well at least I'm happy that exsistence was a fortunate accident, and mabe one day humanity will evolve past it's problems.

Personally, I think that nature is so well organized for there not to be a supreme architect. The world is so mathematical, and so much like clockwork. These repitions suggest creation followed by a guided evolution.

I hope God (whomever it involves) does exists and I hope God is good.

Answer 3

God denotes the deity believed by monotheists to be the sole creator and ruler of the universe. Conceptions of God can vary widely, despite the use of the same term for them all.

The God of monotheism, pantheism or panentheism, or the supreme deity of henotheistic religions, may be conceived of in various degrees of abstraction: as a powerful, human-like, supernatural being, or as the deification of an esoteric, mystical or philosophical category, the Ultimate, the summum bonum, the Absolute Infinite, the Transcendent, or Existence or Being itself, the ground of being, the monistic substrate, that which we cannot understand, etc. The more abstract of these positions regard any anthropomorphic mythology and iconography associated with God either sympathetically as mere symbolism, or unfavourably as blasphemous.

Theologians and philosophers have studied countless conceptions of God since the dawn of civilization. The question of the existence of God classically falls under the branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, but is also one of the key discussions taking place within the field of the philosophy of religion.



One question which inevitably comes up in a discussion of this nature is what is the origin of God? If God created matter/energy, and designed the systems that have propelled matter into its present arrangement, who or what accomplished that for God? Why is it any more reasonable to believe that God has always “been” than it is to say that matter has always “been”? As Carl Sagan has said, “If we say that God has always been, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always been?” (Cosmos, p. 257)

Billions of people, who represent diverse sociological, intellectual, emotional, educational makeups...believe that there is a Creator, a God to be worshipped. Now, the fact that so many people believe something certainly doesn't make it true. But when so many people through the ages are so personally convinced that God exists, can one say with absolute confidence that they are all mistaken?

Answer 4

If something as counter-intuitive, assumptive, contradictory and unfathomable as a God exists.. then the word existence would become useless.

God exists where there is no logic or language. Philosophically the concept is irrelevant, regressive, and harmful. It's the thing we point at when we demonstrate what not to do.

there are so many arguments... here's one: causa sui doesn't work. Analyze direct causation and you will see that you need More than just one thing to effect a second.

Answer 5

I think God exists. I think we wouldn't ask a question about the existence of something that doesn't exist. At least we doubt about His existence. And I think every human has his or her personal definition of God so there would be around 6 billion definitions of God. But He does exist. In my personal opinion, I have not seen, heard, or touched Him, but I have felt Him and that's when the answer comes. And that's an answer you can share with everybody, but the truth of that answer is reserved for you only; just for those who look for that answer, individually, one by one, and there's no doubt, He answered you, personally.

Answer 6

Ok, here is my logical two cents.

God - (noun) Greatest of all imagible living beings.

Proof FOR existance:
(Given #1) If nothing living exists
(Conclusion #1) God does not exist (dirived from definition and given #1)

(Given #2) If one living being exists
(Conclusion #2) If only one living thing exists, then that living thing must be God (dirived from definition and given #2)

(Given #3) If more than one living being exists
(Conclusion #3) If more than one living thing exists, then God must be the greatest of all the living beings (dirived from definition and given #3)

Thus if you accept my definition and you believe that atleast one living being exists. you must conclude that God exists.
However, a large flaw in this thesis is that I provide a subjective definition of God. My definition may not be accurate. If you have a better one, please post it.

Also, here is my counter-arguement.
(Given) Above definition of God
(Given) All living things evolve over time. Even if creationism is true and all living beings were created from nothing, they do still evolve over time.
(Assumption) There is no known way to not evolve. Maybe a way exists but we do not know about it.
(Conclusion) God cannot be a living being and not evolve. Thus He cannot exist.

The flaw here is still my definition of God plus, the assumption that there is no known way to not evolve. Because my counter-arguement against God has more flaws than my arguement for God, it is weaker. Thus I tend to believe that God exists.

Answer 7

So you are wanting a term paper over if people believe in god or not and why? Geesh...that's too much effort for yahoo answers. Plus this is a question philosophers have argued over for centuries...I wouldn't expect it to be answered here any more than I expect philosophers to come up with a sound argument for the existence of a god or one that definitely proves one doesn't exist. Additionally, if an argument is philosophically sound, unless it is copied from another person's work there is no need to give references (ie shouldn't have to appeal to authority). That said:

god: A being or beings worthy of worship and is responsible for the creation of all that exists.

I do not believe in a god or anything else supernatural. So, as far as I'm concerned a god does not exist. I have reached this conclusion through years of study and reflection which can not be adequately expressed in this forum. The basis for my conclusion rests mainly is the lack of objective evidence for any type of god, the existence of numerous religions throughout history, and lack of strong philosophical arguments for such a being's existence.

I happen to think the strongest argument against the existence of a loving god (other than apparent non-involvement) is the problem of evil. There have been numerous ways this problem has been worded since Epicurus:

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”

I state it in the following manner (I used christian, this is a copy and paste from another forum, but replace christian with any god that has knowledge of future events and involves an eternal hell concept then it still applies):

Since the current Christian view of God is one outside of 'time,' makes more sense to say that God is outside of the dimension but whatever, I'm going to use that idea of God. Being outside of time, he can essentially fast forward and see the consequences of whatever universe he decides to make. At the moment just before creation (pick your favorite version of creation because it doesn't matter) God knew how each possible universe he would create would turn out. He knew at that moment that mankind would be inherently sinful and that most of the world would not accept Christianity, yet nonetheless this universe was the best he could do out of the many possible universes so he created it anyway.

The problem with this isn't so much a classic problem of evil, even though I could use that here, but a problem of the design of human nature and the existence of punishment. God, knowing how everything would be, knowing that Bill, and many other Bills, would not become christian, made people and made hell. He knew that he would be sending the majority of his creation to hell. So, it is a problem of evil, but not the problem as normally stated. Why would a loving God create a world in which he knows that by creating such a world that he would be sending most of the creation he claims to love to an eternal burning hell?

The common refutations to the above are "free will" and "with good there must be evil." Free will is essentially the ability to make an unrestricted decision between two or more choices. So, it is easily argued that free will can exist without evil...it would be a choice between 'good' and 'good' rather than 'good' and 'evil.' So, I won't entertain the free will response any further since it seems rather weak to me.

"With good there must be evil," this may be true. However if a god is all powerful then shouldn't he be able to overpower evil? If a god is restricted by the nature of good and evil then that god is not all powerful. Additionally, If god is good by his very nature would he be able to create anything evil? I would think not. This part of the argument, of coarse, fails if one accepts that god is both good and evil. But, it still leaves the question of if god loves his creation would he allow evil to exist...especially an evil place such as hell? A parent, no matter what his child has done will still do everything they can to prevent harm from befalling that child. This is how we understand unconditional love. But with many religions god is stated to love us yet be willing to send people to a bad afterlife if they don't act in a certain way. An all loving god would not do such a thing...s/he would do everything possible (which for god would be anything that doesn't defy logic) to make sure that none of the creation it loves would suffer an eternity of damnation. This would mean that a eternal hell wouldn't exist at all because god would not allow such a place.

So, if for some reason the only possible universe a god could create is one where humans are inherently sinful in need of salvation to avoid some horrible afterlife...a loving god would choose not to create in the first place. As stated before, this argument is against the existence of a loving god and that of hell. The problems stated are easily avoided by changing the way one perceives god or removing the belief in an eternal hell.

That concludes this very short argument against the existence of a particular type of god. I would also say that if a being is not all loving it isn't worthy of worship and therefore is not god. But opinions of what is worthy of worship are subjective.

Answer 8

No anthropomorphic God walking on a cloud. Just a divine order. Disorder is "Hell", chaos. The true spiritual path accedes to the divine order.

Answer 9

If your answer was philisophically sound, it shouldn't have references or established theories.

Philosophy doesn't come from reading a book.

Answer 10

He exists in the hearts of the people who believe in him. Which religion are you talking about. Some religions do not have only one god, but many.