Why is it that some religious people use air in there analogy?

Question

I find it odd that people use air in their analogy in trying to prove the existence of God. They say things like you can’t see the air that you breathe but you know it is there. Is it me or don’t they know about the other senses that we as humans possess, you can’t see air but you have a sense of touch, you can feel it. That would be like saying you can’t see stink in the air but you know it’s there. Of course I know it’s there because it stinks! I can’t see the flow of electricity through a bare wire either, but if I touch it, I will sure as hell know it’s there. Is there some other analogy that we may use instead of these old ones that make no nense?

Answer 1

Because the religious types are constantly trying to prove the impossible. Instead of admitting there's no way we can prove for certain the existence of God, they resort to nonsensical tactics that are generally accepted by young children and people who can't think for themselves. Most religious people have this paranoia, that their religion is constantly "under attack", and use these metaphors to gain strength in numbers and solidarity. Unfortunately, they are sorely misguided, and are sending a message of incompetence and insincerity to people that have a mind of their own.

Religious belief is simply that- a belief. You may believe in God, but you can prove air exists, despite that fact you can't see it with the naked eye. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from their beliefs, I think religion has helped billions of people, but I would just like religious leaders to stop trying to brainwash the masses, tell the truth, and let people decide for themselves what they want to believe or not.

As a side note, the scriptures *were* written by man, who claim to have been "divinely inspired". But then again, people make all kinds of claims. To believe they are truthful is up to you.

Answer 2

I find it odd that people use air in their analogy in trying to prove the existence of God. They say things like you can’t see the air that you breathe but you know it is there. Is it me or don’t they know about the other senses that we as humans possess, you can’t see air but you have a sense of touch, you can feel it. That would be like saying you can’t see stink in the air but you know it’s there. Of course I know it’s there because it stinks! I can’t see the flow of electricity through a bare wire either, but if I touch it, I will sure as hell know it’s there. Is there some other analogy that we may use instead of these old ones that make no nense?

Answer 3

I think what happens with many who try to explain how we know God exists is a lot like discussing politics with someone of the same party: the fundamentals are already understood and agreed upon, it's the lesser details that are being fiddled with. The air analogy works very well in their minds, and in the minds of all their religious friends.
I don't think there is any perfect analogy. One that might have more durability is the "brain analogy": a person can't hear, see, smell, touch, or taste their own brain. He or she knows it's there because they can feel its influence, or in other words, they have evidence of its existence if they understand how to recognize it. Of course, some have seen a brain, and they know how to show others a brain, but know one can see their own directly. You can take images and scans of a brain or its activity. But we have artist's depictions of God. On a philosophical level, those two ideas are pretty similar.
Yeah, it's not perfect. It falls apart a bit if you really dissect it (much like a brain, funnily enough). But I think it has more parallels than the "air analogy".
If we want to see, then we can find plenty of evidence or influence of God in our lives. If we don't want to see, or want to see things differently, we can find other explanations for this so-called evidence.
Through history, the influence of the brain was certainly not a hard fact, universally accepted by all. And since no one can actually see their own brain, a truly stubborn person could say "well, sure, that guy has a brain - he's dead. That was the cause of death." or something equally twitchy.
If you're discussing or debating the existence of God, especially with someone who doesn't believe it or doesn't want to believe it, then no analogy will convince them. To some extent, I doubt that a personal visitation would prove it to them. They would probably convince themselves they hallucinated.
The only way any of us is going to know for sure if there is a God, and which one (or several) it is, is to die, and see what we find. Interestingly, this is usually the only chance we have of seeing if someone has a brain in his/her head, or not.

Answer 4

When I was a Christian I tried to use radio waves as the analogy since we can't sense radio waves with any of our five senses--but that falls on it's face anyway cause we can scientifically prove the existance of radio waves.

But it's a lot better than air.

Answer 5

Okay, but there are other things -- lots of other things -- that we can't see or feel or detect with any of other senses.

But just because we can't detect them through our senses doesn't mean they're not there. It doesn't mean they don't exist.

I think a lot of people who don't believe in God feel that way because they've talked themselves into thinking that He doesn't exist.

Why? Because God has certain moral expectations of us that are demanding, that many of us don't want to hear.

So, many of us feel a psychological need to find a "loophole" or a way out of meeting our moral obligations to God. And one way to do that is to rationalize in our own minds the idea that He doesn't even exist.

Once we do that, we are then free and clear as far as our consciences go.

Once we've completed the rationalization process and gotten God out of the way by convincing ourselves that He's not real, we then feel more free (and less guilty) about doing whatever we want, with few or no moral boundaries.

Answer 6

Your question doesn't exactly explain what "air" you mean. I don't believe Christians use "air" as an analogy. Jesus Christ was not air. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. The Holy Spirit isn't air----it's a living, breathing spirit----just as your own soul.

We will meet Christ in the air----is that what you mean? In the rapture, those who are the faithful will rise and meet Christ in the air. But we believe that because God said it was so.

Since the Word is God, the Word was with God-----and Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh----I think the scriptures are more credible than anything man has written on the subject.

Answer 7

Air can be detected. The analogy is a false analogy. Air is detectable because we can remove it from the container. We can test for its expansion, and we can liqeuify it. No scientific arguments can prove the existence of God. But you can use telelogical arguments to infer it I guess.

Answer 8

actually I like that they use those analogies. saves me the trouble of thinking of way to refute it. i especially like the air analogy because I work in a plant that separates air. but most people understand the difference between, "If I can't see it it's not there" and "If I can't prove it it's not real" however there are those that don't.

Answer 9

I think you make a good point actually. Atheists are often asking for the types of evidence that are impossible to give. Just like you can't see air but you can feel it. You can't prove God in a test tube like some would like, you have to use different types of evidence based on what you're trying to prove.

BTW, one poster said "We can test for its expansion, and we can liqeuify it. "

I'd just like to point out that, no, you can not "liquefy air"

Answer 10

Can You See or Touch an Emotion....Like Love?

You know what that is...don't you? Do you have a mother?
Do you love her? So, you know what Love is....I'll bet you have never "seen" Love or held it in your hand.

Please leave the obscene references and childish comments out. Respond only with a mature intelligent comment.

Also, to respond to another writer, PROOF and EVIDENCE never comes into play with Christianity.... it requires something called FAITH...which you apparently know little or nothing about.

We all must face the reality that emotions, all emotions such as Love, Hate, Anger, Fear....ALL of them...are on a spiritual level; that we all know what they are and we all believe they exist. We also know we have never seen concrete tangible evidence of them either. Oh, its true that we have seen outcome or results of an emotion.... but we have not actually seen THE emotion.

SO, WILL THIS PASS THE TEST AS A NEW STANDARD?