Is God a theory or a fact?

Question

Explain the difference between a theory and a fact to me please.

Answer 1

God is an idea.
A theory is an idea that can be superimposed on reality to explain events or existance.
A fact is a description of what truly exists.
God is an idea. Not even a theory. Just a big fat one.

Answer 2

The concepts of Theory and Fact are scientific terms with very specific meanings...They are meant to convey to precise ideas (science is about being precise).

A fact is an observation. When a scientific experiment is performed, it is observed, and these observations are called facts.

groups of facts are analyzed and collated. From this, conclusions are drawn, and other facts are inferred.

A possible explanation of what these facts mean is called a theory. A theory is not set in stone, may be changed or revised, and challenged by contradictory theories.

Scientists will then perform more studies, based off of a theory, to prove or disprove that theory. If enough studies are done showing it is provable, and, more important, repeatable, it may be upgraded to a Law.

Thus, you have the THEORY of evolution, the THEORY of relativity, but the LAWS of thermodynamics, the LAW of entropy.

The problem is, most don't realize that science and religion are two different philosophies, competing, for explaining things. Since both are ways of thinking, they compete pretty heavily for meme space.

Or, in another way of looking at it...we're having a debate as to which detergent is the best...

But, back to the question, by the question.

God is a theory.

Answer 3

Dang... I have always been disturbed to observe that so many people are scientifically illiterate, and that so few people seem to even know what a scientific 'theory' is. Now, much to my dismay, I have come to learn that lots of people have no idea what a 'fact' is, either.

We're doomed.

Your question is an of a logical fallacy known as the 'false dilemma' (also known as falsified dilemma, fallacy of the excluded middle, black and white thinking, false dichotomy, false correlative, either/or dilemma or bifurcation). It involves a situation in which two alternative points of view are held to be the only options, when in reality there exist one or more alternate options which have not been considered. It gets worse that that, though... your two choices are not even of the same genre... and neither of the choices are applicable to the characterization of the subject - god. If there is not some kind of award for boogering up a question in the least number of words... well, there should be.

Anyway... a 'fact' is something detected by observation or experiment that is indisputably the case; for example, if you hold a rock up in the air and drop it, it will fall to the ground... that is an example of a 'fact'.

A 'theory' occupies a higher tier of importance in science than do mere facts... theories EXPLAIN facts. Take the example of the FACT that a rock will fall to the ground, if dropped. There might be several possible explanations that account for this FACT; so, we make some educated guesses... 'hypotheseses':

* Intelligent earth-suck
* Intelligent falling (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39512?issue=4228&special=2005)
* Gravitational force
* The Will of God

Galileo had made note of the fact that rocks do not hover in the air if you drop them... in fact, he went even further, and by rolling marbles down a groove in an inclined plane, he made detailed measurements that showed that the farther things fall, the faster they go (acceleration).

Up until Newton's time, the 'Will of God' hypothesis was pretty much in vogue as the best guess for why things fell and why things (mostly) remained stuck to the ground. Actually, the 'Will of God' hypotheses was the best guess for EVERYTHING that people didn't understand. Unfortunately though, this hypothesis never achieved the status of theory, because of a few fatal flaws... while it has some extremely feeble EXPLANATORY POWER ("God did it... nothing to see here... everybody go home now."), it has absolutely NO PREDICTIVE POWER, and it is NOT FALSIFIABLE. Those are ALL requirements of a valid scientific theory... explanatory power, predictive power and falsifiability.

Newton, however, was not satisfied with that. After an encounter with an apple falling from a tree, Newton deduced that some kind of force might be at work... and wondered whether that force, since it seemed to reach all the way up to the top of the apple tree, might actually reach all the way up to the moon, and beyond. So, he used the data from rolling marbles down an inclined plane to derive some formulas which described the motion and acceleration of the marbles, and to predict the instantaneous velocity of the objects at any point in their journey. THEN, he used HIS equations to mathematically derive Kepler's laws for the motion of the planets... which Kepler had derived empirically (i.e., via direct observation). So, now Newton had a THEORY instead of a hypothesis. Not only did it have tremendous predictive power and tremendous explanatory power... it also UNIFIED different tracks of scientific inquiry by showing that the planets were subject to the same force and followed the same rules that caused rocks (or apples) to fall to earth if they become unglued from whatever it is that is holding them up.

Too bad it's wrong.

Oh... something important... a lot of people seem to think that a 'theory' is just an idea, or a guess, up until the time it gets 'proven',,, at which point it becomes a 'law of science'. That is absolutely WRONG. 'Laws' describe mathematical relationships. Theories NEVER get proven. Scientists do experiments, make predictions, make observations in an attempt to DiSPROVE a theory. Remember 'falsifiability'? No... 'proof' is for mathematicians. stamp collectors and liquor distillers... not scientists.

OK... I got carried away. Anyway... buried somewhere in that stuff I wrote above is a key point... "God did it" is not a theory... it has extremely feeble explanatory power, zero predictive power, and it is not falsifiable.

"God exists" is not a theory, either, because it does not purport to explain or predict anything. It is simply a bland assertion... without anything offered to back it up. In formal logic, this would be a 'proposition'... something to be proven or disproven.

"God exists" is not a fact, either... it is not 'indisputable'. It has never been observed. It has never been produced as the result of an experiment.

So.. 'god' is not a 'fact'... god is not a 'theory'. So, what might god be, then?

I think 'myth', or 'delusion' might be good choices.

Answer 4

A theory is something that man creates to justify some thing that has happened or something that exists.
A fact is something that has been proven .
I didnt open a dictionary for these!
For example : It is a fact that my little dog is stubborn and not a theory, because when you tell him not to do something, he does it anyway ! Now, there may be other reasons why, but the fact remains that it is still a fact,...He is stubborn !
Now I would have to create a theory on how an airplane actually gets up into the air to an altitude of 30,000 feet, because I don't understand it you see, and I could make others who don't understand it also believe my theory, but that doesnt mean that I am giving you all the facts !

Answer 5

he doesn't even qualify as a theory, and it's obvious he's not a fact.

[edit] i was going to let somebody else explain the difference, but it looks like nobody will.

fact: something you can measure or observe. god is immeasurable and unobservable, therefore he is not a fact.

theory: an explanation of a causal relationship. for example, if you see a mosquito land on you, and then a short time later, you get a bump, you can create a hypothesis that somehow the mosquito is causing the bump. if you examined the bump, you can find the substance the mosquito is putting into your skin that is causing the bump. once you have verified that the causal relationship is true, then the hypothesis becomes a theory. since god doesn't actually do anything, hypothesis/theory can't be applied to him.

In either case, verification is necessary, and in neither case is this true for god.

Answer 6

God is a fact that at this point can only be proved by a theory!
Theory is an idea that still needs to be proved. Once it is proved then it is known as a fact!

Answer 7

theory is a temporary explanation of a thing till there is a better explanation. where as a fact is unchangable, unquestionable. god is neither a theory nor a fact. humans need someone to blame for causing problems and also some one who could prevent the problems.
there is no proof that there is god but also there is no proof that he is not there. i'm sure that one day science would develop to a extent that we would need no god. we could be reborn after death and science will substitute god.

Answer 8

A fact is the truth as we know it. Someone might have had an experience that is only attributable to a Higher Power, therefore God to them is a fact. A theory is a working model of an idea, one that has to be verified or disputed by facts.

Answer 9

God is a theory. A fact is something that can be shown to be evident, and can be used predictively & reproducibly, for instance gravity works every time it is tried, so it is a fact. Prayer fails in most instances, showing us that God is only a theory.

Answer 10

Theory . If there is a God i don't think its the one the Christians have in mind

Answer 11

I used to think that it was just a silly theory, then this happened to me. Now I'm not so sure as I once was.

Several years ago I had an unusual experience concerning an uncle, a distant relative who lived over a thousand miles away.

While driving my car I suddenly felt the unmistakable presence of this relative that I hardly even knew. He was more like someone I had heard about than someone I knew. It was very strange; it felt as though I was momentarily lifted right out of my physical body. I seemed to be suspended somehow beyond space and time, bathed in a love so intense It felt like I could have just disappear into it at any moment if It would have let me. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed to last forever at the same time. I realize how crazy this must sound. The experience was so strong that at first I was afraid I was loosing my grip on reality. I finally managed to chalk it up to an over active imagination.

Three days later I got a call from my aunt telling me that this uncle we are talking about had gone into a coma and died the day I had the experience. It felt like ice water had been poured down my back when she told me this. I had lost any real ideas of God or faith and had become somewhat of an atheist. Needless to say this experience caused me to rethink some of the conclusions I had come to.

I feel blessed to now understand that even in our darkest confusion something loves us so much that it went out of its way to assist me and bring me back to a state of absolute certainty about Gods love for us.
During the experience it seemed like there was a vast amount of information that I was somehow allowed access to. One thing that I came away from this experience understanding beyond any shadow of a doubt was that any Idea that God is unhappy with us or would judge or allow us to be punished for any reason is simply impossible.

I can’t explain the love I felt with words. They simply don’t make words big enough or complete enough to do this. The only way I can begin to convey this love to you is to say that there was simply nothing else there. Nothing but love. No hint of judgment, no displeasure of any sort. It is as though God sees us as being as perfect as we were the day we were created. It is only in our confused idea of ourselves that we seem to have changed.

I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck. Love and blessings.

Your brother don