Can you prove ( not rhetorically) that God exists?

Question

For me the absolute absence of any and all empirical data to suggeest the existence of anything even remotely godlike, suffices...

Answer 1

I refer you to this:

I was watching a religious debate once on television. It was a pathetically hyped event (as most talk shows are), with the audience packed with Christian fundamentalists. The debaters included one Christian and one atheist.
When the floor was opened for questions, one woman in the audience angrily stood and yelled to the atheist "Can you prove to me, right now, that there is no god? No! I don't think so!" The atheist had a look of bland disbelief on his face, but it didn't matter, he was not given a chance to respond anyway. The audience (again, mostly Christian) exploded into a frenzy of cheers and applause, unwilling even to entertain any response from the atheist.
At this point, I stopped watching. A useless debate. An especially useless question. If either side could prove their case so easily, there would be no such debates. But on a deeper level, the question ultimately misses the point, and attempts to shift the burden of proof to the wrong side. If I make a claim, I am expected to prove my claim is correct, it is not up to someone else to disprove my claim. For example, if I were to write a book entitled "true origins of the universe" in which I claim that giant blue monkeys from another dimension once wagged their tails and created our universe, I could not then serenely sit back and challenge people to disprove my theory, declaring that my book reflects the truth until it is disproved. No, in order for my theory to gain any credibility, I must provide some proof that supports it. This example is highly exaggerated, yet this is essentially what Christians (and, in fact, all other religions) have done. I will continue to pick on the Christians since it is the religion I am most familiar with.

Answer 2

I don't know what you mean by the word 'prove'. If you're looking for a mathematical or scientific proof, science alone will not prove God exists. But science plus a little bit of reason, logic or common sense will give you an argument for God that's hard to counter. . Wherever you see design there's got to be a designer. That's just common sense. It's like Paly once said. He said that if you're walking along in a forest and you find a wrist watch that keeps perfect time, the only logical conclusion is that it was designed. Everywhere in the universe there is design. Just look around you. Anything that is living is infinitely complex. An atheist has to say what Richard Dawkins says, namely, that there is no real design in the universe.....just the appearance of design.
You just can't logically and realistically deny that there's design all through the universe. It's all around you. You have to be blind not to see it. There are branches of science that basically just study the design in nature.........scientific disciplines such as nano-technology and bio-mimetrics. These disciplines study the design in nature.......whales,bats,dolphins have sonar.......and try to create machines that mimic that design. Everywhere you look there's design. What science does is to go out and discover that design and then you just use your common sense. Where there's design there must be a designer. Who could design a universe? You call him whatever you want. I call him God.
Anybody who says there is no God is just not thinking straight. In your brain there are 100 billion neurons. Each one of those neurons(remember, there's 100 billion of them) is connected to 1000 other neurons. That comes out to 100 trillion connections in your brain. These connections send electronic signals(and you can measure the electricity) from one place to another. If part of the brain is damaged and you lose some function that is controlled by that part of the brain, the brain can actually re-wire itself and let other neurons in the undamaged part of the brain take over so that you can get back that function. That's only the connections in the brain, not the rest of the body.
Our bodies also have tons of information in the DNA. You have enough information in your DNA to fill encyclopedia sized books stacked from here to the moon and back 500 times. Do you really think that came about by just random chance........kind of like a monkey typing out the works of Shakespear just by randomly plucking away at the keys?
You need to step back and look at the big picture of what is being claimed by evolution, namely, that the unbelieveable complexity of the human brain(not to mention the rest of the body) is nothing more than re-arranged pond scum. It’s pond scum from the original prebiotic soup re-arranged over billions of years into 100 trillion connections in the brain by luck…..just random chance.
I could go on and on. The evidence for the existence of God is endless. But for some one who does not want to believe in God, no amount of proof is going to sway them. That's why Richard Dawkins can look at the universe and not see any design. The big bang theory proves that the universe had a beginning(so does the second law of thermodynamics). The Law of cause and effect(which Einstein said was the most reliable of all physical laws) says that anything that has a beginning needs a cause. The effect cannot have attributes that the cause does not have. But the effect(the universe) has information(it's in our genes), intellect, will, emotion(all of which humans have) as well as personality, a sense of morality. Therefore, the cause must have these things. So the cause of the universe has personality, will, emotion, a moral code, infinite intelligence, omnipotence and this cause is also bigger than the universe since it controls the whole universe at any given moment. Again, you can call that cause anything you want. Call it Casper the friendly ghost, call it the spaghetti monster, call it the mouse that roared. It sounds like a God to me so that's what I will call it.

http://www.ankerberg.com/

http://www.answersingenesis.org/

http://www.intouch.org/index_76034.html

http://www.icr.org/
http://www.pleaseconvinceme.com/home.php

http://www.reasons.org/index.shtml

http://www.tektonics.org/

http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/_PDFArchives/theological-dictionary/TD4W1003.pdf

Answer 3

I personally like the watchmaker "parable". A man walking down a beach finds a watch. Since the watch is quite complicated, he finds this as proof that a watchmaker exists. This is analogous to a man (the watch) and God (the watchmaker).

Though the counter argument to this, is that if the watch is complex there must be a watchmaker. Then if there is matchmaker than can create a complex watch, then there must be a maker of watchmakers. If there is a maker of watchmakers then there must be a maker...ahhh you get the idea.

Answer 4

That's for you. But for me, the sufficiency of evidence that points to there being a God, whether the evidence takes the form of empirical, logical, legal-historical basis, is good enough for me. Absolute certainty is a luxury that we simply do not have. But we can have a high degree of confidence in the conclusions we reached based on the evidence we accumulate. And I am for the position that the evidence for God weighs more heavily than the denial of God.

Answer 5

For the very comparable reason which you will no longer tutor that God does no longer exist. The available recorded or effectively-obvious (and hence learn-able) evidence isn't logically conclusive.

Answer 6

No religion for thousands of years has been able to prove that God exists. Ever wonder why that's such a problem? So religion sells belief for $3 billion a year in donations.

Answer 7

To all those who say can you prove he does not, is there any area in your life apart from this that you demand that, the burden of proof is always on the positive.

And the answer to the question is of course not. And ignore the idiots answering from personal incredulilty.

Answer 8

The truth is within you. Free will creates a juxtaposition of relative indecision. The nagging doubt that tries to justify our self deception and consequent rejection, of the light within.

Answer 9

Yes I can.
In May 2001 I was diagnosed with ALS - degenerative incurable terminal illness & given only 1 - 3 years of life. Most of them in a wheelchair unable to chew, talk, swollow or move a single muscle. From a walking stick I started using walking frame and I never stop talking to God, never stop praying. I knew it in my heart that God will answer my prayers. And he did. I received miracolous healing & no longer have that dreadful illness. Currently I'm mobile, healthy & very grateful for my healing.

Thank you God!

Answer 10

Wait till its dark, look up to the sky and see if you can see the moon and stars, lay down and stare....

If you think all what you see just came from a cosmic burb billions of years ago, then you are an idiot (sorry)