Prove God exists?

Question

I see this challenge from lots of atheists. I can offer personal proof, in the form of what I would call miracles, but of course the atheists denounce them as mere acts of chance.

I offer that multiple such acts of chance, that happen just when I was seeking them begins to stretch the credibility of statistical probabilities, but the "evidence" is denounced again.

So here is my question. What sort of evidence would you require, and would you require of yourself the same level of proof that a god does not exist? That is... if you require three cold, hard, incontrovertable elements of proof that a god does exist, would you require of yourself three equally satisfying pieces of evidence that one does not exist?

The "miracles" I've seen in my life are evidence enough for me.... what comprable evidence could you show that the contrary stance is tenable?

Well, here's the point....
First, I'm not a Christian... so I'm not asking this question to support merely the Christain position, but that of deity in general.

As far as the copout that "you can't disprove a negative"... There are ways to offer a certain amount of proof:

It used to be believed that electromagnetic radiation traveled through some strange matrix called "ether". The non-existence of such has been proved.

But more to the point... how do you disprove deity or miracles? That's a bit eaiser. One way might to be to find such documented "miracles" and to debunk them soundly. To prove that a "healing" took place not from a miracle, but by a documented provable mechanism. Doing this again and again should be a way to disprove the miracles. The Catholic church though goes through this process in documenting them.

Answer 1

As an atheist, I cannot give you proof either one way or another, I can only say that from the evidence I see, I cannot believe there is a god. If you are happy believing in a god, and feel you have found your own personal proof, then thats fine. Everyone should accept each others personal views and beliefs, as long as those beliefs aren't used as an excuse to harm others.

Enjoy life.

Answer 2

This is a good question, and one I am asked often. Exactly how much proof do I need to be convinced that God does exist? For me, it would work like this: there is a scale from 0% probability god exists to 100%. Right now i have almost no proof at all, so i am just right next to 0%. God could exist, but any specific god has an almost 0% chance of existing. Any piece of evidence that i see moves the scale in one direction or the other, by an amount that corresponds to how strong that evidence is. So the real question is “What kind of evidence do you need to move that scale all the way to just before 100%? The answer is that starting at almost 0%, any one piece of evidence will not do. I require repeatability. For example if we happened to do double blind trials to see if prayer helped the sick get better (which have been done, with the somewhat suprising conclusion that those who are being prayed for actually do worse than those who are not prayed for) and we actually found out that they do, that would move the scale a little bit. So we do the double blind trial again, and we find the relationship again. The scale inches forward. With just two times, the sick could have been cured by coincidence, so we get a different reasearch team, in a different place, with a larger sample size, and we find it is statistically significant that prayer helps to heal the sick over and over again, that kind of evidence is hard to deny. With each successive test the evidence gets stronger and stronger, and so would my belief. Any one test is not enough, the sum of many such tests is. Until something of this nature is done, stories of miracles (witnessess have are notoriously terrible memories/eyesight/imaginations) and scripture will not suffice.

Answer 3

A skeptic will always look to find natural causal explanations that fit the evidence before invoking anything magical or supernatural. Some people have experiences which feel special and mystical to them and filter out anything that might prove these experiences to be inauthentic.

A case in point is where the Catholics talk about the preservation of their saints. If they really do believe that God is preserving those bodies I have a challenge for them: get some neutral medical professionals to examine and wash the bodies, take them out into the middle of a desert somewhere in 100+ degree heat and leave them there for a couple of months. If they are still preserved I'll become a Catholic, and I'm sure many other skeptics would agree to that too, but the sad reality is that your saints would just rot away.

Likewise with Christians that talk about the healing power of Jesus. Just stop using any conventional medicines at all and pray to get healed instead. Most of you won't because at some level you can't deny reality.

A skeptic always double and triple checks when he sees an angel or a witch in the corner of the room. Usually it turns out to be a shadow or a reflection etc. I don't think theists are as conscientious in their search for unmagical explanations for things.

Answer 4

What I love is the argumentative dialect that is constantly on this site from both sides and how it tends to be the same. Atheist continue to believe there is no god and others believe there is.

I don't think the question is "is there a God". I think the question is "if there is, does He care?" If there is and He doesn't, we're all in "Hell". If He does care then why do bad things happen to good people?

I no longer battle for who's right. I battle more for what can I possibly learn from a world that is so confused about it's own existence that it kills it's own species. I figure nothing can possibly be derived from argument.

I now look at history. All of the history of the world centers around Jesus Christ. We have actually divided our history by His life and death. Everything written in the bible is so accurate that archaeologist use it to find remains of those times. Everything prophesied in the Bible is coming true now.

No, I don't think there is an argument. I think there is Resistance. Resistance to believe that there is a God who cares, and would let us live in a world so full of pain and suffering and then ask us to have faith without evidence that He even exists at all.

I know there is a resistence, because I struggle with it everyday.

Answer 5

The answer to your question is easy, but only if I answer with a question:

1) What pieces of evidence would you need to believe that Zeus existed?

The answer isn't that there's some specific evidence the world is waiting for, there are "types" evidence needed: non-subjective repeatable evidence that can be examined and reviewed critically. The evidence would also have to support only the hypothesis that a god exists, and not other theories with natural causes (weather phenomenon, mistaken assumption of pattern, etc.).

Many theists like to call foul when atheists don't accept personal experience as proof of a god, but the truth is that someone else's personal experience isn't enough to prove anything: there are people who claim to have experienced alien abductions, or chi force fields, or diving rods, or many other pseudoscience or myths that simply have no other evidence or reason for belief. People make stuff up and people interpret more meaning into events than is really there. It's not meant as a personal slight against you, we just use logic and reason to establish our beliefs, not emotion. Give us something 'real' to believe in and we will, guaranteed.

Answer 6

I guess that the issue most of us have is that we feel an all-powerful god would be able to provide undeniable proof, an all-knowing god would know what would satisfy each individual, and an all-loving god would want to draw us to him. The combination would suggest the obvious.

Personally, I think 'proof' is a bit of a heavy-handed term. I've tried to find a more accurate word, but the best I've got so far is justification. You've got yours. I don't have mine. Additionally for more specific beliefs, I take issue with the absolutes asserted in the Judeo-Christian tradition. They seem philosophically contradictory to me.

Answer 7

There is no such thing as "proof for God's existence" IMO. Im not necessarily sold one way or another but I do not believe in the Bible. I think its ridiculous to believe something that someone wrote 2000+ yrs ago...2000 yrs ago the intelligence on Earth was pathetic, for lack of a better word. Hell just 500 years ago everyone KNEW that the Earth was flat, yeah well know we all know that was false. Not to compare the 2 subjects just saying.

The Bible wasnt written by Jesus and to believe that it wasnt exaggerated is ridiculous. Or maybe it was entirely made up and just supposed to be a book, hell we do not know its purpose at all and anyone who says they do is unintelligent. To believe a man could change water to wine, to believe that he could heal the wounded with his mind, to believe that he rose from the dead...its all ridiculous. Especially when its only record of it being done was written in a book by who? Exactly.

Maybe you have had some "miracles" in ur life that you feel came from a greater existence. I havent...i dont feel anything that has happened to me was a miracle just fate and yes it was all due to circumstance.

IMO i believe that the acceptance of God is ppls own way of trying to have self confidence about themselves and someone else to turn to when they are weak. I, so far, havent needed that I have been able to handle all the bad and good by myself without the help of anyone. I do not feel i need a higher presence to help me when im down. I think its all within ones self and the greatest thing on this Earth is the human brain. Its phenominal what it can do, the capabilities are endless. And if you have control of your own then you can become a stronger person overall. Depression? IMO most cases of depression are from ppl who feel sorry for themselves and want others to feel the same way, it is easily defeatable all it takes is for you to tell yourself that you are not depressed keep fighting and good things will happen. Others turn to "God", and then others just give up and say "im depressed". Depressed for the most part means mentally weak. Sry thats a whole different subject but my point is you only need 1 person in your life and that is yourself, and you need to count on urself to stay strong.

Answer 8

To answer the question does God exist....
No. To say taht God exists is to say that God didn't at any time. We exist. God has always been here and always will be.
Here's a theory to ponder:
Wouldn't you rather know God is with you now, guiding you with the battles in your subconcious mind over right and wrong and always be hoping your doing the right things than to not listen to your inner being and do the wrong things and not care which will ultimately lead to dying and finding out that you messed up in life . How could you justify your actions then?

Answer 9

"Can you prove there is a God?"?
Can you prove that you exist? Yes, of course you can. You merely use your senses to determine that you can see, hear, feel, smell, taste and you have emotions as well. All of this is a part of your existence. But this is not how we perceive God in Islam. We can look to the things that He has created and the way that He cares for things and sustains us, to know that there is no doubt of His existence.

Think about this the next time that you are looking up at the moon or the stars on a clear night; could you drop a drinking glass on the sidewalk and expect that it would hit the ground and on impact it would not shatter, but it would divide up into little small drinking glasses, with iced tea in them? Of course not.

And then consider if a tornado came through a junkyard and tore through the old cars; would it leave behind a nice new Mercedes with the engine running and no parts left around? Naturally not.

Can a fast food restaurant operate itself without any people there? That's crazy for anyone to even think about.

After considering all of the above, how could we look to the universe above us through a telescope or observe the molecules in a microscope and then think that all of this came about as a result of a "big bang" or some "accident?"

peace

Answer 10

I do not think anything other than the arrival of Jesus will show them.I have seen miracles,science and doctors can not explain.
I say go sit on a beach at night,look at the ocean waves, the stars
the moon , the beauty.I think the very fact every person on earth has different fingerprints, different voice patents and different D.N.A. should prove this could not occur by chance.