Theists who cannot believe that any atheist can be 100% certain that God does not exist...?

Question

... how do you explain your 100% certainty in the non-existence of every other deity but your own personal one?

I never hear an atheist say "I am 100% sure there is no God"; rather, "There is no evidence whatsoever for God, so I have no grounds for believing in one, but if he shows up in Montana on Tuesday evening, call me a believer".

There are thousands of gods, but to favour your favourite you deny the existence of all the others with less self-questioning than the atheist. You accuse atheists of needing to know *everything* to be 100% certain (which is true) but presume that privilege yourselves.

Are theists really the world's most over-confident atheists?
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Answer 1

There is evidence showing that there is no God. If all other religions say that all other religions are wrong, then by default, there are more reasons showing that religion is wrong all together.

Answer 2

Personally I don't believe anything 100% but given no choice I have to make certain assumptions (the sun will rise tomorrow morning, gravity will continue to work, I can't breath under water, etc.) so I can get on with it. Since all I can perceive is inside my brain and all my brain knows is what my sensory organs tell it that's teh best I can do. For all I know there's a whole other thing going on all around me and I am just incapable of perceiving it.

My suspicion is that if you could read people's minds you'd find a few nutjobs who literally believe that there's a god who watches and listens and intervenes from time to time or whatever but I suspect most "believers" are really thinking something like "OK, if I'm wrong then no big whoop but I better say I believe just in case and besides this way there's lss friction between me and my fellow believers".

Answer 3

I'm a very firm believer in a Divine being.

But I also know that if I lived to see a million million years, I'd never understand 1% of 1% of 1% of what Divine really is.

Therefore, I'd never make such a claim as the one you talk about. There could be (And likely are) many other Gods besides the ones I pray to. The ones I pray to, I pray to because They answer me.

If another one appears tomorrow and I have even a gut hunch that there's truth to it I'll at the very least look into it.

On the flip side, there are more than enough Athiests out there who are just convinced beyond hope that they're the most brilliantly intelligent people in the world, nay, the most supremely enlightened beings in all creation.

If WE are the highest form of intelligence in this universe..... Then we're all as good as screwed.

Answer 4

This is a good question for sure. I am a theist but only in the most marginal sense of the word. I am of the opinion that God is incomprehensible and therefore unworshippable. For me it comes down to a question of which of the following three is the most likely:

1. The universe has been here forever for no reason whatsoever
2. The universe and its physical laws are self-generating
3. There is something else beyond these two possibilities which we are unable to observe or comprehend (God).

So far my opinion is that number 3 is the best answer. But I am open to ideas.

Cheers

Answer 5

Good point. It is consistent with Dawkins' characterization of their belief as a "delusion". Many of them do have a tendency to see the world as black and white, either-or.

Still, there are some theists who, if forced to discuss it truthfully, would admit that they actually have some doubts (my mother is an example). Nevertheless, they choose not to think about it, and would rather just continue practicing their belief or religion as if they are full believers in ever sense. In many cases, these are the silent theists, who are embarrassed to admit that they are not completely sold on god. We rarely ever hear from them. Perhaps they are even the silent majority of theists?

Answer 6

I see evidence every day in my life that is proof positive that My God, My father in Heaven, the Creator is real, that the Bible is True and that prayer works. I believe and therefore I see. I DO see it, and I am 100% certain. I don't know everything or even begin to act like I do, but I am not an uneducated dolt who walks around with my head in the clouds. I have SEEN God move in my life many times. He saved me. I was as far from Him as a person could be, and on the path to certain death. The fact that I am alive, and living for HIm is proof of a divine miracle..if you only knew where I had been.....

Answer 7

Wow, well said. I've wondered that myself.

There have been thousands of gods throughout human history (and thats just the history thats been written down) so why wouldn't any of those gods be just as likely as the Christian god?

Isn't it also logically possible that its a god that none of us know yet if any god exists?

And isn't it just as likely that no god exists at all?

I don't think a Christian can answer it because believing in their religion requires blind faith.

Answer 8

I think that they can be 100% certain that there is no God. Just as I am 100% certain that there is a God. My little brother is 100% certain that Santa is alive and watching over him to see if he's been naughty or nice.

Answer 9

Hmm, you know I never really pondered until this very moment that I actually have never questioned Gods existence. I have always believed He was there. No one ever told me anything really about God. My parents didn't go to church. I went on my own when I was younger, caught the bus by myself. I can say this though. Out of all the prayers I have prayed and out of all the things I have needed God and actually felt Him there with me, no one could convince me otherwise. I am not worried about if someone believes in God. I am sad for people who don't KNOW God. He is wonderful. I wish I could share that with you, somehow, but that remains in my prayers for now.

Answer 10

A theist must be an atheist with respect to what he believes are false gods. But your premise that they "deny the existence of all the others with less self-questioning than the atheist" is a bit disingenous at best.

Answer 11

There is a form of knowledge of which you know nothing. It is the knowledge that comes by direct revelation of the One True God. It just so happens that the One True God is the God who revealed Himself throughout human history as the God of the Bible. In the Bible He makes it abundantly plain that He is the only True God.
Don't try to figure it out - you can't - because God said you can't. (I Corinthians 2:14)