Prove god/God?

Question

sound and valid arguments, please none of the emotionally charged religion arguments.

Answer 1

So called proofs about God are really inferences by which one is invited to make a prudential judgement. The most renowned of these so called proofs are arguments offered by St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas and more modern and rationalist approaches by Descartes and Berkely. You can find these arguments and highlights of their particular strengths and weaknesses in any dictionary, encyclopedia, or anthology of philosophy. None of these aforementioned approaches is "emotionally" charged. There is also a wonderful book written some years ago by Mortimer Adler entitled "How to Think About God." I think it would be helpful and clarify some distinctions about how to look at this question. My advice to you would also to place a check your association of religion with "emotionally charged arguments". I think I know what you mean, but it is unnecessarily dismissive of all religious ways of thinking as somehow being "irrational". No one who is intellectually responsible conceives of so-called "proofs" of God's existence (or non-existence for that matter) as providing either certitude or finality in regards to the question of whether or not God exists-- what they do give us is insight and a discipline for the mind in terms of how to best approach the question.

Answer 2

I could say that my gods are entities that currently hold things in place or create things that can't be explained by science. But that is not a great argument, in that it leaves an even greater mystery of what holds the gods in place and what created them.

Instead, I'm going to make the only argument that really makes a difference to me. If you've read Descartes' first meditation, it will probably sound familiar. I communicate with my gods. If nothing else, they are the entities with which I communicate. This does not guarantee that they have any qualities other than existance, but it does mean that they MUST exist... to me, if nobody else.

Having ascertained that they are present, that only leaves (for me) the question of whether I believe what they say about themselves or not. To that issue I apply the same reasoning that I apply when dealing with any entity. I trust them as far as they seem to be trustworthy. Much more in some cases than others. And I use them in a way that is useful to me.

My gods are real and useful TO ME. I don't expect that they will be the same for you (and frankly, I would be surprised if they were). Such is the complex nature of reality.

Peace.

Answer 3

Short answer: The nature of "proof" in the sense you are asking assumes a scientific perspective, and the nature of Hashem is not scientific.

Long answer: You can't prove or disprove Hashem. It doesn't work. Thousands of years ago, the occasional occurrence of thunder and lightning or the motion of the sun or the change of seasons was "proof" that gods had to exist because they couldn't explain them with the contemporary knowledge base. Today, IyDT argues that the complexit of a system like the human eye "proves" Hashem, and others say that because current science can't explain anything before singularity ("Big Bang"), that "proves" Hashem. But none of it is proof, they are all just reasons to believe, and lots of people feel that seeing life around us is sufficient reason to believe.

Answer 4

you can't prove anything in life, it's all circumstantial evidence!
any video or photograph can be doctored, witnesses can lie, evidence can be tampered with.

if you think about it, you can never prove 100% that anything really happened. I mean try to prove that you were born, other than the fact that you are sitting here. Do you REMEMBER your birth? no.... well how do you know it happened? people told you, there are photographs, etc... what does that prove? that's all the proof you have as to how you came in to existence.

it's nothing more than going on the word of what others tell you........... well many people believe in god based on what they read and what others tell them.......

so i don't think you can prove it, but why should you? if you think you have seen proof ( i personally feel that i have ) then believe in god, why not?

the truth is only what you believe is true, so what do you believe is what you should ask yourself

Answer 5

Please read the bible, the most fact based book in history. Even scientists are now admitting there had to be a creator. There had to be a beginning. The "big bang" and evolution were just theories that didn't hold up. If Im going to gamble on eternity, I'll take the most logical and proven theory. I dont believe in religion at all, but the only way to salvation is thru the son which is proven all throughout the Old Testament.

Answer 6

It's kind of hard to talk about religion without getting emotional about it, just saying. You can spend all day proving that God isn't real, but you would be allot more hard pressed to prove that he is real because you would just have to believe in the thing yourself, and i really don't have time to prove the existence of a being who has inspired whole nations and who has been believed to save lives and take lives to someone who doesn't really want to know.

Answer 7

Is an action is right because God commands it, or does God command it because its right? Its a famous dilemma that at very least is a good argument that god doesn't create morality. Either God doesn't control it, which challenges his all powerful-ness, or his commands are arbitrary.

Answer 8

what kind of proof do you need? I am not sure if you know. Let me point out that you are both heart and mind; emotions are powerful when your mind is in the right place. However, it is your heart that guides and it is your mind that has to stay open to receive. The god/ess is within you.

Answer 9

God has given you all the proof your going to get! If you don't believe Him, surely you wouldn't believe me! Because of my faith in Him, I will pray you find Him! God Bless you!

Answer 10

Proof is irrelevant. You either choose to believe or you don't. For many people who are theistic, there choice to believe isn't based on anything objective.