"If there is no God, how do you explain _____?"?

Question

What do you think of arguments that take this form? Are some more reasonable than others? Are they all (in)valid?

Answer 1

Some have more merit than others. "Explain morality" is a little more interesting than "explain why sunsets are pretty."

Answer 2

That form of argument seems to be more useful for some topics rather than others. For example, Dawkins holds to a form of deonological ethics which has no place within an atheist framework. So it is worth asking "how is religion child abuse, when children are merely the products of blind natural selection? What function do they serve that is being thwarted by mythology?" The notion that humans have a function and purpose is part of a teleology that is inherently theistic. Most philosophical atheists are utilitarians, in which case religion would be acceptable if it increased happiness and decreased suffering.

Answer 3

The idea of God and The Bible are as about as believable as the Greek Gods taking others and Putting them in the sky. C'mon, if someone was really able to walk on water, I think there would've been physical evidence that ppl would've still been able to do it throughout history. The Jonah and the Whale story and please, ADAM and EVE.....yea right! They'd have to do some serioud work to populate the earth. ANd if so, then there shouldn't be any problem with INBREEDING because everyone had to either do their cousin or some other family member to populate the EARTH. Oh yeah, by the way, where in the "BIBLE" does it say anything about the Jurassic Period or anything dealing with dinosaurs or the early mammals?

Answer 4

I've never seen a valid one. I think they're all "God of the Gaps" arguments, which are, as a category, invalid.

I wouldn't claim to know for sure that there couldn't be a good argument starting that way, but so far they're batting zero.

On top of that, many of them ask about things that are relatively easy to explain scientifically, such as love.

Answer 5

They are all valid and they are all invalid.None of them are reasonable and so they are all equally unreasonable.When a person attempts to argue that there is a God because of one example in nature or one example that was referenced in some religious book, what they are really saying is that they don't have anything substantial beyond faith and so there isn't any logic behind the argument and the argument could be and often is used to support and validate, if you want to consider the argument validated, just about any religious view or, minus the religious texts, no religious view.

Answer 6

I think that the arguments on this forum are getting old and boring.

How many times can the same questions be asked and answered on both sides?

Why do I feel so compelled to defend myself when I see some of the questions/insults?

Tolerance. We are all different is some way or another. Everyone needs to get over it and stop judging others. Live your own lives and stop trying to change everyone else.
Surely there are more important things to debate.

Answer 7

You raise a very important point in understanding theist.

Christianity is a mystic religion. It is best thought of in a poetic sense. "Can you not see who waves at you with the branches of trees.", is nice poetry. It is, however, quite poor reasoning. It is also exactly the sort of thing that most Christians find Compelling.

We, who are not believes, will profit from understanding that most believers are compelled by a mystic sense of connection. The compulsion is often strong, and their mystic beliefs are tangled up in much of how they approach the world.

A little time and understanding will work wonders in explaining our positions. If we keep in mind their likely point of view, points of reference can be established, and reasonable arguments can be developed.

Answer 8

In some cases, disbelief appears to be a deliberate refusal to face the truth.

Psalm 10:4: “The wicked one according to his superciliousness (haughtiness) makes no search; All his ideas are: “There is no God.”

(Psalm 14:1) The senseless one has said in his heart: “There is no Jehovah.” They have acted ruinously, they have acted detestably in [their] dealing. There is no one doing good.

(Psalm 53:1) The senseless one has said in his heart: “There is no Jehovah.” They have acted ruinously and have acted detestably in unrighteousness; There is no one doing good.

(Zephaniah 1:12) “And it must occur at that time that I shall carefully search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will give attention to the men who are congealing upon their dregs [and] who are saying in their heart, ‘Jehovah will not do good, and he will not do bad.’

(Psalm 92:6) No unreasoning man himself can know [them], And no one stupid can understand this.

(Romans 1:21) because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor did they thank him, but they became empty-headed in their reasonings and their unintelligent heart became darkened.

Belief in God is not blind faith, however, for there is overwhelming evidence of God’s existence. (Hebrews 11:1) Astronomer Allan Sandage said: “I find it quite improbable that such order [in the universe] came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing principle. God to me is a mystery, but is the explanation for the miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing.” The apostle Paul told Christians in Rome that God’s “invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they [disbelievers] are inexcusable.” (Romans 1:20) Since “the world’s creation”—particularly since the creation of intelligent human creatures, who could perceive God’s existence—it has been evident that there is a Creator of immense power, a God worthy of devotion. Those who fail to acknowledge God’s glory are thus inexcusable.

Answer 9

Those people who dont believe purposely...meaning step out of their God following religion to enter a world of no belief have pretty sucky @$$ arguments. I find that they're just too caught up in the materalisitc world and use science which has not covered even half of the mysteries of our universe as their support.
As for those who say...then why isnt the world a happy place...they need to realize life is a test. What test is a happy, obstacle free course? None. Againt this varies on if you're Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, but in any case, its utterly stupid to ask why the world isnt a totally happy place. Throught hardships our patience is exercised, and again, we go through another obstacle in this test called life.

Answer 10

Since the answer can always be "Not God" or even a specific natural, scientific explanation of the object or phenomenon, these arguments are quite ridiculous.

Answer 11

It's about the same as the argument of, "If there is a God, how do you explain _____"

Religion is based on faith, not on science. So, pretty much if you are religious and believe in a deity that there is not proof of having ever existed, they you are going on faith. If it were more simple, and more substantiated, then everyone would believe in God.