Why do people on R&S keep trying to prove God exists?

Question

Let me explain what I mean. "God" is supposed to be this perfect being that exists outside space and time. There's no way for us to truly comprehend anything outside of space and time, nor is it possible for us to have any real frame of reference to interact with anything outside of space and time.

That means that you will never be able to prove God's existence using Natural Theology(knowledge of God drawn from natural intellect) or Rational Justifications(appeals to independent evidence to support claims).

The only real tool people have in proving God exists is by using Revealed Theology(knowledge of God drawn from divine revelation). Even then, there's no real way for anyone to know if other people's religious experiences(even if those experiences were written about in the Bible) were real or not.

When it comes right down to it, people will never be able to know one way or the other. All you can do is believe there is a God(or Gods), or believe there is not. What do you think?

Answer 1

Congratulations, you've captured the principles of Agnosticism.  Unfortunately, Agnosticism has its own flaws.  Saying that god is unknowable is itself a claim to knowledge (and omniscient knowledge at that), thus invalidating the premise.  If the Agnostic wishes to say anything about god, they must implicitly abandon the Agnostic position.

That being said, belief and non-belief are not equally valid.  In the absence of proof for the positive (god exists), it's negative should become the default.

Edit to Ogo Pogo:

1)An atheist is a person who has no belief in god.

2)In order to believe in god, a person must first have knowledge of the concept "god."

3)Newborn children have not been introduced to the concept 'god.'

4) Therefore, newborn children can not believe in god

5) Therefore, newborn children are atheists.

6)Newborn children exist.

7)Therefore, atheists exist.

Answer 2

Amen, brother.

I just respond to the folks that say God doesn't exists.

It's more fun than a barrel of Darwin's monkeys.

All the best.

Answer 3

I don't have to prove God exists !

I KNOW GOD EXISTS.

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Answer 4

I'm still waiting for someone to scientifically prove that atheists exist but so far nobody has even attempted to do that.

Answer 5

I know God exists to me.  I would never try to force my belief on anyone. Thankfully no one tried to force their beliefs on me, they just gave me a little nugget of truth. I finally came to God, on "my terms", really it was His terms, he knew when I'd come to him, on my own.

I have never tried to prove he exists, seems rather pointless to me. God does not want to give "scientific proof" of his existence, or he would have already..... All I can do is give testimony of what He has gotten me through in this world, even when I did not believe in him in the past. Ever day alive is a blessing, whether you believe in Him or not. Enjoy you life. I do pray that everyone comes to God, in their own/his time, but no matter what, I hope that we all can work together despite our beliefs.

Answer 6

"Hence the Religion and Spirituality section?!?

You should be asking why do people come to R&S section when they don't believe in religion or spirituality."  There must be some A&A section.

Thank you Traveler

Answer 7

We have five senses, and the greatest is touch, (feelings). And with this sense God gave us the ability to communicate with Him. And yes, it is the greatest sense, for the blind and the deaf depend on it. They learn to see and to hear with touch / feelings. There is undisputable proof that touch exists through pleasure and pain. And were all like the blind and the deaf. We cannot see or hear God, but with the sense of touch /feelings, we all can see and hear Him. The blind and the deaf can be our greatest teachers when it comes to this sense. Maybe that's why they exist.  

Answer 8

They try because they think their god commands them to seek converts.

Answer 9

So if god exists outside of space and time, why does he supposedly control every molecule INSIDE of space and time?

Answer 10

Why are people on R&S trying to prove GOD DOESN'T exist???

Answer 11

good one

I just don't understand how people can say there is no God, when you have to know everything about everything to make that claim

an as humans, we don't have all the answers...

I believe in God, because to me it's the natural way of thinking, it is common sense, looking at this world and my life, I have no problem believing that a higher being created it all

if anything, the only thing science is doing is trying to figure out what God did, but they will never have all the answers, because you can't put human knowledge above our creator God

Answer 12

Good question.  Thanks for asking.

There are a couple of issues with your question that I need to address.  

First, simply because we cannot comprehend something doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist.  We currently have little to know understanding of dark energy in the cosmos, but most scientists believe it to exist.

Second, your question does not address the degree of evidence required before something is considered "proven."  Are you claiming that we cannot show to 100% certainty that God exists?  If so, I'd probably agree with that.  But the fact that no one can prove the existence of God with such certainty, also does not mean that He doesn't exist.  

In most civil trials, all the plaintiff needs to do to win is prove his/her case by a "preponderance of the evidence," which basically means that his/her case is more likely true than not true.  In probability terms, this standard is essentially quantified at anything greater than 50%.  Sometimes, they have to prove something by "clear and convincing evidence" which is generally quantified somewhere between 65% and 85% true.  Would you accept either of these two standards when discussing the existence of God?  If not, why not?  What standard would you impose and why?

Also, in most fields of study, especially those involving historical claims or facts, one is not expected to prove something to 100% of certainty.  As an extreme example, most people believe that Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK and that he acted alone, but has this been proven to 100% certainty?  Of course not - and this is something that happened within the last 50 years.  Rather, you examine the evidence under the totality of the circumstances and see where the evidence leads you.  

Thanks to many scientific and archeological discoveries within the last 20 years, there is a mountain of evidence that all points in the direction of the God of the Bible.  It is 100% conclusive?  No.  It is sufficient to establish that is is more probable than not that He exists.  Most definitely!  While I know you are not an atheist, it actually takes more faith to believe in atheism than it does in Christianity.  (For more on this, check out the book "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist" by Frank Turek and Norman Geisler).

Finally, your statement that "There's no real way for you to prove the Bible is real or accurate. . . . you can't possibly know based on experience or observation" is not correct.  First, there is substantial evidence supporting the accuracy of the Bible, including recent archeological discoveries and there are a number of books detailing this evidence.  (Mark D. Roberts, "Can We Trust The Gospels").  Second, your question presumptively rules out experience and anecdotes as evidence for the truth of something, yet these are accepted forms of evidence in virtually any courtroom and in the field of history.  While we obviously cannot personally observe historic events that occurred in Biblical times, we can observe God's work in our lives and articulate that work.  While this evidence, standing alone, may or may not be sufficient to prove God's existence, when it is combined with all the other evidence of God's existence, one can easily reach the conclusion that is is more likely than not that God exists.    

      

  

Answer 13

Hence the Religion and Spirituality section?!?

You should be asking why do people come to R&S section when they don't believe in religion or spirituality.

Answer 14

What do I think?

I think your reasoning is a tad flawed.

It is true man cannot fathom matters outside space and time, however, there can be a whole world out there and the problem is ours. We can't fathom it.

It would be a mistake to deny its existence just because we cannot fathom it.

Romans 12:1 says to use our powers of reason.

It is reasonable to conclude the universe, earth and man have been made, created.

The design in nature screams it out.

Answer 15

We(Christians)have God's word on it!

Answer 16

I think you are 100% right and I wish I could give you more than one star for your comments.

When it comes to God there is belief that there is, belief that there isn't, undecided, no opinion (only possible if you have never been introduced to the concept at all), or acknowledgment that you do not know. There are no other choices. No one "knows" one way or the other, no one can in this lifetime, and that's the end of that.

Answer 17

Simply put, because He does.

Answer 18

I believe you are wrong. I can now prove that the God Yahweh exists through mistranslated scripture by our religious experts in the first five books of The Bible. It will take time for me to get this discovery out into the mainstream public but it will happen with a little help from my "Intelligent Designer" friend.

Answer 19

That was all very well spoken. Sadly, all religions, appeal to people on an emotional level. Common sense, science and reason are not allowed in the discussion by those who believe in their respective

gods.

Answer 20

I don't know what the **** is wrong with these people d**n.

Answer 21

"When it comes right down to it, people will never be able to know one way or the other."

Well, you will finally get to know for sure tell once your life ends. Considering you have no idea if your consciousness continues to exist after you die...you rest your non-belief in God on absolutely nothing.

Answer 22

I think that you just need to have a little faith. Do not listen to people when they say god does not exist because they are wrong. People will constantly tell you to not believe because there is no proof. god is real and the devil is equally real. the devil wants you to not believe in god so you can be dragged down to h**l with him. aside from that of course your not going to comprehend him. if you could understand his plan and everything about him he wouldn't be much of an all power full god now would he?

Answer 23

People believe because they want to believe.