There is a lot of discussion about whether God exists. Does it really matter whether there is an over-arching being who is behind all things? Does it change our character any, or change our motivation whether there is or is not a divine presence?
If there is not a God, will anyone change their minds and stop worshiping one? If there is a God, will that change the actions of any human being, really? Or is God just an excuse to do what we were going to do anyway?
I am not denying God. Nor am I affirming one. I am asking what it really matters.
Finally, is it even possible to "prove" the existence of God at all? If there is proof, wouldn't the rational atheists be convinced? If there is a solid proof against God, wouldn't the rational deists be convinced? Since no one is convinced one way or another, then why discuss the subject? Is there a good reason to have discussions as to the existence or non-existence of God?
This is an interesting topic with many infinite potential strands. But let's tackle a few of the questions here.
ReplyDelete"Is it even possible to 'prove' the existence of God at all?"
Well, sure. All that would have to happen is God coming down in front of everyone, and more than one person at the same time, and doing some truly miraculous things. And by truly miraculous I mean things that break the most fundamental and basically understood laws of physics and physical reality. God could slowly form an animal out of thin air, that'd be pretty miraculous.
"If there is proof, wouldn't the rational atheists be convinced?"
Well sure, any person who is rational, atheist or otherwise, would accept the truth of a God if there was such clear, definitive, scientific, demonstrable proof.
"If there is a solid proof against God, wouldn't the rational deists be convinced?"
Here's where we start on something else. A deist may very well be a rational person, but when discussing the existence of a God that reason is not one of science and evidence. In many cases it is in fact a reason based on a lack of any evidence. Even if every gap in our understanding of the known universe was filled and needed no God to explain away, a deist could always come back with "but what created all that?" Expand it to multi-verse, or universes within universes, or anything and you'd still likely be missing something at the very start, and that's where God would come in. There is definitely a certain kind of reasoning behind this, but from a skeptical or scientific standpoint it doesn't work.
"Since no one is convinced one way or another, then why discuss the subject? Is there a good reason to have discussions as to the existence or non-existence of God?"
Why discuss the subject? Is there any reason to? Well sure. For example, I'd say that part of having the discussion would be leading people to understand a different or even better mode of reasoning. We can never know the answer to the question, but we can come to understand many other answers int he process of discussion.
"Does it really matter?"
Yes and no. I would imagine if the God of Abraham through to the New Testament was real and we had solid proof of this then it would make a lot of difference. That guy does have a lot of rules and such. But barring possible proof, it really doesn't matter. Even somebody who says that morality stems from God and their religion is ignoring the possible existence of a god and text of another religion. In the end what is most important is how we conduct ourselves while we have the ability to conduct ourselves at all. Understanding how and why and for what we believe or don't believe what we do or do not believe can help us clarify better (or worse) ways of living on Earth and amongst other people. That's the stuff that really matters, and so while the discussion of God's existence cannot on its own lead to an answer with any importance, the discussion can. Yes and no, you see.
Corey-- Concerning the first question you answered. Do you mean like what Jesus did?
ReplyDeleteIn general, your responses sound very Pascalian.