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Atheism and the Universal Knowledge of God

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If the God of the Bible is divine then all people have immediate knowledge of him.

This is a plain statement of scripture but rather than demonstrating this from the Bible I'd like to explain it with syllogism. First, defining some terms:

By "God of the Bible" I mean the person who created the world, appeared to the fathers, raised Israel from Egypt, and raised Jesus from the dead.

By "divine" I mean something or someone on which all other things depend. If anything is foundational, eternal, and necessary it is divine. Divinity defined in this way is a concept that cannot easily be escaped. In this sense there is something divine within every worldview.

By "knowledge of God" I mean personal acquaintance. Knowledge means an awareness of his presence and either friendship or enmity with him.

Now some syllogisms:

  1. If God is divine then he is the ultimate cause of every event.
  2. If God is the cause of every event then every experience of the world is also an experience of God.
  3. If every experience is an experience of God then every living person is always acquainted with God.

So to have any experience at all is to be acquainted with God.

  1. If God is a divine person then our personality depends on his. We are persons only insofar as he is a person. Our personality is a minature model of his personality. Our personality is an image of his.
  2. If our personality is an image of God then we experience God by simply being persons.
  3. If by being a person we experience God, then by being a person we are acquainted with God.

So to be a person is to be intimately acquainted with God.

If a divine person exists it must be this way. It's not possible for a divine person to exist and us be ignorant of his existence. Yet many people claim ignorance or agnosticism toward the existence of God. What does this mean?

It means either that God does not exist or that those who identify as atheists and agnostics are actually denying and suppressing what they know to be true -- the existence of God. All people are acquainted with him. The difference between belief and unbelief is a difference of friendship and enmity. Believers like God and unbelievers do not like him. They dislike him so much that they seek to explain his existence away.
 

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If a divine person exists it must be this way. It's not possible for a divine person to exist and us be ignorant of his existence. Yet many people claim ignorance or agnosticism toward the existence of God. What does this mean?

It means God isn't evident. Whether or not you say I am acquainted with God because of my nail-clipper.
 
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It means God isn't evident. Whether or not you say I am acquainted with God because of my nail-clipper.

Or it means that he's the most unavoidable reality there is. Whether or not you choose to acknowledge him.
 
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Now it should also be said that all people are naturally at enmity with God because of sin. All people are opposed to his lordship because it threatens their autonomy. It is only by the grace of God that his enemies are turned into friends and willing servants.

I say this to qualify that I don't think that I believe because I'm in some way better than others. I believe because of God's gracious initiative with me.
 
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Or it means that he's the most unavoidable reality there is. Whether or not you choose to acknowledge him.

Unavoidable things have to be evident, eventually at least.

The acquaintance of ourselves with this proposed God thorough our nail clippers is unlikely to convert many people though.
 
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I know what goes on inside my own head. I know that I don't believe in God, and I know that it's not because I'm internally denying or supressing something. I know this. This means that I also know that your God, meaning your specific concept of who/what God is, doesn't exist. Some sort of God still might, but no the one you're talking about here.
 
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Variant let me ask a question. Are your main objections with the God of the Bible evidential objections or emotional and personal objections? In other words, do you wish that the biblical God existed but are disappointed to find no evidence? Or do you also find the biblical God offensive (along with lacking evidence for his existence)?
 
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Variant let me ask a question. Are your main objections with the God of the Bible evidential objections or emotional and personal objections? In other words, do you wish that the biblical God existed but are disappointed to find no evidence? Or do you also find the biblical God offensive (along with lacking evidence for his existence)?

I have severe evidential objections to the bible or any other human being speaking for God.
 
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I know what goes on inside my own head. I know that I don't believe in God, and I know that it's not because I'm internally denying or supressing something. I know this. This means that I also know that your God, meaning your specific concept of who/what God is, doesn't exist. Some sort of God still might, but no the one you're talking about here.

Do you believe in a consistent, dependable universe? Do you believe in any sort of normative moral responsibility? Do you believe that knowledge is possible at all?

If so, you also assume the existence of God.
 
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Do you believe in a consistent, dependable universe? Do you believe in any sort of normative moral responsibility? Do you believe that knowledge is possible at all?

If so, you also assume the existence of God.

So what you need to do here is demonstrate...
 
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I have severe evidential objections to the bible or any other human being speaking for God.

And rightly so. We should be wary of those claiming to speak for a divine being. But do you also have emotional and personal objections? Or would you like the God of the Bible to be real?
 
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And rightly so. We should be wary of those claiming to speak for a divine being. But do you also have emotional and personal objections? Or would you like the God of the Bible to be real?

So this is going to be about my character only, or are you going to evidence any of your points?
 
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Do you believe in a consistent, dependable universe? Do you believe in any sort of normative moral responsibility? Do you believe that knowledge is possible at all?

If so, you also assume the existence of God.

Yes to all three questions, no to the final assertion.
 
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So this is going to be about my character only, or are you going to evidence any of your points?

I'm not trying to attack your character. I'm asking about your desires. You don't believe anything on the basis of evidence alone. You're a person who has plans, desires, emotions, etc. These also play an essential role in your beliefs.
 
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