Atheism and the Universal Knowledge of God

[Dave Ellis]

Because man is made in God's image every person has a very clear conception of God. When man looks at himself he sees a picture of God.

Except that's demonstrably false... Not everyone has a concept of a God, and even more specifically, your god.

Which contradictions are these?

The problem of evil for example shows that an all powerful, all knowing, all loving and perfectly moral being can not exist.

I'm not sure what you're referring to here.

Well, for example we know that the Abrahamic God (Yahweh) started off as the God of Israel within the Canaanite Pantheon. In his original form, he was not the creator god (That God was known as El) and he even had a consort goddess known as Asherah. Asherah is even still referred to in the earliest parts of the Bible, and ruined temples dedicated to her still exist in Israel to this day. A fully monotheistic Judaism didn't exist until the Babylonian exile at the earliest (586BC) and polytheistic Judaism still existed right up until the time of the Maccabees in the second century BC.

The term Elohim actually means the children of El, and is a plural phrase. The polytheistic roots of Judaism are still apparent in verses like Genesis 1:26 - "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." If it were a single god talking, it should read "I shall make mankind in my image, in my likeness, etc. Instead it's a plural, indicating more than one god.

As Judaism was becoming monotheistic, essentially the Gods El and Yahweh were merged (Similar to Amun-Ra in Egyptian mythology) which eventually lead to the modern concept of God.

 

[Eight Foot Manchild]

P1: A person is like God.
P2: I am a person.
C1: I am like God.

P3: Jack the Ripper is a person.
C2: Jack the Ripper is like God.

P4: Jack the Ripper is like God & I am like God (C1 & C2)
C3: I am like Jack the Ripper. (Transitive property.)

I think I got me some premises to reject.

Here's another pertinent syllogism,

P1: brightlights' god is purported to be a being that everyone knows exists
P2: I do not know that brightlights' god exists
C: brightlights' god does not exist

 

[Eight Foot Manchild]

You know what God is like because you know what you are like. Man is in the image of God. Whatever man is on earth God is in the heavens. Whatever man is locally God is cosmically. God is like man but ultimate, eternal, and without sin.

I'll have croutons with my word salad, please.