Philosophical arguments against the existence of God

[anonymous person]

Simple, the lack of reliable evidence to show the existence of a God.

A good analogy would be the prosecution's burden in a murder trial. They are claiming a person murdered someone and the burden is on them to demonstrate their case beyond a reasonable doubt, the burden is not on the defense prove the defendant innocent.

So you have surveyed all the evidence theists provide for the existence of God and have found it unpersuasive.

Is that right?

 

[anonymous person]

Might be a better question to ask yourself.

No. I'm asking you. What else do you have to contribute as far as what this thread is for?

 

[bhsmte]

No. I'm asking you. What else do you have to contribute as far as what this thread is for?

It depends on the comments of others and where the thread goes.

So far, I have responded to the content of the thread.

 

[Davian]

...
Did you ever think there was a good reason for me being confident in my beliefs? Or did you just assume that I am like you were. One who held beliefs without having good reasons to do so?

I suppose one would have to have a clear and concise definition of "good reasons" that would allow you that while not having me board my windows up in an attempt to keep the visiting extraterrestrial aliens from abducting me in the night.

I am not like you in that respect. I do not hold the beliefs I do because there are no other beliefs out there to choose from or because they are not evidenced. I hold them because they are true.

You hold your beliefs to be true because you believe them to be true. How circular.

If that works for you, run with it.

One who stands on the side of truth is marvelously free to have their beliefs challenged because of the confidence they have that they are indeed capable of standing up to scrutiny.

And those that hold untestable, undefined, and unfalsifiable claims are marvellously free to have their beliefs challenged because of the confidence they have that they are indeed immune to scrutiny, in that they are of no significance. The unfalsifiable cannot be falsified.

The invitation is always open to you to prove me wrong. Whether or not you accept that invitation is up to you.

Have you yet to provide anything testable? Falsifiable?

Excuses satisfy only those that use them, and even then, they leave a bitter taste in one's mouth.

You speak from experience?

That is why I suspect you eventually will get around to trying to prove me wrong when you realize that your excuses are not going to deter me from allowing you the chance to prove me wrong.

I'm just hanging around to see if you ever get around to demonstrating that you hold the truth an accurate description of reality.

Popcorn, anyone?

 

[bhsmte]

So you have surveyed all the evidence theists provide for the existence of God and have found it unpersuasive.

Is that right?

I was a Christian for 40 years, so I am quite familiar with reasons others give as to why they believe.

I have yet, to see anyone give a rational, logical and or verifiable position for their belief, outside of their own personal perceptions.

And, if belief in a God is the right thing for an individual and makes them a better person and allows them to cope with life better, I say hold onto it, as it is best for that particular person.

With that said, most Christians don't claim to have verifiable evidence for their beliefs, that others are somehow missing out on. Most people I know will state; I believe what I do on faith, and don't claim to have verifiable evidence, to show anyone else.

With some though, claiming they believe on faith is not good enough for them and they must convince themselves, they have solid evidence to believe what they do, that also should apply to others and if others don't believe as they do, they are simply missing out and or ignoring this evidence. I tend to think, the folks that can't just say they believe on faith, likely have a good deal of insecurity about their belief, or they wouldn't have to play the game of all those who disagree, are missing the evidence.

 

[Aelred of Rievaulx]

The proposition:

"We cannot assess the truth value of a claim unless it can be verified empirically."

Itself cannot be verified empirically.

What do you not understand about what I just said?

Within ordinary language philosophy truth is simply disquotation: "The pen is blue" is true if the pen is blue.

 

[Davian]

I would need to supply this if I were arguing for the existence of God. I am not doing that in this thread though so to bring it up is futile.

There are arguments against the existence of God. You have seen some of them presented here. Bringing up what you have is simply unnecessary. You do not need to explain to us what you have because no one here is arguing against what you are saying.

Do you understand that?

I wanted to see what people here thought was the best argument against the existence of God was.

Sure. As per the OP, is there an argument against the existence of the character in the Bible named "God" that [allegedly] walked and talked in a garden that has no evidence of having existed, poofed people and animals into existence, and later, in a manner contrary to the modern understanding of genetics, populated the planet with a tiny group of individuals and animals that survived a global flood in an unbuildable boat, a flood that killed the dinosaurs in a manner that only *appears* to be 65 million years ago, because the Earth is really only somehow 6000 years old, yet remains, by every object measure to date indistinguishable from nothing?

Well, virtually all of mainstream scientific knowledge would have to be falsified for this concept to be an accurate description of reality. No small task, and one you have yet to tackle.

That would count against it, would it not?

 

[anonymous person]

I was a Christian for 40 years, so I am quite familiar with reasons others give as to why they believe.

I have yet, to see anyone give a rational, logical and or verifiable position for their belief, outside of their own personal perceptions.

And, if belief in a God is the right thing for an individual and makes them a better person and allows them to cope with life better, I say hold onto it, as it is best for that particular person.

With that said, most Christians don't claim to have verifiable evidence for their beliefs, that others are somehow missing out on. Most people I know will state; I believe what I do on faith, and don't claim to have verifiable evidence, to show anyone else.

With some though, claiming they believe on faith is not good enough for them and they must convince themselves, they have solid evidence to believe what they do, that also should apply to others and if others don't believe as they do, they are simply missing out and or ignoring this evidence. I tend to think, the folks that can't just say they believe on faith, likely have a good deal of insecurity about their belief, or they wouldn't have to play the game of all those who disagree, are missing the evidence.

"verifiable"

 

[Archaeopteryx]

Oh ok.

So now what?

I guess you continue on your current path, with conceptual revision remaining anathema to your faith.

 

[anonymous person]

I guess you continue on your current path, with conceptual revision remaining anathema to your faith.

 

[bhsmte]

"verifiable"

View attachment 166983

I use words with meaning, remember?

External objective verification of claims, I feel is important, to greatly increase the likely hood you have it right.

Now, if you want to rely on personal experiences as your evidence alone, which can not be verified externally and objectively, then you are dealing with a faith belief. Some can admit that, some can't.

 

[bhsmte]

View attachment 166989

Not quite.

You asked him; "what next" and he told you what he thought was next.

 

[Davian]

View attachment 166989

 

[Archaeopteryx]

View attachment 166989

Remember the last time you told us to "pretend you didn't say that"?

 

[anonymous person]

Not quite.

You asked him; "what next" and he told you what he thought was next.

Must have his hat on..

 

[bhsmte]

Must have his hat on..

View attachment 166992

If you don't want someone's opinion, don't as them an open ended question like; "whats next".

Problem solved.

 

[anonymous person]

If you don't want someone's opinion, don't as them an open ended question like; "whats next".

Problem solved.

 

[bhsmte]

View attachment 166993

I'll bet, you go through a lot of paint.

 

[anonymous person]

I'll bet, you go through a lot of paint.

I feel it...

 

[bhsmte]

I feel it...

View attachment 166994

LOL