I was asked this rather open ended question on Yedda today, here is what is wrote in reply:
Firstly, and not to start a flame war here, but very clearly 99% of the world do not believe in a god. This is a fiction. For a start China is communist and therefore wont believe in a god, not mention Japan or in fact anyone practicing Buddhism.
So, is there a god? It depends what you mean and how you define such a question.
If you mean, is there a white guy with a beard and a unnatural fixation for Jewish virgins and that you can take a deep breath and relax knowing in firm certainty that by believing one thing or another will set you up for the afterlife?; then no, probably not.
If you mean, some sort of super being that created the Universe (note caps on the U); then nobody knows for sure. It is possible, but then so is everything you can imagine and quite a lot that you can not. A great book for examining ideas about this is The Star Maker by Olaf Stapleton or perhaps the free online book “God’s Debris” written by the Dilbert author Scott Adams. They both show that when you get to a “power” of that “size” you could quite easily mistake it for a simple facet of nature or physics.
If however, you want cold hard scientific certainty or rigid philosophical arguments one way or the other, again nope. Neither science nor Philosophy has successfully argued that there is or is not a god. That is to say that arguments are in fact put forwards and laws formulated regarding standards of proof etc, but in the end they are only measuring what they know. Not what they don’t. So here the answer is again “as far as we know” there isn’t a God. Why? because of the lack of rigid evidence.
What do you think? I only had a few moments to write this reply. Let me know if you agree/disagree.
Basho
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September 20th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
there is in fact a historical figure that stood in the Jewish temple preaching about God and how he was the Saviore. there was in fact a historicla Roman figure who , for lack of better terms, ruled the area where the first said person spoke. this Roman figure did in fact put up a vote to the Jewish people. the First said person did in fact die from being put onto the cross for claiming to be Jesus Christ our Saviour, the son of God. this is historical FACT. Jesus is the son of God, and through a relationship with him you can go to heaven. all you need to do is ask him to be a part of you, it’s that simple. Yes there is a God, and his son died for you and me so we can be free from sin. i don’t understand why it’s so incredibly hard to believe in God, if you know anything about him. there are so many missconceptions about God that make people not believe in him. for example, as far as the scientific part goes. if God did his job right, science will never be able to prove or disprove the existance of God. that would defeat the purpose of FAITH. i don’t know very much about philosophy, but i do know that it’s diferent than prophacy.
God does care what happenes in the world, but there is suffering in this world because he gave us humans free will. this means thatwe can do what ever we want to do, and unfortunatly some people cause havok and suffering. this is one of the biggest missconceptions of God around. this one makes a lot of people not believe in God. but since God gave us free will, he can not “but in” and stop the suffering, becuase that, again, would defeat the purpose of faith. i hope this helpsyou be able to answer the question if you are ever asked again.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Hi Basho -
I hate to tell you this, but while you have a nice looking variation of the gazette news theme ( how I found you..:-) your sort of rudimentary, low level thinking on the whole god issue is a bit silly. I’m not sure if there is a god either, but there are far better ways to articulate an unprovable theorem or hypothetical than the kindergarden level logic you posit above. ( and far more cogent philosophers who have argued both sides of the street with a hell of a lot more eloquence than whom you cite). Not to be nasty - it just strikes my funny bone a bit how you sort of settle the issue above for your readers who may not know- (” there is no god”) - and simply don’t seem to demonstrate the depth of introspective thinking capable of formulating such a heady determination. Stick with the Rambo posts - they are better suited to serve your cognitive and communication skills. ( and are more entertaining too..:-)
March 25th, 2008 at 8:40 am
While it is nice to receive any comments I am not sure the previous commenter knows much about Yedda or indeed actually read the final line of my post. I am inclined to believe the latter since he goes on to accuse me of not knowing my way around Philosophy. You are quite correct my friend, of course, I only studied it for 5 years and have a honours degree in the subject.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Hi again Basho -
You are actually right - I didn’t read the whole post - ( or if I did, wasn’t paying close enough attention!) so I apologize for my comment - after re-reading your post, I see that I probably should pay closer attention next time I decide to share my opinion - ( or at least make sure it is appropriate per the position stated..:-)
( although I still disagree with alot of the first part of the post!)
Great looking blog though, and keep up the good work - sorry again!