S
Silfen
Guest
I am not a Christian.
I am an atheist. In more explicit terms, I am an agnostic or "weak" atheist. This means that I do not profess belief in God's nonexistence. Rather, I have not seen sufficient evidence to convince me of God's existence (or lack thereof), and so I choose to withhold belief.
If that statement seems convoluted, allow me to explain (as Jesus often did) through analogy. A strange man walks up to me. He has an unusually shaped bulge in his left pocket. I can see bits of triangles and prisms and hemispheres, but it's all too amorphous for me to know what it is. The man tries to cut a deal with me. He says "if you can guess what's in my pocket, I'll give you $1,000. If you fail to guess what's in my pocket, I'll stab you." I have no information about the contents of his pocket. I decide that the most rational course of action is to refuse to make a claim. I do not say what is in his pocket. Instead, I live my life without worrying about the contents of this man's pocket.
To bring that analogy back to the topic that we're really talking about, I find that it is most rational to avoid making a claim concerning the existence of something about which I have little information. I have not encountered any (good) evidence for God's existence. From an empirical standpoint, I have not seen him, heard him, or in any other way observed something that I would call "God." I have sincerely tried to pray on numerous occasions, but I have found that there is no result. From a rational standpoint, I have not encountered any reasoning that would force the conclusion that God exists. No argument that I have heard, including things like Anselm's ontological argument, or argument from design, or anything else holds water when carefully examined.
I have heard anecdotal evidence, but such evidence is insufficient to prove a claim of this magnitude.
So... here are my questions. For what reason(s) do you believe in God's existence and Jesus' divinity? Do you know of anything that might convince me? To convince me it would have to be empirical evidence that is verifiable in some way, or a logical argument that is valid and sound.
I am an atheist. In more explicit terms, I am an agnostic or "weak" atheist. This means that I do not profess belief in God's nonexistence. Rather, I have not seen sufficient evidence to convince me of God's existence (or lack thereof), and so I choose to withhold belief.
If that statement seems convoluted, allow me to explain (as Jesus often did) through analogy. A strange man walks up to me. He has an unusually shaped bulge in his left pocket. I can see bits of triangles and prisms and hemispheres, but it's all too amorphous for me to know what it is. The man tries to cut a deal with me. He says "if you can guess what's in my pocket, I'll give you $1,000. If you fail to guess what's in my pocket, I'll stab you." I have no information about the contents of his pocket. I decide that the most rational course of action is to refuse to make a claim. I do not say what is in his pocket. Instead, I live my life without worrying about the contents of this man's pocket.
To bring that analogy back to the topic that we're really talking about, I find that it is most rational to avoid making a claim concerning the existence of something about which I have little information. I have not encountered any (good) evidence for God's existence. From an empirical standpoint, I have not seen him, heard him, or in any other way observed something that I would call "God." I have sincerely tried to pray on numerous occasions, but I have found that there is no result. From a rational standpoint, I have not encountered any reasoning that would force the conclusion that God exists. No argument that I have heard, including things like Anselm's ontological argument, or argument from design, or anything else holds water when carefully examined.
I have heard anecdotal evidence, but such evidence is insufficient to prove a claim of this magnitude.
So... here are my questions. For what reason(s) do you believe in God's existence and Jesus' divinity? Do you know of anything that might convince me? To convince me it would have to be empirical evidence that is verifiable in some way, or a logical argument that is valid and sound.