An argument against God

[Alex K]

Well, there's at least a kernel of truth to that, in the following sense: If some being manifested itself doing things which - to us - seemed magical and supernatural, the rational first hypotheses to me would be to suspect either that

• I had gone insane
  
• Some kind of advanced intelligence is playing tricks on us

Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking. People want a miracle or ask for a sign and then if by chance it happens they find a way to explain it away. That is the problem with relying on miracles.

Fortunately, there are two other routes by which one can come to knowledge of God: reasoning from common experience (think Aquinas) and personal revelation (gnosis).

How does this gnosis business even in principle provide any leverage against my reservations from above? Even if it were personally revealed to you, the rational position would still be to question your judgement and the reliability of this revelation, given the enormity of its nature. Concerning the reasoning from common experience, that may work to obtain knowledge about God under the assumption that it exists ('es a darn bastard), but nothing in the way of reliable and convincing evidence for existence in the first place. Unless I'm missing something major.