List of reasons to believe God exists?

[GrandizerII]

I think it was Herman Melville who said something like, "why should the creature expect to live as long as his Creator." I always considered a life seeking truth and virtue to be its own reward even if it brings discomfort and sorrow. I even believed that back when I was an atheist. There is a certain romantic heroism in the futile challenge of imposing values on an indifferent universe and asserting one's own meaning in defiance of the on-coming darkness. But that was just me, embracing what was as obvious to me then as it is now. What I did not realize back then though was the deep incoherence and absurdity of a world without some transcendent absolutes. From where I sit now, atheism is no longer even a remote option for me. It's not necessarily irrational in a wild-eyed rejection sort of way, although that's quite evident in some members; but rather, it is a kind of hyper-rationality that devours itself, undermining the premises on which it is built. Here I am talking about atheism as an intellectual commitment with respect to the proposition "God exists," not some trivial ignorance. I guess I would turn the question around. How in the world could anyone find atheism a coherent and satisfying intellectual stance?

Hyper-rationality ... lol ...

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WallyM, I have a question for you about morality. As I understand it, you believe morality to be a purely societal construct based around what is best for the community in general, and empathy was evolved to reflect that. Is that correct?

Let's go back to the times of ancient civilizations where a powerful Empire enslaved an entire group of people. Let's use the Egyptians enslaving the Jews as the example. Obviously having slaves is good for the Egyptian community. They rely on it for everything, and without the forced labor of these "lesser people" they wouldn't live the comfortable, high quality life they have. Let's say one of these Egyptians is a sociopath... lacks empathy of any sort and to make matters worse has a particular fetish for violence and forced sex. He's super horny one night and so decides to take care of these urges by going out and raping a Jewish slave girl. He's not going to get in trouble for it because no one who matters will believe her instead of him, and even if they did, they wouldn't care... it's just a slave girl anyway. He feels zero remorse, and in his mind, it's not big deal at all. Also, it won't have a single negative effect at all in his community.

Is what he did still immoral? If so, why?

Bible God didnt seem to think this was immoral. Why then is it immoral in your views? Maybe because it has something to do with reasoning that doesnt invoke God.