(December 11, 2017 at 5:53 pm)TheoneandonlytrueGod Wrote: As an exercise in futility use one or more of the following headings to prove the existence of God.
Do not ask me to define God, I won't do it; use whatever definition you wish.
Empirical
Rational
Physical
Logical
Nonsense
Telelogical
Oncological
Theoretical
Fictional
Surrealist
What exactly do you mean by "prove"? It seems there are different kinds of proof.
- Scientific proof
- Historical proof
- Logical proofs (both deductive and inductive)
- Proof resulting from personal experience
There also also different thresholds of proof:
- Possible
- More likely than not (preponderance of the evidence)
- Beyond reasonable doubt
- Absolute certainty
These lists result in 16 different combinations alone (and I'm sure I missed some).
In my experience, a discussion like the one you are intending is a long series of shifting the goal post until you arrive at demanding something akin to absolute certainty resulting from scientific proof for a specific belief. The problem is that this is not the standard necessary for a rational belief.
Another point, atheist constantly miss the fact that religious belief is due to a cumulative set of reasons to believe--all with their own kind/threshold of proof needed for that particular individual. So, to simply demand "proof" is insufficient. What kind, what threshold, single issue or cumulative, and to what end?
