RE: Disproving Odin - An Experiment in arguing with a theist with Theist logic
March 7, 2018 at 5:14 pm
(March 7, 2018 at 4:36 pm)Aegon Wrote:(March 7, 2018 at 4:07 pm)SteveII Wrote: Falsification is a scientific principle and does not apply here. What you mean is that no one can prove a negative. I agree. However that does not mean that one cannot have positive knowledge that supports the non-existence of Odin (or God for that matter).
For example, we can have reasonable certainty that the combination of Fire and Ice made drips that became giants and then they had children and one of them was Odin probably did not happen. So, we can offer metaphysical and historical defeaters to any combination of claims that Odin existed--making the cumulative case for his existence highly unlikely.
However, the same cannot be said for God. There are really no good arguments against the existence of God. The best one is the PoE--but even that has satisfactory philosophical counter-arguments. Hiddeness? Again, that has answers. You might not find them compelling, but the point is there is not any good positive arguments against the existence of God.
You dismissed the origin story of Odin as ridiculous not realizing that almost every Biblical story sounds just as ridiculous.
That is a wild generalization that simply is not true. I don't think there is anything in the Bible that couldn't have happened (metaphysically speaking). In addition, the Bible narrative has consistent themes throughout that do not contradict each other. It actually tells one big story that is certainly possible and in a lot of ways, makes sense of the human condition. Is there a parallel to that in Norse mythology?
Before you go on about Gen 1-3, there are way way way more people that ever lived that believe Gen 1-3 was allegorical in nature than believed it to be literal.