(April 8, 2018 at 5:29 pm)ShirkahnW Wrote: I am going to debate a theist over the existence of god soon. What are the best arguments you ever heard from theists? Any tips on what topic to avoid in such an discussion?
Thanks in advance
None of the arguments used by theists hold up to scrutiny, they are all fallacious.
Kalam CA, at first blush, seems like a decent argument, but just a bit of evaluation, finds the fallacies.
The ontological argument, teleological argument, TAG are also massively fallacious, but they can be a bit difficult to dissect.
Don't get into arguing details of whatever holy book they follow. That puts you on their home field. Make sure they understand that their holy book is NOT evidence for their claim, it IS the claim.
I would recommend watching a bunch of Matt Dillahunty's debates and vids on YouTube.
A break down on refutations of various theistic arguments can be found on:
https://rationalwiki.org/
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
