RE: Yahweh is all powerful, yet, my god is better than your GOD
September 19, 2011 at 1:49 am
(This post was last modified: September 19, 2011 at 2:05 am by lucent.)
I'm well versed on Barts objections, and secular arguments against it in general..if you want to discuss anything in particular.
The argument is extremely non sensical. A lack of tracks through the park is actually positive evidence for no Elephants. So evidence is not absent in that example. It's a cheap trick of definitions and epistemologically invalid. The absence of evidence example is referring to a lack of any evidence, for or against, and it doesn't prove the existence or non-existence of anything.
(September 19, 2011 at 1:36 am)Justtristo Wrote:(September 19, 2011 at 1:32 am)lucent Wrote: God validates the authority of the bible, and the historicity of the bible attests to its accuracy.
I would seriously consider you reading books such as The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts and books by Bart D Ehrman's Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them),
Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are and Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, then we can talk more on this issue.
The argument is extremely non sensical. A lack of tracks through the park is actually positive evidence for no Elephants. So evidence is not absent in that example. It's a cheap trick of definitions and epistemologically invalid. The absence of evidence example is referring to a lack of any evidence, for or against, and it doesn't prove the existence or non-existence of anything.
(September 19, 2011 at 1:27 am)Justtristo Wrote:(September 18, 2011 at 10:43 pm)padraic Wrote: I do not believe in gods due to the lack of credible evidence. This position is called agnostic/weak/ soft atheism. It is the most common position of most atheists here as well as high public profile atheist,such as Richard Dawkins.
I guess it's common among atheists with any scientific training and/or an understanding of some of the basic rules of logic:
IF I assert "there is no god" or "I believe there is no god", I make a positive claim ,and that attracts the burden of proof. I cannot prove there is no god, neither has anyone else been able to do so in recorded history. Therefore, I make no claims, asserting only "I do not believe" .In daily life, this position is moot, as I behave AS IF there are no gods .
Ah "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." argument. I don't personally subscribe to that line of thinking even concerning the question whether or not a god/s exist. However there is nothing wrong with it although.
Victor Stenger explained how in many cases an absence of credible evidence provides "robust" evidence of evidence. Stenger gave an example of elephants have never seen seen roaming in Yellowstone National Park. Stenger goes on further to say that even if such elephants were extremely secretive, we would know they existed through ample physical signs (droppings, crushed vegetation, bones of dead elephants etc). Hence Stenger argues that we can be confident that no elephants live in Yellowstone park.
Stenger was using this line of thought concerning the existence of Yahweh. However I can see it used for every deity humans currently believe in. Also I could use that line of thinking to disprove the existence of a deist god. Because even a deist god would leave some evidence (For example; if the use of the big bang was never explained). As a guy I once spoke to offline said once "If evidence for god was discovered, the person who found that evidence would win the nobel prize".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victor-ste...82169.html This is an article where Victor Stenger used the argument I outlined, his books God The Failed Hypothesis and The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason expand on this in much more detail.
