If you learned that the god of [insert religion] is real, would all bets be off?
January 7, 2024 at 9:56 pm
(This post was last modified: January 7, 2024 at 10:54 pm by Sicnoo0.)
Some of my fellow atheists have told me that if they learned that god is real, they would not assume anything about the god's capabilities or limitations. I find this to be really strange.
Personally, if I found out god was real, I would assume a lot of things about his limitations:
So what about you? Would all bets be off?
Would you cease to believe in logic, questioning everything you thought you knew?
A fellow atheist told me that if god exists then god definitely created mathematics and logic.
Personally, I think think all logical and mathematical truths have always been true and always will be true, entirely independent of any hypothetical god.
Sure, there was a time when we didn't know that there are infinitely many prime numbers. That doesn't mean it wasn't true long, long before anyone found out about it.
That said, if god were real, I'd be willing to believe god created the laws of physics for our universe, but I wouldn't be entirely sure. I can't just go by what scriptures claim about god. But is god responsible for logical and mathematical truths being true... no, definitely not.
In fact, god would probably know that he has no control over what's logically or mathematically true, so he wouldn't even bother saying "let there be only five platonic solids"... because there would already be only five platonic solids, by default. No need for god.
If time travel were real and you could go back in time to the age of the dinosaurs, the fact that there are infinitely many prime numbers would still be true.
If multiple universes exist and you could teleport to another universe, the fact that the square root of two is irrational would still be true in the other universe.
I have nothing to back up these assertions, however. I'm just stating what I believe to be true.
In closing, if I were to wake up tomorrow and have god's existence shown to me beyond any reasonable doubt, I would still assume that no god can create a married bachelor.
That being said, I'd be incredibly scared if this god turned out to be the god of the bible or the quran. Those gods sound very tyrannical; I'd be scared shitless. But at least I'd still be confident that they can't send a married bachelor to kill me.
Personally, if I found out god was real, I would assume a lot of things about his limitations:
- I'd assume he can't create a married bachelor.
- I'd assume he can't make the square root of two rational.
- I'd assume he can't cause there to be only finitely many prime numbers.
- I'd assume he can't cause a polygon with three sides to have four sides.
- I'd assume he can't create a platonic solid that humans haven't already thought of. It has been proven that there can't be any more.
So what about you? Would all bets be off?
Would you cease to believe in logic, questioning everything you thought you knew?
A fellow atheist told me that if god exists then god definitely created mathematics and logic.
Personally, I think think all logical and mathematical truths have always been true and always will be true, entirely independent of any hypothetical god.
Sure, there was a time when we didn't know that there are infinitely many prime numbers. That doesn't mean it wasn't true long, long before anyone found out about it.
That said, if god were real, I'd be willing to believe god created the laws of physics for our universe, but I wouldn't be entirely sure. I can't just go by what scriptures claim about god. But is god responsible for logical and mathematical truths being true... no, definitely not.
In fact, god would probably know that he has no control over what's logically or mathematically true, so he wouldn't even bother saying "let there be only five platonic solids"... because there would already be only five platonic solids, by default. No need for god.
If time travel were real and you could go back in time to the age of the dinosaurs, the fact that there are infinitely many prime numbers would still be true.
If multiple universes exist and you could teleport to another universe, the fact that the square root of two is irrational would still be true in the other universe.
I have nothing to back up these assertions, however. I'm just stating what I believe to be true.
In closing, if I were to wake up tomorrow and have god's existence shown to me beyond any reasonable doubt, I would still assume that no god can create a married bachelor.
That being said, I'd be incredibly scared if this god turned out to be the god of the bible or the quran. Those gods sound very tyrannical; I'd be scared shitless. But at least I'd still be confident that they can't send a married bachelor to kill me.