The Zacharias Wrote:Let me start with a simple thing. Although I wasn't born a theist, I was born in a theistic environment. The people in my environment can tolerate difference in theism (e.g. difference in belief in God as long as it does not disturb other people) but cannot tolerate atheism. Yes, I agree that this is a wrong view. But this is the reality in my environment. If I don't believe in God publicly, it will most likely bring an overall negative effect to me and to my family. If I secretly don't believe in God, I will have to lie in many circumstances. So, at least for me, believing in God brings an overall positive effect to me. I don't know whether God exists or not because there is no evidence either way as far as I know. So why not choose a side that brings an overall positive effect to me?
Right.. well this is fairly troubling. I can sort of imagine under what circumstances you must be in, but for the purposes of our discussion this is no where near an explanation for why you think God exists. It's simply external matters that are non-evidentially/philosophically related that have pushed you to be a theist. Therefore, for you to say that you don't see any reason for God to not exist is pure nonsense if you didn't rationally come to a belief in God.
Why should we be expected to argue against a position you didn't reason yourself into?
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
