Common self contradiction of the religious

[orangebox21]

This is, of course, ignoring the fact that an eternal being with no peers would have no need for language.

It in fact couldn't have one, as a private language is an impossibility.

Perhaps luckily, the Christian doesn't have to wrestle over the 'private language possibility vs. impossibility' given that the Biblical God is three distinct person's in one God. The eternal being has peers: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I can see this being used to state that god transcends the universe, since he creates the universe. And in this case we might say that god transcends time, since time is a property of the universe. Then we have to wonder which plane of existence god 'lives' in, and why time would not be a property of that plane of existence.

Another astute point and one I have no answer to. I'm reaching beyond the limits of my understanding of physics but I believe it's been observed, or at least theorized, that as the speed of light is reached time slows significantly to the point that time may even stop. Maybe if a person could approach the speed of light he/she could offer some observations about what a state of timelessness would be like.

The concept of eternity going back seems nonsensical too, but it must be real for the universe to exist.

Why must it be real for the universe to exist?

If we step outside of the universe, how would we mark time?

If there is no time, there would be no way to mark it.

If god decides to ponder a question, has time passed while he pondered the question? Is there no way to place god's actions on a timeline that extends past the creation of the universe?

I think no and no.

How do you justify making the assertion that a 'non-material entity' exists, since you insist that it is impossible to examine or study it in any way?

When did I say that we can't study or examine a non-material entity in any way?

If this god affects the material world in any way whatsoever, from answered prayers

How is the act of answering a prayer physically measured?

to special creation,

What do you mean by special creation?

then those effects fall squarely in the purview of science. As AronRa would say, every time this god reaches down into the material plane it ought to pull its arm out dripping with physics.

I don't understand what AronRa is getting at here. Please explain.

Conversely, if this god doesn't affect the material world, then it might just as well not exist at all (even assuming it does anyway).

Why not?

So which is it: a god which has to leave detectable, measurable evidence of its existence, or one which is indistinguishable from no god at all?

If these are my only two options, I choose the first option. Though understand I am making a distinction between physical evidence and detectable and measurable evidence. Are the universal laws of logic detectable? Yes. Are they physical? No. Are they measurable? No. Do they exist? Yes. Not everything that exists can be physically detectable and measurable.