(June 29, 2015 at 12:40 pm)pool Wrote: Since this has turned out to be a debate kind of thread what i'd from anyone else including you would be to tell me i'm wrong and give me convincing input that points out the fact that i am wrong.Your claim is that it's more likely that god exists than that he doesn't. If we expand the definition of god to include powerful alien races that might have evolved somewhere else in the universe, then the likelihood increases. In either case, it should be much easier to prove the positive than the negative. I think it's impossible to prove that the metaphysical version of god that is often described by theists is not real, because by definition we can't prove him either way.
But it seems to me that people live their lives around things that we can verify and experience. Even those who believe in one deity or another tend to limit all other claims to the supernatural and treat them as fanciful. Many of our cultural and global celebrations are based around fantasy characters and ideas (Christmas being a good example) and we understand that they're just icons or cartoon characters and so on. Only when we come to god do we push aside the instincts and attitudes that serve us just fine the rest of the time. I keep gods in the same realm that everyone keeps mythical and legendary creatures in. If a unicorn ever trotted out of the forest or a dragon came screaming out of the skies, I'd add them to my list of Things That I Know Exist. When god shows up, he'll get added to that list as well. If that never happens, I won't worry about it.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould