Theists - how certain are you that a God exists?
July 28, 2015 at 7:53 am
(This post was last modified: July 28, 2015 at 7:54 am by FreeTony.)
To start with you must realise that you can't be 100% certain about anything. However you can be more certain about some things than others. In science you may describe this as a confidence level.
If I were to make a list of things, what in terms of certainty that they exist from high to low, it might look something like this:
My parents
My home town
Australia
Other Galaxies
Giant Squid
Man-made Global Warming
Alien Life
Sentient Alien Life
UFO encounters (as in spaceships piloted by sentient aliens)
Ghosts
God of the Bible
So to explain, a lot of the top ones are fairly similar in certainty, and could be shifted around. Giant Squids are interesting as up until fairly recently their existence was quite uncertain, though there is now actual camera footage although very little is know about them. Global Warming is pretty certain, but we're probably looking at 95% confidence levels.
Alien Life is not confirmed yet. It is however more likely than sentient alien life.
We have no evidence of sentient alien life. We do however have an actual example of sentient life in ourselves.
UFO encounters require both sentient alien life and technology that may or may not be possible within the laws of physics. We do have one example of a sentient life using spacetravel, albeit very limited.
Ghosts. We have no evidence that Ghosts exist.
God of the Bible. Ditto, though the claims are even grander. You could argue the God of the OT is above ghosts as it is actually more clearly defined than the God that modern Christians describe.
You'll note that for all of these, you will have many people who claim to have seen them. This is not necessarily a good indicator as to whether something exists or not.
My question for Theists is thus: Can you re-order the list I provided in terms of which you are most certain of (you may of course not choose to re-order it)?
If I were to make a list of things, what in terms of certainty that they exist from high to low, it might look something like this:
My parents
My home town
Australia
Other Galaxies
Giant Squid
Man-made Global Warming
Alien Life
Sentient Alien Life
UFO encounters (as in spaceships piloted by sentient aliens)
Ghosts
God of the Bible
So to explain, a lot of the top ones are fairly similar in certainty, and could be shifted around. Giant Squids are interesting as up until fairly recently their existence was quite uncertain, though there is now actual camera footage although very little is know about them. Global Warming is pretty certain, but we're probably looking at 95% confidence levels.
Alien Life is not confirmed yet. It is however more likely than sentient alien life.
We have no evidence of sentient alien life. We do however have an actual example of sentient life in ourselves.
UFO encounters require both sentient alien life and technology that may or may not be possible within the laws of physics. We do have one example of a sentient life using spacetravel, albeit very limited.
Ghosts. We have no evidence that Ghosts exist.
God of the Bible. Ditto, though the claims are even grander. You could argue the God of the OT is above ghosts as it is actually more clearly defined than the God that modern Christians describe.
You'll note that for all of these, you will have many people who claim to have seen them. This is not necessarily a good indicator as to whether something exists or not.
My question for Theists is thus: Can you re-order the list I provided in terms of which you are most certain of (you may of course not choose to re-order it)?
