Does God exist?

[ignoramus]

I think any user with "Truth" in their name is already too far gone down the rabbit hole...
It's just mild entertainment from here on....

OP, tell me, all the many users here who were lifelong religious prior to becoming atheists.
Were they not true Christians, I gather?

[Homeless Nutter]

I'm not saying one must believe in God to be moral; I'm merely saying that without God there can be no basis for objective morality. All that is possible apart from God would be subjective morality and nihilism.

And what is this "objective morality" supposed to be? And if there is a god - how come we don't see that "objective morality" anywhere? Only a great number of different "subjective moralities", each claiming to be the "objective" one.
Christian - or any other religious - morality is in no way "objective". It's just a set of rules, that is convenient, for the particular community at the moment - which is why it keeps changing and why religions keep splitting and fighting each other over it. 

The whole talk of "objective morality" smells like bullsh*t to me. It's like saying - "Without god, there can be no magical flying unicorns, pooping candy and farting rainbows..." Yeah, well - tough, I guess we're going to have to make the candy ourselves - just like we always have done...

[Light of Truth]

There are a lot of things to reply to:

The various arguments are in NO way refuted. Just because some people don't fully understand them doesn't make them refuted. Also, a logically airtight deductive argument whose premises are more probable than their negation most certainly leans towards God. For someone to say all of the various cosmological arguments have been refuted only shows that person's ignorance, and on a forum like this you would assume people care about a search for truth, not putting up the blinders.

It takes more "faith" to be an atheist than it does to be a theist. Leibniz was correct when saying the most important question to ask is "why is there something rather than nothing?" As an atheist one must believe that something came from nothing, since physics, cosmology, and mathematics show that a universe that is past eternal is not possible. Belieiving that a God outside time created the universe takes much less faith that this.

I truly hope that all atheists actually look at the arguments for God and find Him, not look at them in a smug manner without really thinking them through. That is what I used to do when I was a nihilist. I hope than all atheists find the Truth.

[Whateverist]

There are a lot of things to reply to:

The various arguments are in NO way refuted. Just because some people don't fully understand them doesn't make them refuted.

You strike me as quite a reasonable theist.  (Welcome to the forum by the way.)  Here you seem to imply the only way anyone can fail to be moved by the arguments of apologetics is a failure of understanding.  I hope you'll retract that much.

Also, a logically airtight deductive argument whose premises are more probable than their negation most certainly leans towards God. For someone to say all of the various cosmological arguments have been refuted only shows that person's ignorance, and on a forum like this you would assume people care about a search for truth, not putting up the blinders.

I have no problem with you challenging whether or not said arguments have been refuted.  To be refuted indeed they would need to understand them pretty much as you do and still have sound arguments to make against them.  But you should keep in mind that there is a third option.  Some of us are simply not impressed with any argument involving cosmological or metaphysical premises.  Personally I don't think anyone has a firm enough grasp of the really big picture to make a convincing case on either side of any proposition whatsoever.  In this realm, the most you can say is if you see things the way I do then such and such follows - and that's the end of it.

It takes more "faith" to be an atheist than it does to be a theist. Leibniz was correct when saying the most important question to ask is "why is there something rather than nothing?" As an atheist one must believe that something came from nothing, since physics, cosmology, and mathematics show that a universe that is past eternal is not possible. Belieiving that a God outside time created the universe takes much less faith that this.

Balderdash.  It takes some faith to be a human being but that faith need not be in God.  But no, physics and mathematics do not show that a universe cannot be past eternal.  They only show that within the region defined by the big bang, everything we know has not had its current structure forever.  This configuration of what is in our region had a beginning, but that beginning has not been shown to have come from nothing.  That is an unfounded generalization.  Of all the possible reasons why this region of what is has assumed the configuration it currently has, its having been arrayed that way on purpose by a mega-omni cosmic watch maker has got to be the most outlandish and least tempting.

I truly hope that all atheists actually look at the arguments for God and find Him, not look at them in a smug manner without really thinking them through. That is what I used to do when I was a nihilist. I hope than all atheists find the Truth.

Congratulations on having over come your nihilism.  If literal acceptance of biblical 'truths' was the price you had to pay for your escape, so be it.  I'm sure you can make a perfectly fine life as a believer in fantastic things.  I respect the choices you make for yourself, they are yours to make.  But please reread your last two sentences and ask yourself if you yourself are free of smugness.

[GoHalos1993]

No he does not

[ignoramus]

It takes more "faith" to be an atheist than it does to be a theist.

Is there a problem with playing it safe and being agnostic (like the majority of us) until further evidence comes to hand?
I'm not sure I would call playing it safe "a leap of faith" though.

Do you also need to have faith that there are no goblins in your basement?
What's that? You've been there but couldn't see any? But are you looking hard enough?  (Now you get an idea how we feel)...

[IATIA]

It takes more "faith" to be an atheist than it does to be a theist.

From your perspective perhaps. You do have that whole "Gonna burn in hell" thing to worry about.

[madog]

Oh goody. Objective morality again. Yay.

What is wrong with discussing it if you don't mind me asking? Do you deny objective moral truths?

I think you are trying to say Objective morality can't exist without the bible .... but how can you show the the bible came from God and not just some immoral illiterates?

[RozKek]

I have a feeling this guy is a bot.

[Veritas_Vincit]

I'm not saying one must believe in God to be moral; I'm merely saying that without God there can be no basis for objective morality. All that is possible apart from God would be subjective morality and nihilism.

Religion is a-moral. Morality does not come from religion. I assume you only follow some of the commandments in the Bible? I assume you don't stone adulterers and burn witches? How do you decide which parts of the Bible you follow and which you discard and ignore? By using your own innate morality!

If you didn't already have innate morality, you would just follow all of the biblical laws like a psychopathic robot. Religious morality is not moral. You don't do good things because they are good, you do them because you are afraid of the torture of hell and/or desire the bliss of heaven. 

Reading from your Bible, God has instructed slavery, genocide, child sacrifice, witch burning, the death penalty for adultery and homosexuality, and all manner of other barbaric and horrifically immoral actions. You're saying we get morality from that guy?