h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Self explanatory really.

Proving God exists would be fairly easy. Most Atheists, if they die and find themselves in a giant burning pit will, barring the die-hards, accept that maybe they were wrong on a few points of theology.

So what would it take to convince the truly religious that God doesn't exist, since if you die and there isn't an afterlife you're in no position to realise it.

Opinions?

You can't. God is omnipotent anad so transcends logic - so any proof of the nonexistence of God based on logic is flawed. Similarly, any proof of the nonexistence of God that isn't based on logic is flawed because it is illogical. Catch 22.

"anad" should read "and" in the above. oops.

Having said that, some people have reported good results using babel fish. If memory serves correctly, Oolan Caluphid is required reading on this subject. (Although diehard h2g2 fans will probably tell me I've got the name wrong...)

"Proving God exists would be fairly easy." Really? Go on then

Hmm, if you read the rest of the paragraph... ... the absolute proof for God existing (in the Christian sense) will come when you die.

But if atheists like m'self are right, then there's no proof when you die, 'cause you're dead.

I would say that, if you accept the principles of religion, there is no proof against it - which is why religious arguments never go anywhere. One key thing about religious principles is that they tend to include the principle that they're right, and nothing else is... accept that as an axiom and you can't refute it.

However, from *outside* a religion, it's generally not hard to see that it's all made up...

Entirely pointless to argue about it, anyway.

Why is everyone assuming that you have to have God in order to have an afterlife? Yes, the Christian heaven and hell kind of depend on God, but there's no reason you couldn't have another kind without a God.

And anyway, disproving God's existence is as utterly impossible as proving it, as far as I'm concerned. Especially since God is really just a way of interpereting what we perceive. Like quite a few other things, God only exists in a meaningful way inside ourselves.

You can't really disprove anything.

Pascal's Wager <./>A517646</.> - makes interesting reading. AKA:

The 'Belive-In God-If-You-Like,-You've-Really-Lost-Nothing-If-You're-Wrong. Better-still-You're-Quids-In-With-The-Management-Afterwards-If-It Turns-Out-You-Were-Right-After-All. And-Atheists-Are-Really-Hedging-Their-Bets...' Argument.

Pascal lacked imagination. There are other scenarios than the Atheism/Christianity one. What if the Hindus turn out to be right?

I think that's covered in the entry I'm not sure, something about 'diversifying the tables' or something. Saying God exist may be open to the qualification that many Gods exist with attendent afterlives and so on.

just cos your definition of God is that he is omnipotent and thus exists, Dogster, doesnt mean he actually is.

you know the definition of God, but then you know the definition of a unicorn. exactly. do they exist?

existence is not a predicate, like 'blackness' say.

eg 'mr fontes has two dogs. one is brown and exists, the other is black and does not exist'

that, my friend, is logic.

Uncle Heavy - I'm not saying that god exists, I'm saying that it would be impossible to "prove" the nonexistence of god using logic. The only way to do that is to find a babel fish. The search is on, but unsuccesful so far.

oh right. sorry mate, misunderstood what you said there

The time known as 'The Coming of the Great White Handkerchief?'

Or better still, God appearing, declaring his omnipotence and then laughing when asked if he created life on earth and saying 'As if I'd lend MY name to this?'

I don't think anyone could ever prove that God doesn't exist.

However, the idea that anyone of us have about who or what God is (or is supposed to be) comes mainly from a religion, that has been taught us (or maybe just your parents). And we have various religious' groups books that tell us about how because of God, we came to be.

If we take Christianity, we are to believe that God created the Earth and all the rest of it within a week, we know that Adam and Eve came along, and the rest, as they say is history.

No mention of the dinosaurs, bit strange that don't you think?

Which leads me to believe that the whole story, is just that, a story. It's just that to the religious folk, that have been raised to believe what their forefathers believed, the idea that it could just be a beautiful fantasy story, is inconveivable and no matter what scientific proof we have that things didn't start the way they thought, or what things we may learn in the future, you could never disprove the existance of God to a religious person.


If this posting doesn't make much sense it's because I'm Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Have fun and enjoy!

"the absolute proof for God existing (in the Christian sense) will come when you die."

Why would the existance of an afterlife prove God exists? I can imagine an afterlife free of a God.

Why do people discussing God on this site always assume that the only God that could possibly exist is the Christian God? There are numerous "Gods".

because the ones who persist in discussing it are christians, obviously...

post prtem theodicy dictates that we will find out when we die and that its pointless arguing otherwise.

more to the point 3 0f 8, just cos bits of the bible are story or not holds no bearing on the ontological question, ie whether there is a God or not. so what if bits of the text are wrong? that isnt the point. it was written by men anyway...

Becasue he's the one with all the rabid fans that keep going around trying to convince people that he exists. Often times, his fans decide to kill each other because they disagree about what he might have said if he did exist.