I am curious...why should God "have to be provable"?

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

To quote the almighty Douglas Adams:
"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

My two cents:
I'm not a theist - theism is the belief in the presence of a higher power.
Nor am I an atheist - atheism is the belief in the absence of a higher power.
I just don't care.

Whether or not there is an omnipotent deity up there (or down there, if that's your thing) is something the individual should decide, based on what they've experienced.

I find it ironic that you don't understand that quote by Douglas Adams.

Oh dear. I did just contradict myself there, didn't I?
Buggeration.

Maybe I should stop posting in the early hours of the morning.

 

[martin's a madman]

Because there are two 'truths' in this world. Religion and Science. Science is provable, so everyone that believes in science comments about religion not being provable and thus being the lesser truth.

Wow, just came up with that on the spot.

Science isnt always proveable, science and religion are almost a ying-yang type realationship.

Like we know that everything is basicly atoms but we dont know why they are there and if someone created them or put them there.

What science dosnt know is religion. What religion dosnt know is science.

Science progresses and evolves however, new methods of testing are developed, new evidence is brought forward and old evidence is removed. Religion meanwhile always remains static, always says the same things and only adapts when science says no sorry thats absolutley provably wrong. How long did the church try and hold back gravity or the fact that the earth was quite obviously round?

Or that fact that they keep changing their minds yet continuously prattle on about being infalable like the roman church suddenly deciding limbo does not exist you cant change your mind one day and still claim to have all the answers does not work like that.

I agree with Nmil-ek, when people start realising that what they believe is quite possibly false they go into a defensive stance. When people started talking about the big bang theory theist's response was "Well who did that?" When a further explaination is given they again say "Well who did that?" It is an impossible argument to win while people remain ignorant and stubborn.

I have other things about religion I've written papers on it seems to be the only thing that can have so many visible flaws and still be taken seriously. If a scientific theory was seen as even minorly flawed it would be tossed away. However, if some religion is actually proven correct the next step will to be which one followed it best?

 

[WlknCntrdiction]

To most of the people who really care about religion, God's existence doesn't have to be provable. That's the definition of faith; you don't always have to see to believe.

It's the people who adamantly persist that God doesn't exist that demand his existence be proven. I'm not usually given to making sweeping generalizations, but it seems that this is usually because adamant and vocal nonbelievers seem to think themselves better and/or smarter than the pious. This believe drives them to try and prove to a vastly religious society that their way, the athiest way, is better, by challenging the faithful to prove what essentially cannot be proven.

I don't think myself better than it. I don't see why you would live half a life worrying about what will happen to you when you die, you've got a life to live yet, worry about that first, you can worry about death well when you're dead.
People just put it waaaaaay to high up on their list of things to do, worry about surviving, God will worry about you dying, or not, well, if he exists that is

Where I grew up, being religious didn't mean you spent every waking hour praying and living in fear of being struck down for any slight deviation from the scriptures. It meant being what was commonly referred to as "a good Christian." Lead an honest life, go to church every Sunday and Christmas, say a prayer in the evening, and most importantly, be tolerant of others, even if their beliefs are different from your own.

I can't speak for everyone, of course, but it's entirely possible to lead a fulfilling life while simultaneously being pious. And of course, there are those that find being completely devout to be a fulfilling and worthwhile endeavor in itself.

I don't disagree that you can live a very good moral life without God, I myself am an atheist, though my parents bought me up well, I respect other peoples' opinions and ideals, even when "confronted" by those who would push religion onto me I remain civil towards them, I would hope they respect my decision, but more often than not that's not the case. I say the exact same thing to them, that you can live a good life without believing, but then they heap religious nonsense on me and that's where I draw the line, if you won't respect my decisions, then I won't respect yours.
I hold the same view of marriage, you can love someone just as much not married as you can with someone who's married, I personally don't like the idea or values behind marriage because they themselves seem like something upheld by a "superior" person, as in someone who has been married for 20 years is somehow "better" than the unmarried couple who have been together for the same stretch.

 

[Nmil-ek]

I don't feel like arguing with people at the moment, although I probably will later...so I'm just going to answer the thread question.

When a rabbit jumps through the snow, it leaves a footprint. Think about that for a moment. Cause and effect. This is elementary logic. Nothing happens without some sort of reason. I have a chart, and it's going to offend people, but I don't care.

[http://tinypic.com]

'Nuff said.

False. Where are the thousands of boxes that correspond with the thousands of gods you can worship? Disbelief/belief in Zeus, Allah, Frith, etc.?

If you worship Frith and the Christian God is true, then you go to Hell. Etc.

That's why we need to do our research, we should keep an open mind and read about all kinds of religions and put each under a microscope of unrelenting logic before making a decision.

Microscope of logic? Hell I can do that for all of them in under 5 minutes, evidence for god existing outside of personal beleif.... zero! Okay who's for lunch?

 

[Ashtovo]

heres my theory there is no god instead there is a community of jerks 500000 lightyears away playing the sims 70 kajillion on their computers XD

More like spore

 

[GenHellspawn]

[http://tinypic.com]

Suspending my theological beliefs for a moment (I'm not a christian) that chart makes absolutely no sense. You could apply that logic to any god or pantheon of gods, and since it's impossible to know which one is "right", you go to hell anyways because you had the misfortune for not worshiping the Almighty Giant Teapot

 

[I_LIKE_CAKE]

Don't say "This will not end well...".

It won't y'know.

But as to your question, A deity needs to be provable because I refuse to waste a decent portion of my life worshipping something that probably doesn't exist. Prove it exists and will be pissed off if I don't worship it and I will.

Listen to the Captain.....

 

[Ben Legend]

Why spend time believing in something that is not provable. In my eyes, the bible alone is not proof enough of God's existence.

Its just like the earth being round, nobody believed that until there was proof. The same can be said of evolution... heck even Santa Clause.

 

[tenlong]

I believe in god. The day i believe in evolution is the day i see a building gather all the materials needed to build itself and then builds itself. That is next to impossible.That is like 900 quadrillion to 1.

 

[Legion]

The necessity of proof is down to the individual. If someone genuinely believes in God, and they're happy to do so without what others might consider solid evidence, thats absolutely fine. Likewise, its also fine if someone doesn't want to believe in God unless his existance is proved as entirely infallible.

That is the most reasonable and logical solution, sadly not everyone is mature enough, even on this site.

Because rational reasonable people do not play well with unproven evidence.

Which is fair enough, but I know just as many irrational Atheists than Christians.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Because, without evidence of any sort, we are taking the words and writings of other men as proof of an afterlife. Nothing more.

 

[Zenn3k]

I pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Its just as real as God and just as provable.

 

[sramota]

?I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.?

 

[CrashBang]

The existence of God just gives weak-minded people the comfort that theres a bearded man in the sky to blame for anything bad that happens in their lives and the comfort that theres some higher power to be connected to and to have faith in. They don't need to prove his existence, they'd rather just live in denial. After all, ignorance is bliss

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I've a better one: "Why do people post religion threads?"


On a lighter note, I'd like to congratulate the OP on making a reasonable, well-balanced post, unlike approximately hald the respondants who seem to be the typical band of religion-bashers I am so horribly familiar with, as an atheist.