Atheists can you answer this one....?

Question

honesty please? and openmindedness? much appreciated.

Do you really think that your argument that God cannot exist because you have not seen "proof/evidence" for yourself is valid? All that means is YOU "haven't seen" proof/evidence. I have yet to see any evidence that indicates that I had a great, great, great grandfather. No photos, no stories, nothing. But does that mean I can refute the fact simply on this basis? You can see how illogical your argument is.

So what evidence do you have that completely and truly rules out the possibility that God exists? (Again- if you give the "no evidence" you'd really be prooving my point here)

Answer 1

"You can see how illogical your argument is"

No BUT I can see that you do NOT grasp the first thing about evidence.



Just by looking around anyone can see that shït happens to all and sundry regardless of thought, deed or circumstance.



I've been playing about on PlanetOurs for over 60 years.

IF any type invisible sky critter thingie existed 'he' would KNOW what it would take to convince ME of 'his' existence.

So far?

Zilch. Nada. Nothing.

~

Answer 2

Bad example. Everyone exists had to have a great, great, great grandfather. How else would you be alive? You obviously can't refute that, that would be idiotic.

I can rule out that he doens't exist by:

1. there is no hard proof evidence (you'd think after thousands of years you'd be able to see some evidence)

2. All the suffering of good people in the world

3. All of the good things that happen to bad people in the world

4. AIDS

5. Cancer

6. All of the lives killed in the name of god (HUGE list)

7. The fact that such a powerful being has dumb human emotions like jealousy over gods that he knows don't exist.

8. The corruption of the church.

9. That religion was created.

10. That all of the people who don't believe in him are cast into hell, yet he is merciful.

11. Science can explain the origin of life and the universe. (mostly)

12. How ignorant religious people are, thinking they KNOW they are right.

13. All of the other religions in the world, what makes that single one the right religion?

14. The bible is full of contradictions and a mad god.

15. The ten commandments don't include more important things to be obeyed like rape.

16. The bigotry caused by religion. (ex. against gays)

17. People don't just come back to life after being dead.

18. You can't have a baby if you're a virgin.

19. That all of the people before Christianity were cast into hell because they had no idea Christianity was even going to be created.

20. All of the above and more...



As you can see, I could go on and on and on...

Those are just a tiny few reasons i don't believe in god. That is my "proof."

Answer 3

I think you can safely infer that your great-grandfather existed - you are here. That's proof.



God has never left any physical evidence of his existence on earth.



All historical gods were imaginary and we know it.



None of Jesus' "miracles" left any physical evidence either.



God has never spoken to modern man, for example by taking over all the television stations and broadcasting a rational message to everyone.



The resurrected Jesus has never appeared to anyone.



The Bible we have is provably incorrect and is obviously the work of primitive men rather than God.



When we analyze prayer with statistics, we find no evidence that God is "answering prayers



Huge, amazing atrocities like the Holocaust and AIDS occur without any response from God.



Science can now show that the complexity of life requires no intelligent designer



Science can postulate workable, logical hypothesis concerning the origins of the universe that require no intelligent designer



Need I go on?



The only reason you believe is "faith". And what the hell is that? Is something you lot have invented to make up for the fact that it's illogical and unreasonable.



I KNOW God does not exist as sure as I can possibly know anything. Am I 100% on that? - of course not, but only on the basis that I can never be 100% sure of anything.



But more to the point - what is your proof that he does? Some wishy-washy prayer he answered once, or the fact that you just "think" he does (because that is all faith is).



And you have the nerve to call us illogical!

Answer 4

First, that's not the argument that I make.

I don't claim a god "cannot" exist -- I claim that without any affirmative evidence that one *does* exist, there's no reason to accept that one does.

As for your argument: guess what, genetics and biology prove (with evidence) that unless you had a great, great, great grandfather, you could not exist. You existing proves your ancestors' existence, at least long enough for them to contribute their genes to their future offspring.



I don't have any evidence that completely rules out the existence of *any* god -- that would be impossible, and nobody I know ever makes that argument.



However, I can quite easily prove that particular gods aren't real. Let's take the christian god, who in the words of his supposed also-god son in his supposed holy book says, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."



So there's a nice testable statement and promise -- have a teeny bit of faith, tell a mountain to move, and it'll move. SO...has any believer ever moved a mountain by telling it to move? Ever? No. Given that failure of that testable statement (and the failure of *every other* testable statement in the bible), it's quite simple to prove that the christian god isn't real. That doesn't, of course, mean there isn't some kind of god somewhere...but it's not the christian god. He's provably not real.



Peace.

Answer 5

Your logic is bad, buddy. You poor fool. The fact that you exist proves that you had a great grandfather, you couldn't be here if you hadn't (unless you were made in a lab).



This is completely unrelated and incomparable to a belief in something which has NO evidence to support it. That being said, you right about one thing; there is no evidence that God does not exist. It cannot be proven that there is no God. Likewise you cannot prove that there isn't an invisible purple giraffe standing next to you. Maybe you should believe in that?

Answer 6

The evidence for the great, great, great grandfather is simply that I exist.



There is much better reason to believe that I had a great, great, great grandfather than the idea that my great, great, great grandma spontaneously became pregnant without sex. (See David Hume's criteria of miracles.)







However, you are right. There is no way to rule out the possibility of God existing. There is also no way to rule out the possibility of God being the Hindu God Brahma.



If there was a first cause, why would that be called 'God' as opposed to a more scientific term? Also, if we did call the first cause 'God' that wouldn't tell us which God is true. It could be any one of tens of thousands of different Gods that could be right.

Answer 7

What the atheists are saying is that there is no evidence to prove that God exists or does not exist. It's a neutral honest stand until something happens or something new is discovered that tips the scale of truth in a certain direction. Honesty is not an evil thing.

Answer 8

A basic rule of proof is that the burden is with the assertion. If someone asserts the existence of God and offers no proof then the assertion can be ignored as unproved. An atheist doesn't claim that a God can't exist only that he sees no evidence that one does, and would, in most cases, be perfectly willing to change his opinion given a solid empirical demonstration of Gods existence. Your argument, like that of most theists, tries to place the burden of proof on refutation which is scientifically unsound except in France. "True until proved false" is no different from "guilty until proved innocent", so if you want people to accept the existence of your God and allow your religion to regulate their lives it is for you to prove your claims or accept being ignored. They don't have to prove anything to you.

Answer 9

You may not have seen proof that you had a great, great, great grandfather, but it is researchable. You can do research and discover that you had a great, great, grandfather. Also, common sense will have to tell you that you had to have a great (x3) grandfather because your great, great grandfather couldn't have just grown off a tree.



Common sense tells us that no omniscient wizard that lives in the sky could have piled up a bunch of dirt and made us. Sounds a lot like a fairy tale.

Answer 10

Come on, sir. Get real.



I think there is a God but I have the intelligence to know that there is zero evidence of any existing. Logical people have a problem with the supernatural. Not me.



I do find it quite funny that you think this question would ever cause a person, with a logical mind, to believe in your god or mine.





You can't prove that the biblical bigot exists any more than I can prove there is a benevolent Creator.







agnostic/deist

Answer 11

Honestly, the great great great grandfather argument is really weak. I'm not quite and Atheist (I'm Agnostic), but there is no proof either way. You are unable to prove indefinitely that there is a God and Atheists are just as unable to prove that there is no God. Can't we all just get along or agree to disagree?

Answer 12

Can you disprove that Neptune is filled with green cheese?



You are the one making fantastic claims and thus the burden of proof is on you.



Your existence is evidence that you had a grandfather. Sure I don't know, but humans beget humans and in all probability you had a grandfather.



I don't know that the sun will rise tomorrow, but based on past experience I'm guessing it will.

Answer 13

1. Almost all seeable phenomena have very detailed explanations, what we haven't explained, very often, we haven't discovered yet. Our origins are particularly well explained.



2. It's more likely that our universe arose, or possibly just existed, by random chance, considering it is finite and seemingly began with no organization what so ever, than for an infinitely complex, perfect, and well functioning something, with the seemingly superfluous goal to create a universe with naturally organizing laws, to arise, or just have existed.

Answer 14

You haven't put forward any proof, and thus logically we do not need to believe in God. Your analogy to your great-great-great-grandfather is faulty too: it's a known biological and genealogical fact that you wouldn't exist without him. There is no science supporting the claim that God made us though.

Answer 15

Honestly, my atheism is based on my repulsion towards the atrocities done by the main religions, for which there is ample proof.



As for your great-great-grandfather, it is simply a biological fact that if he did not existed you would not be there. If your ADN was to be analysed, you could be told what he looked like, to the last detail. He left a proof of his existence there.



There is no such proof about any god.

Answer 16

okay friend. i have to respectfully inform you that that was a really bad analogy for many many reasons that others probably already started attending to explaining.

anyway, moving past that, who ever said that some god figure COULD NOT exist? like you, we believe what we do. i.e. that a god doesn't exist. do you follow? its very unlikely to me that one does so i BELIEVE that it doesn't with all my heart. no one ever claimed to prove that god doesn't exist because as others have probably already mentioned, you can not prove a negative.



actually, if you are a strict catholic i can prove god doesn't exist to you, but that would not be to say that he didn't, just that dogma got the better of him and he is now dead.

Answer 17

It's more of a 99% chance that there is no god. Just as I can't assert that Zeus, Ra, Thor, or any other of the thousands of gods exist or not.



And your example of great great great grandfather can be proven with evidence. You can't compare the natural world to the supernatural.

Answer 18

ok.. well wrap your mind around this. If "god" loved us so much why is this world so horrible? People- innocent people- are killed or are starved, poor,homeless...ect. And if you say that they are sinners, what about children and babies are killed or born with deformities or mental disorders.... also, where is your proof that he DOES exist? The bible? Yea, sorry to rain on your parade but anyone could have made up some crazy fantasy story about how the world started and what people should do.... its just a scheme to control and manipulate the human race

Answer 19

"I have yet to see any evidence that indicates that I had a great, great, great grandfather. No photos, no stories, nothing."



You are your own evidence.



That being said, what says God created anything, let alone exists?

Answer 20

You do have a point. It's why I'm an agnostic. There is no data one way or another. The fact that nobody has ever seen god doesn't mean that there is no god.



However, for some perspective, I can't disprove the existence Santa or the Easter bunny either...

Answer 21

Out of the mouths of babes.

When the Russians first went into space.Because most of them were don't believe in God, they came back proffessing because they were in the heavens and they did not see God that what they believed was true there was no God.A school teacher related this to the children about the news article and a little girl stood up and said to the students.When you look at the teacher do you see a brain ? They all said no she then said that doesn't mean that she doesn't have one.

Answer 22

The only being that i believe in is myself.



In most religions, the main belief is that a God(s) exists and you must love them and put them first in your book. That's great and all but the most important person in the world is me. I put ME first. Why some say? Because I am the one controlling my actions, my emotions, my thoughts, and my future. Life is a stage to me. Whatever you do there are infinite number of reactions and combonations of actions that ultimatley lead to a conclusion: my death.



Whatever I do with my life I am respondsible for. I have the choice. I am in control.



My opinion on God is this. God is said to love all of us who believe in him. He loves us when we are sad, when we are bad and when we are happy.



I think religion is a metaphor for a way to interpret one's being. Say, God is a metaphor for loving oneslef. Or , at least is one pathway to finding true self-love.

Answer 23

obviously it is not 100% valid, but pretty damn close, same as the easter bunny existing or zeus existing. A lot of people claim to have seen a lot of things that are not credible, often people confuse a rare occurrence for a miracle, misinterpret what they saw, or just make stuff up

Answer 24

The fact is i can not disprove god 100% only about 99%. But thats enough for me.



Logically pretty much all religions can be disproved only faith props them up.

Answer 25

"Do you really think that your argument that God cannot exist because you have not seen "proof/evidence" for yourself is valid"



No it's not a valid argument which is why we don't make it.



Our argument is that there are no reasons to believe in any gods because there is absolutely zero evidence that they exist.

Answer 26

This has a simple answer -- just show me i am wrong and you are rig ht-- i can access thousands of years of fact on this computor, you can only come up with theory written by man. Your argument is based on nothing.

Answer 27

Unless you truly do not understand uh...how you got here, then you will see that your premise of debate is illogical.



Since Christians are the presenters of morality and damnation and how the world should live, the burden of proof is on the judges. (that would be you).

Answer 28

Your great, great grandfather argument if severely flawed.



You were born from your parents and your parents were born from their parents, who were born from their parents, who were born from their parents. Unless you miraculously appeared on a falling star...you have grandparents and great ones and great, great ones.



I don't believe in a god because I don't. There is no evidence, there is no suggestion of evidence. It isn't entirely impossible that that he's not real. It is entirely impossible that you don't have a great, great grandfather.

Answer 29

Wait, the easter bunny isn't real? but I SAW the little turds all over the living room! That's proof! My parents wouldn't lie to me!

Answer 30

The first answer tries to shift burden of proof on believers yet when they are asked to prove abiogenesis they have the burden of proof. Since they cannot provide it does this mean they should throw it out as well? They do not which suggests a double standard.

Answer 31

Yes

God doesn't fit into several Laws of physics and

it is simply impossible for such thing to exist

Answer 32

The one making the claim has the burden of proof. You say there is a god, then you must prove it -- until then, I will rest happily in my disbelief.



Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy? Prove to me she doesn't exist!!

(Do you see how this argument is weak?)

Answer 33

your grandfather existed because you do now. It's non-refutable fact. We all born to our parents (or sperm & egg donors) and their are born to their parents is a scientific fact.



Atheist Agnosticism is a more natural approach - no one can prove that God exist or does not.

Answer 34

As an agnostic atheist, I don't believe in there being proof either way. But your argument about genealogy isn't proof or logical.

Answer 35

YOU'RE SO RIGHT! I KNOW that God exists, because He has TOUCHED MY HEART with His Noodly Appendages! Those scornful Athiests will be cast into the VAT OF SIMMERING TOMATO SAUCE because they don't believe! They will never taste of the BEER VOLCANO in HEAVEN!!!! RAmen!

Answer 36

Not illogical at all. Anything that can not be proven to exist can not logically exist for any practical purpose. Your question my friend is blowing in the wind.

Kisses TAG

Answer 37

They could dig your great great great grandfather up and get DNA to prove who he is. If you can find Jesus' bones and prove they are his I'll believe you.

Answer 38

My evidence is that all religions are false (because they are man-made of course).

Answer 39

How can you disprove the possibility of multiple gods?



You use faith and religious text to justify your religion. Atheists use their own 'faith,' and typically justify with philosophies and science.

Answer 40

HAH, I knew it!! Santa Claus does exist!

Answer 41

Define god for us first

Answer 42

NO ONE has proof/evidence. And it only takes a bit of common sense to know that you had a great great great grandfather.

Also, we atheists don't have to prove a bloody thing. The burden of proof is on YOUR back, not ours.

Answer 43

The tooth fairy exists, their is no proof but he exists, I SWEAR!!

Answer 44

Atheists believe than COMMON SENCE is the way to look at things. And that makes more sence than a made up character.

Answer 45

God also contradicts himself

Answer 46

Yawn,Really?That's how you think? That's how your mind works?

Answer 47

well what proof do you have?

Answer 48

If you didn't have a grandfather, how did you get here?