You cannot prove God exists. You cannot prove God does not exist. God cannot be identified without consulting the cultural perspective. Why? The cultural frame of reference is the lens through which the central nervous system constructs reality. Clearly God is a cultural question not a truth or faults question. to know me is to know how I think. I am an author, screen plays and books. I believe fundamentalist religions are the curse of mankind.
A proof is nothing but a persuasion. You can easily persuade open-minded people that God, as depicted in the Old Testament, does not exist. However...
That is not necessarily the end of the discussion. If someone tells you the moon is made out of cheese you might easily disprove their assertion, but whether or not the moon exists is a different question entirely.
Before we try to persuade people about whether God exists or does not exist, we need to figure out what existence is and whether the concept of existence has meaning outside our bubble of perception. Since we are talking about being consciously aware of God we ought really to figure out the nature of conscious awareness. “We” should find out what we are also if we are going to settle this issue.
Being bewildered and overwhelmed as I am, I have nothing to add to the argument. I will say though, that the world of our perception is merely symbolic of an Ultimate Reality beyond. Putting a label on that which can not be defined or understood is a meaningless gesture.
The idea of God exists, and therefore God exists in people's minds and as a character in a book.
The reality of a physical god, is not provable, nor disprovable, but highly unlikely.
The reality of a spiritual god exists for those who believe in one and doesn't exist for those who don't believe. That's how religion works. It only works if you believe in it, and if it jives with the world around us. It no longer does.
God is a metaphor created by men, understood as the source of all creation, and only exists in the abstract. God is a figment encompassing the sum of all that we do not know, yet. It's okay to not know and quest for the answers. We can not do that if to doubt God is blasphemy.
In my opinion, those who believe in a god may be happily delusional. But those who impose that delusion on others are perpetuating a myth that detracts from seeking the truth and prevents being righteous for the right reasons. Give me humanistic values, that is where today's spirituality should be.
Personally, I don't care if there is or isn't a god. I don't believe in one and I think it's harmful to our society to perpetuate such backward thinking.
great viewpoints !
Like what you said. thank you.
@ToolGuy Well, it all depends on how you look at it. I think it's only the belief in one that IS relevant, not really whether or not one exists.
It's the true "belief" in one, whether or not it exists that is dangerous, in my opinion. One step away from that is the belief in the "idea" of a god, knowing it's not provable. That's faith.
I believe there IS the "idea" of god, I just don't believe IN the idea.
Therefore, for me it's the belief IN one that is the only relevant part of the conversation. It's all just words. We're probably saying the same thing, but from different angles.
God exists or not, regardless of cultural constructs. Either there's evidence to support that, or there isnt.
Aaaaand ... there isn't.
...depending on your definition of god, of course.
The trouble is that the concept of “existence” is confused and nebulous. Ultimate Reality is way over our heads. Things aren’t so simple.
You came closest to what I meant of any other comment. Thank you.