Hi,
Alboin wrote:Brendan wrote:If God does/did exist, then it would be reasonable to assume He is/was capable of providing undeniable proof of His existance.
How do you define 'proof'? Something that you can feel or touch? Something that can be scientifically proven? How sure are you that what you currently believe in as 'proof' is actually true?
Consider something like gravity - it can't be seen or touched, but it's easy to prove it exists simply by dropping something.
Alboin wrote:500 years ago, people had 'proof' that evil spirits caused disease, yet now we have changed our 'proof' to believe that germs cause it. Why is scientific evidence believed to have such permanent value when our scientific knowledge completley changes every 50 years?
I agree - scientific proof needs to be based on scientific principles, and not effected or persuaded by religion or personal beliefs (like a belief in the existance of evil spirits). I also think scientists should draw a much stronger distinction between "scientific theory" (that which has not been proven) and "laws" (that which has been proven beyond doubt).
Of course you are correct in that even scientific laws can be found incorrect when new information becomes available. An example of this is Newton's laws of motion, which break when something approaches the speed of light and were disproved later (but still quite valid for most practical purposes despite being disproved).
Alboin wrote:Your essentially putting together 3/4's of a puzzle, and then saying: "Yes. I am 100% sure that this puzzle is a tree!"; when in fact, the puzzle is a house. Maybe, God's proof is not what you currently define it, but instead faith; that is, believing in what you currently do not know.
Faith is just another word for "belief". Believing something just because you believe it isn't necessarily the most sane approach. For example, if I strongly believed that I am immortal, then I would have "faith" in my immortality, and while I'm alive I would have no proof that I'm not immortal. Of course my faith in my immortality doesn't prove anything, except perhaps that I need psychiatric help.
In this case, using scientific methods to prove my immortality would involve repeatedly attempting to get killed - something that would probably disprove my "faith" in my immortality quite quickly.
There are many incompatible religions, all of which have believers who have faith. If faith was proof, then would it prove I'll be reincarnated when I die, or that there's many Gods, or just one?
Cheers,
Brendan
... Just to get the ball rolling, I'm Christian.
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