2. Causal:
Everything must have a cause. It is impossible to continue backwards to infinity with causes, therefore there must have been a first cause which was not conditioned by any other cause. That cause must be God.
Objections: If you allow one thing to exist without cause, you contradict your own premise. And if you do, there is no reason why the universe should not be the one thing that exists or originates without cause.
Comment from me:
This is not a contradiction, because it is not mutually exclusive. Universe is Finite and God is Infinite. 2 completely different conditions.
Arguments against the existence of God
The major philosophical criticisms of God as viewed by Judaism, Christianity and Islam are as follows:
1. Evil:
Because evil exists, God cannot be all-powerful. all-knowing and loving and good at the same time.
2. Pain:
Because God allows pain, disease and natural disasters to exist, he cannot be all-powerful and also loving and good in the human sense of these words.
3. Injustice:
Destinies are not allocated on the basis of merit or equality. They are allocated either arbitrarily, or on the principle of "to him who has, shall be given, and from him who has not shall be taken even that which he has." It follows that God cannot be all-powerful and all-knowing and also just in the human sense of the word.
Comment:
The above 1-3 points are all refutations assuming that there is an absolute Moral framework. (it is immoral of God allowing suffering, pain, being injust etc...) If there is an Absolute moral law then there must be a Moral law Giver, for without a Moral Law giver there is no Moral Law, if there is no Moral Law then what is Evil? What is Injustice and what is Pain? This argument is completely self defeating.
Further more nowhere in the Bible does it say that God has created the world as it currently exists. It does however say that God had to withdraw Himself from us because we didn't want Him (Love implies freedom). Consequences, world gets mucked up.
4. Multiplicity:
Since the Gods of various religions differ widely in their characteristics, only one of these religions, or none, can be right about God.
Comment:
This doesn't prove that God does not exist. It can say at best that some (if not all) people are wrong about who God is. Anyone could guess who I am. They can all be wrong, but that doesn't mean I do not exist.
4. Experiential:
A very large number of people claim to have personal religious experiences of God.
Objections: We cannot assume that everything imagined in mental experiences (which include dreams, hallucinations etc) actually exists. Such experiences cannot be repeated, tested or publicly verified. Mystical and other personal experiences can be explained by other causes.
Comment:
Does this not assume that "something can only be true if you can scientifically prove it" Can you prove this statement scientifically? If not how can you easily dismiss these experiences and not your own assumptions.
Thanks, Pieter
