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EXISTENCE OF GOD (COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT (PROBLEMS (BIG BANG:
Atheists use…
EXISTENCE OF GOD
COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
- Everything that exists has a cause.
- The universe exists so it must too have a cause.
- There had to be something eternal that was not caused by anything.
- The eternal being is God.
- Therefore God exists.
PROBLEMS
BIG BANG:
Atheists use the Big Bang to disprove the cosmological argument.
The Big Bang was a random spontaneous event without reason or cause, not an action by God.
Also it is possible that the universe os infinite, even if it isn't infinite we cannot prove that it was God who caused it to happen.
Atheists say that the argument contradicts itself, if everything has to be caused, then what caused God?
God is outside time and space and he is eternal, the argument only applies to God.
DESIGN ARGUMENT
- The universe is too ordered and complicated to have come about by random chance.
- Therefore it must've been designed and a design needs a designer.
- The designer is God
PROBLEMS
The argument depends on the belief that everything in the world is designed and that the designer is God. However, not everyone believes that humans are the result of design and that we cannot prove hat God is the designer of the universe.
EVOLUTION:
Atheists would argue that it is through evolution that features such as opposable thumbs developed and not designed by God.
Theist reply: The fact that we can write books paint pictures etc. suggests that we are designed as through natural selection these activities are not necessary.
WILLIAM PALLEY:
If we found a watch and didn't know how it functioned, there is still evidence of design as all the parts are put together for a purpose.
If we look at the world there is evidence for design, such as eyes for our sight. These things need a designer, God.
ARGUMENT OF MORALITY
A sense of right and wrong that helps to guid peoples behaviour, a moral action is one which is believed to be right according to the laws of society. Or one can look at the motives of an action and decide in the specific situation is it is acceptable.
- People have an inbuilt sense of morality.
- This sense comes from a source outside of them.
- This source is God.
- Therefore God exists.
The fact we have a conscience is evidence for the existence of God. It's like an inner voice from God that guid us in our behaviour.
PROBLEMS:
- Difficult to prove the existence of morality, and that morality is no more than rules/laws developed to control people.
- A part of human development in evolution.
- Morality is a part of a survival process in the world, natural selection has favoured morality because it has survival value.
- Guilt is not due to God but as people have gone against the moral rules provided by the society.
- Guilt feelings are caused by a conflict between people's desires and controlling influences of society.
GENERAL ARGUMENT
SCIENCE:
Before people would looked to their religion when things went wrong, however now science has explained many things which people could not understand. Now that science is even closer to creating human life, this is further evidence that God doesn't exist.
EVIL AND SUFFERING:
Suffering is often unjust and affects innocent people. The cruelty in the animal kingdom abc the natural disasters that cause suffering are evidence of poor design. People do not always act in a moral way and so they ignore their conscience, so conscience cannot be the voice of God.
ARGUMENT FOR MIRACLES
- There is no natural explanation for what happened, therefore it must have been a supernatural event.
- It must've been caused by something outside nature .
- God is the only being outside nature, therefore it must've been God.
- So God exists.
PROBLEMS:
- These are difficult to prove.
-They are no more than coincidences.
- What appears to be a miracle maybe something that science cannot explain yet.
- Theists want miracles to happen so they give miraculous claims to ordinary events.
- The cure of an illness maybe the result of mind over matter an the belief that the sufferer would be cured.
- Doctors may have wrongly diagnosed an illness and the person was actually cured naturally.
- Some miracles are fake or made up by individuals who want fame.
Miracles are often investigated by religious believers before they are accepted as genuine.There are too many accounts for them to not have happened.
ARGUMENT FOR MIRACLES
TYPES:
- Communicating with God through prayer and meditation.
- Feeling God's presence in worship.
- Feeling presence of God in nature
- Experiencing a conversation with God.
- Involvement in a miraculous event.
PROBLEMS:
- These are very difficult to prove as genuine.
- Atheists would say the person was mistaken or misled, the person may have imagined the experience as they want to believe that God exists.
- The person could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and so had a hallucination.
Theists would reply saying that the influence of these is experiences is too great for it to have been made up.Sometimes several people share a religious experience and they cannot all be making it up. When the person converts suggest that they must've found their fait somewhere.
Person experience- 'I have seen it, so I know it exists'
Reliable evidence- 'I haven't seen it but other people have convinced me that they have, so I accept its existence'
Chain reasoning- 'I haven't seen it but there must be a logical reason to believe in its existence.
Theist - they are certain that God exists because, they think they have been in direct contact with God, accept the accounts that other people have given of their experience of God, they believe God is the only logical explanation of the origin of the universe.
Atheist - They reject any belief in God, as they do not believe that any evidence accepted by theists is sufficient proof of God's existence.
Agnostic - They believe that any evidence produced by theists does not prove the existence of God one way or the other. They believe that it cannot be known whether or not God exists.