Can the existence of God be proved through scientific inquiry?

by caliber 44 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  bohm

  BTS:

  So long as a plausible naturalistic explanation could be put forward, no, it would not. I could easily think of some initial explanations that would not require God. So could you, if you tried.

  I will disagree quite strongly. The only plausible naturalistic explanation i can think of is that Aliens did it for no apparent reason. I would choose God over aliens any day in such a scenario, at the very least, it would make the existence of God a very likely option in my mind. How about you? Dont you thing such a thing would be quite a strong argument against atheism? ("You asked for a miracle, here it is, an entire moon of cheese. Whats next, your gonna say aliens did it?").

  Regarding the cheese moon vs. complex life; at which moment in history would you say the existence of both provided equal evidence towards God?

  A theory does not even need to be "true", it only has to "work" (not that I am saying that evolution is false).

  Could not agree more. But the author of the article which is quoted seem to think this is a novel idea. I also agree completely with the last part of your post (ofcourse), but i think it support the point i am making with respect to the article: For God to be outside scienfic inquiry, he must interact so vaguely with the world now and before that he might as well not have existed, or be the flying spaghetti monster.
• 

  bohm

  BTS: I would claim that every scientifically minded person would accept the sudden apperence of a green-cheese-moon with the 10 commandments written on it as

  1. A violation of many laws in physics.
  2. Unexplainable with our knowledge of technology and physics.
  3. An event brought about by an extremely powerfull conscious entity.
  4. ...that know a lot about humans, and want to tell us something.

  it would be very STRONG evidence towards God or aliens (not proof), and personally i would choose God over aliens.
• 

  BurnTheShips

  Superhuman (not supernatural) aliens. Exactly.

  Whats next, your gonna say aliens did it?"

  That's what I probably would say! LOL.

  You are super sharp, Bohm. I always enjoy these discussions.

  When I get to heaven, I'll put in a good word for you.

  BTS
• 

  bohm

  you to, burns!

  Dont worry about sankt peter - you can find me at the beer vulcano
• 

  PSacramento

  Can the existence of God be proved through scientific inquiry?

  Not right now but maybe in the future, who knows.

  It would be very cool if it could though.
• 

  BurnTheShips

  Now I am going to have some fun with Terry with a mild rewrite.

  Judging from the number of Apologist books that come in to the bookstore where I work, Christian believers are obsessed to the point of paranoia about Evolution, Atheism, Gnosticism, bible criticism

  Faith just isn't good enough. Thick books belaboring purile arguments with Ad Hoc responses proliferate.

  Lee Strobel and Josh McDowell have turned these fears into a cottage industry.

  Bart Ehrman has lit a fire and the fireman are running around in circles trying to stamp them out.

  Faith is the only fallback for belief in God and plenary inspiration the only argument for bible infallibility.

  Judging from the number of Atheist books that come in to the bookstore where I work, Atheist nonbelievers are obsessed to the point of paranoia about creation, religion, faith, spirituality.

  Nonfaith just isn't good enough. Thick books belaboring purile arguments with Ad Hoc responses proliferate.

  Richard Dawkins and Victor Stengel have turned these fears into a cottage industry.

  William Lane Craig has lit a fire and the fireman are running around in circles trying to stamp them out.

  Hard atheism is the only fallback for nonbelief in God and materialistic naturalism the only argument for scientistic infallibility.

  BTS
• 

  PSacramento

  I for one enjoy reading books that challenge my faith, it is just that I don't stop there and actually read the arguments to those books too.
• 

  THE GLADIATOR

  We cab choose to believe or not but only 'God' can prove his own existence to humans. So the amount of debate about whether he exists, proves that either:

  He does not have the ability to prove his existence.

  He does not exist outside of believers minds.

  He has decided that humans are not worth proving his existence to.

  He prefers to keep us guessing because he's shy.

  There are other possibilities but in his continued absence we can only surmise.
• 

  tec

  Um... I would choose aliens or mass hypnosis or some sort of conspiracy technology over God, for the green cheese ten commandment moon :P Simply because it would be kind of taking a step backward from Christ, and returning to the law of Moses.

  Just sayin'.

  Tammy
• 

  tec

  To answer the question though, I think only God can prove His existence. He is not subjected to tests by us. However, I think that one day we may be able to test for things such as spirits, angels, miracles (including those in the bible), different realms of existence, etc. Those might be enough evidence for some to come to believe in God. But mostly I think non-believers will look for any other explanation, and those things will just be further evidence for those who already believe.

  Tammy