by jimwalton » Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:13 am
> I really hate how you always say I'm the one presupposing atheism. You're presupposing God and then saying that anyone doing anything else is presupposing atheism.
On the contrary, there is evidence for God (though atheists don't give it weight), but there is no evidence for atheism, since it would entail a negative argument. My belief in God is based on logical and empirical evidences; your belief that there is no such entity as god is a presuppositional hypothesis, since negative evidence is impossible to mount. Therefore, you *are* the one presupposing atheism.
Why should atheism be the default? Anthropologists tell us that every culture through all of history around the globe has believed in a divine being of some sort, even those that haven't believed in the Bible. Based on that "science," I would assume that theism is the default position.
> I'm just surprised how skeptical you are about science when it time and time again makes God into a smaller and smaller instance of our ignorance. At what point will science completely usurp supernaturalism? If science solves the soul/consciousness question adequately, will you rescind your belief? Is that possible?
I'm not skeptical about science at all. I love science, and honor it. It's a magnificent discipline that has taken humanity to unbelievable places and capabilities. It only makes God smaller in your mind. The recently discovered (last 30 yrs?) wonders of the cell, microparticles, and the astounding pictures from the Hubble telescope make God bigger and more majestic. As the world becomes more understandably complex, balanced, fine-tuned, mathematically precise, and filled with one sensation after another, the possibility of pure scientific naturalism and unguided evolution shrinks into oblivion.
> It's definitely possible that many events attributed to supernatural forces (oxymoron) are just natural occurrences - but the real question is - is it more likely, and I think the answer overwhelmingly is yes. Supernatural is simply a fancy term of labeling our ignorance when it comes to natural.
The problem is that you have no proof for this proposition. It's a faith statement on your part. You can't begin to prove that "natural occurrences" are just that, with no metaphysical or spiritual component. It's what you presuppose and therefore believe, with no evidence to support it.
> For some reason, you don't believe in all the other religions out there when the reasoning for them is strikingly similar to Christianity.
Christianity is unique among world religions and other belief systems. The dissimilarities are what are striking, while the places of true overlap and similarity are quite small. There's just nothing like Christianity in and among the thousands of desperate wanna-be's.