Does God exist? Or, is there a God?

I do trust peer-reviewd studies more than i trust court proceedings. And court rulings have only been more reliable utilizing more/better evidenced based arguments. (blood testing, fingerprint analysis, DNA, you get the picture)

SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA First point I should make is yes, we all make assumptions based on how reasonable we believe the claim is. Believing someone saw a concert isn't unreasonable. However, If the person attended a concert that you can't find evidence of there being a concert at that time or location makes the story less believable. I choose to apply the highest level of skepticism when in doubt, especially when it may have profound impact on how i conduct myself throughout life (which a deity may or may not). I don't assume someone is incorrect. I start with the claim and gather evidence as i feel it appropriate. If i happen to obtain evidence i believe is contrary to the claim, then i'm less likely to take the claim at face value. Whether the claim is reasonable or not is a choice I make given the evidence. Just follow the evidence and you can't really go wrong, at least, in theory. and, unfortunately, the gods like the one described by OP aren't even a testable hypothesis. Let alone the idea being an evidence-based model used to better understand the universe.

And, unfortunately for your deity in the example, he'll have to overcome those challenges. Great claims require great evidence, it seems.

SGT Adam Travis, my last two responses should answer your questions.

“The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.”–Werner Heisenberg, who was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics (which is absolutely crucial to modern science).

“There can never be any real opposition between religion and science; for the one is the complement of the other. Every serious and reflective person realizes, I think, that the religious element in his nature must be recognized and cultivated if all the powers of the human soul are to act together in perfect balance and harmony. And indeed it was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls.”

–Max Planck, the Nobel Prize winning physicist considered to be the founder of quantum theory, and one of the most important physicists of the 20th century, indeed of all time.

Some peoples kids. Buy their books, send them to school, and what do they do? Eat the Teacher, but thanks to "Slick Willie", and Pharoahbama you can't ask what his name is.

PO1 Henry Sherrill "pharoahbama"?

SGT (Join to see) Not exactly. The earth is either flat or it isn't. But it's not 50-50 which is true based on one's ignorance. It is what it is until someone figures it out, and verifies it empirically. The subject never changes, just our understanding of it.

So if we apply this way of thinking to any god or supernatural forces we used to understand, we've over time learned that their influence was really a mix of natural forces. If a supernatural force is always behind the scenes, then no one will ever know it, and it's just as reasonable to dismiss the idea entirely, because the in-observable forces are irrelevant.

God of the gaps, I think it's called. This is probably the biggest reason I don't think there are any gods: No one can prove it, and anyone who claimed divine intervention never proved it or was proven wrong.

SPC (Join to see) what a brilliant retort. You're incorrect, but what a brilliant retort. My original question was not answered. I didn't ask whether the earth is flat or round. Everyone know it's flat. I did not ask about supernatural forces. Everyone knows they exist. I did not ask about whether divine intervention exists. Everyone knows it does. I asked how you can say God doesn't exist without your proof. You can't because nothing Godly has never happened to you and when it did, you didn't recognize it.

SGT (Join to see) I can't say gods don't exist, because i don't know that. I don't know that one does, either. I do know one hasn't been empirically observed and recorded by a sufficiently credible source. That is on e reason why I choose not to believe any exist.

I don't know that supernatural forces exist. If you do, I would ask how. And i would ask how you verified you're correct in stating that what you think you observed is accurate.

I was being rhetorical. The earth is round and supernatural forces may exist. Read the St. James version of the bible. Read and see if it does make sense or doesn't. Don't make claims you haven't mentioned you checked into. Read some bible history and get educated about your denials. That's all I'm saying about this topic. It gets really old reading and responding the same answers on both sides.

1SG Scott MacGregor, it's been said that if you can believe the first four words of the Bible, that you'll have no trouble accepting the rest.

But whatever you do, don't ask someone to provide evidence that god was there in the beginning. That would be ridiculous. That would be immoral!

Dare I say, heretical!!!

Poor reasoning at best, gentlemen.

A little something called.....faith.

Isn't that what i said?

SGT James Beach, I think we can all agree that science plays a huge factor in the universe and creation of life as we know it today and how it evolved. Believing in God is having faith in something higher and more powerful than ourselves.

PO1 Glen Boucher I do not ever mean to take away from the glory of GOD, with that said we must understand that he is the devine creator. Giving science a place to began.

I'm personally not a believer in God, as is generally accepted. As far as the end from "The Big Freeze" I don't think it will come as a natural event; It's going to come for us as a result of some idiot like that squirrel in North Korea starting a nuclear war. I can see that in the near future. Humans are just to Hell bent on destroying themselves.

This assumes that belief in God is all that is necessary to save your eternity.

Agreed...but it is not an assumption.