John Galt, Jr.

Secularfuture, I said

”Absence of evidence for living beings on other planets in the universe does not count as reason to believe that there is no life on other planets.”

To which you responded,

Absence of evidence for living beings on other planets in the universe, which beings are at least as intelligent as human beings, does not count as reason to believe that there are no such beings on other planets.


Absence of evidence for the existence of another planet with exactly 43 moons larger than our moon somewhere in the Universe does not count as reason to believe that there is no such planet.

And so on, ...

The general principle, by itself, is rather obviously false. Or do you (still) maintain that it is true.

John Galt, Jr.

SecularFuture

pug846
Right – not very good evidence still counts as evidence. Unfortunately for you though, there is NO evidence to support your God concept.

John Galt, Jr.
We may not have evidence to support the “life on other planets” theory, but we still have good reason, considering evolution / the mass number of planets, to believe that there may be life on other planets. Scientists are using logic when they assume this, and not religious faith. There is no evidence OR reason to believe in a God. You only believe in God because you want to.

[ October 27, 2002: Message edited by: SecularFuture ]</p>

John Galt, Jr.

SecularFuture,

I said,
To which you responded, (a) You didn't answer my question, (b) your point about scientists is irrelevant to the examples that I gave, (c) I have not said that there is evidence for the existence of God.

The thread you started is entitled "Absence of Evidence and Reason is Evidence of Absence". I am addressing that claim. Try to stay on topic, if you please.

John Galt, Jr.

SecularFuture

Yes I do, to an extent. After some thought though I think it would’ve been better if I had said “Absence of evidence and reason is absence of logic”, or something like that. I’m sorry.

Should we believe in flying elves without reason? No. The same applies to God. There is no reason to believe in a God. God is nothing more than a concept we created a long time ago when we didn’t know how to explain our world using advanced science and naturalistic explanations. And what makes the notion even worse is that there is STILL no evidence, or reason, to believe in a God concept. Without reason to believe in something, you have nothing.

Jobar

SecularFuture, I suggest reading <a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=50&t=000673" target="_blank">this thread</a> for some good thoughts on the subject.

Killjoy

In the case of the Christian God, absence of evidence is, indeed evidence of absence. The reason is simple. The Christian God is an omnipotent, rational being who wants us to believe in Him. If such a being did exist there would be sufficient evidence for everyone to believe. There is not, therefore the Christian God does not exist - QED

Douglas J. Bender

There is a GREAT DEAL of evidence for the existence of God, and specifically for the existence of the Christian God, and for Jesus as the Bible presents Him. But before I proceed, would someone please clarify what they would accept as "evidence" in such matters?

In Christ,

Douglas

[ October 27, 2002: Message edited by: Douglas J. Bender ]</p>

SecularFuture

Could you please name 3?

A physical touch, an audible voice, and / or a visible face.

Killjoy

I know several people who legitimately doubt the "evidence" of the Bible. There is, therefore, insufficient evidence for these people to form a belief in the God of the Bible. Therefore the God of the Bible does not exist. If He did He would provide evidence enough for EVERYONE to believe. Evidence in such matters would be enough for each individual human to form a belief.
This is a peculiarity of the Christian God. Allah may well exist, as I am not sure if Moslems believe he actually WANTS everyone to believe in him.

pug846

I don’t know how to make this any freaking clearer.

1. Testimony, counts as evidence.
2. People will testify that God exists.
3. Therefore, there is evidence that God exists.

Now, for the umpteenth time, this isn’t very good evidence, but for the love of Christ, can this somehow get through to you now that is has been repeated over and over again. Testimony is evidence. There is testimony that God exists. Therefore, there is evidence that God exists. This isn’t very good evidence, but it is evidence. I’m at a loss of words if you can’t understand this simple point. Please don’t selectively quote from what I’ve written here. Quote the whole entire thing and respond to the points instead of simply saying, I haven’t provided any evidence that God exists.

Christ, you go on to say this would count as evidence:

People will testify that God has touched them. People will testify that God has spoken to them. You might not think this is good enough evidence, but it is freaking evidence.