Arguments for God's existance

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What are the best arguments for God’s existance, with a short explication.
 
That in Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). The earth we stand on, the beauty of nature, the complimentary nature of all life forms. The self-sustaining nature of all life forms. The fact that nothing creates itself. But, most of all…
…love.

The Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Prof. Peter Kreeft and Fr. Ronald Tacelli is an excellent resource.

Don’t be lazy. Don’t cheat. Read.
 
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Adrian, can I suggest you do some research on the following topics:
  • Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem which proves the universe had a beginning
  • Philosophical arguments against the existence of actual infinities (e.g. past eternal time)
  • Evidence for the big bang as a beginning to the universe
  • Fine tuning of physical constants required for life to exist
  • The 2nd law of thermodynamics
  • Origin of information content in DNA
  • Intelligent Design
  • Kalam Cosmological Argument
  • Origin/source of absolute morality. (Where Do Good and Evil Come From? - YouTube)
  • Scientific research into Near Death Experiences.
God bless, Noel.
 
For me, the fact that we ask your question to begin with.

But yes, there are many philosophical arguments out there.

Look up William Lane Craig on YouTube, more specifically his animated videos on Kalam and so forth. They are a cute summary of these things.

 
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I don’t believe any of those are definitive proof. I don’t think God wants us to focus on proving he exists, otherwise he’d just create everyone as a believer. Which is good, Jesus said “how blessed are those who believe without seeing me”
 
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On that level of thought, there isn’t proof that anything at all exists. Something which Craig just lectured on actually.

For all you know, you are a brain in a vat. Or plugged into the matrix.

The list goes on.
 
Exactly. I actually think about that a lot (probably too much for my own good)

The matrix is just such a great movie
 
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Ah 🙂

Point being, point of view.

Knowing who God is because of the things he has wrought, isn’t the same as knowing who he is in literal terms. I can know you by reputation, doesn’t mean I know how big you are or what you look like.

A good majority of speculation is pointless. We live within relevance to our senses and ability.

If it were meant to be another way, we wouldn’t be designed thus.
 
Hence, proving God exists physically is likely impossible by design and unnecessary
 
Unecessary for you. Probably not for the thousands of scholars and skeptics pursuing him through time.

People longing to get closer to the creator, manifests in many ways.

For a lot of them the theoretical and the ‘faith’ won’t do.

Assuming then that the purpose of belief, is that you ‘believe’ and seek a literal return to God; I don’t see their labours as pointless as you do.

We live in a time of justification through material evidence and proof obviously.

Pursuit of fact is implied and if not required at this stage.
 
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I’d argue that it’s okay to believe in a universal force of some kind – a force that causes Big Bangs and lays down the laws of physics – but this force does not have to be motivated in any particular way, and certainly does not have to be benevolent or loving in any way. It might even be a force of limited scope and intelligence (without any concept of morality, for example).

It’s equally viable not to believe in any kind of god.

Then, of course, there are the uncountable billions who have believed in the Pharaoh, the tribal elder, Zeus, Jupiter, Thor, the Judeo-Christian God, Allah, Buddha, the earth itself, the sun, the universe itself…

If we could prove that god exists, there would be no faith. It would be fact.
It’s all based on faith. You believe it or you don’t. You probably believe what you were taught by your parents and culture. There is always a god in someone’s mind. If we all stopped believing, there would be no god.
 
What would God have to do in order to prove beyond doubt he exists? Even the Israelites doubted Him after literally splitting the Red Sea in half. I’m afraid those who “need proof” to believe will probably never be satisfied.
 
Well personal denial doesn’t negate evidence. It just makes you stubborn and overly skeptical.

I mean I could make you breakfast, you could later deny I had, even after eating it. Doesn’t mean anyone will agree with you. Hell, they might agree with you and not me. Doesn’t mean Its not factual that I made it.

You can look back upon Jewish dubiousness in various ways. Personally, if the event transpired as described - I’d posit that you’d have to be a rather epic sort of ‘special in the head’, to deny what you saw.

Such however is free will.

So you are right that to an extent, proof will never be enough for some people.

But in the context of what’s considered ‘proof’ we do have certain standards.

If we didn’t, they’d be no sense in distinguishing the natural from the supernatural as differing standards.
 
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adrian1 said:
What are the best arguments for God’s existence, with a short explication.
Click to expand...
The Necessary Reality Argument
  1. Out of absolutely nothing comes nothing
  2. Therefore there must be something that absolutely and necessarily exists and is necessarily actual.
  3. That something is the absolute antithesis of nothing and is the source of all reality.
  4. That which is necessarily actual is pure-actuality, meaning it does not lack any realization. It is not in a state of becoming. It does not begin to exist. It cannot become more than what it essentially is because what it is by nature is necessarily actual. It is the source of all reality. In other-words it is already everything it could possibly be. Thus it does not change. If it could change it would mean that its being lacked some potential realization, which would mean a part of its being is not necessary or fully realized, which would contradict the fact that its nature is necessarily actual.
  5. Physical reality, the space-time continuum, changes, it’s in a state of becoming, it has the potentiality for realization. Its nature evolves. Thus it is not necessary reality.
  6. Therefore necessary reality cannot be considered to be a part of physical reality because physical reality is not pure-actuality. Necessary reality is not physical.
  7. Necessary reality in virtue of being necessary must be the cause of any reality that is not necessary since out of absolutely nothing comes nothing.
  8. There are only two types of causes, natural and intelligent. Because necessary reality is not physical it cannot function as a physical or natural cause. It is not a natural process.
  9. Therefore necessary reality must be a non-physical intelligent cause. Otherwise physical reality would not exist.
Conclusion: A necessary non-physical intelligent cause of physical reality exists.. This is what we call God
 
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I am typing on my phone, so will skip the explanation. To me, the best argument is the existence of commn morals across all cultures and history, ie natural law. This is best presented, IMO, at the beginning of Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.

Of course, St Thomas Aquinas’s 5 arguments are also good.

The worse, in my opinion, are the various Ontological Proofs. Here, I am convinced by Fr Ronald Knox’s argument in The Belief of Catholics.
 
in a sense, we are born believers. Most people are born with the inclination to believe. Even atheists exhibit nervousness in asking God to do some evil according to experiments.

Of course, Faith itself is a Gift. But, like you say, I think there’s just enough space to not believe if you’re really set to not believe, even with all the various miracles and “proofs”.

For me personally, just contemplating on existence, let alone ordered existence, is sufficient. Makes it seem like God is obviously God.
 
So the only concept of God available is your incapacitated one or a pure pantheism (atheism)?

You coupling the eternal God with a tribal elder is just silly.
 
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