Proving God with Wishful Assumptions - Dan Barker

Proving God

"Some theists, observing that all effects need a cause, assert that God is a cause but not an effect. But no one has ever observed an uncaused cause & simply inventing one merely assumes what the argument wishes to prove."

- Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith

Quote Source: Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

SammyShazaam's picture
Yep, it's true - people who

Yep, it's true - people who don't really have a firm grasp on the ways of the world use their god in pretty much the same manner as lazy parents will use the phrase "because I said so" to questioning children.

I think the human race has evolved beyond the usefulness of such easy answers!

mattyn's picture
I like your view on that, it

I like your view on that, it pretty much sums it up. The old "because I said so" is very much the same as "it was God's wish". I don't think I'll be saying because I said so any more, it makes me feel bad now.

Zaphod's picture
Theist like to say in the

Theist like to say in the beginning there was only god, OK. And this god is everywhere, all around us, This to me implies all things came out of and/or are a part of this god.

In my mind this entity is then nothing more than a collection of all things and cosmic events, all of matter and energy. This makes God the universe, nothing more or less than all of existence. If you must give it a label, I guess God is just as good a label as any. In my mind this god is sexless and really not extremely conscious of our existence, when people say otherwise, this is where I start to have problems with what they are saying. To scale our solar system, the planet we live on and all that ever has or ever will be of humans combined would be smaller than an atom is to us. Do you know all the atoms that make your body personally? I don't think so. Do you even know all your brain cells personally?

Point being, there is no god, never has been, god is just a label. No god, just everything we got and it it really doesn't care about us anymore than we care about all its parts including silica, dust, ect existing on some other planet..., to paraphrase Queen Elizabeth, God "couldn't care less" about us.

efpierce's picture
I have seen that so many

I have seen that so many times. When a very religious person is questioned about something that they cannot possibly explain, they say it was God that did it or caused the event. It becomes frustrating to complete the conversation at that point.

firebolt's picture
It's like when you have an

It's like when you have an argument with yourself, you already know what the outcome will be, but you still carry on the argument anyway. You guys argue with yourselves, right?

Zaphod's picture
All the time firebolt, all

All the time firebolt, all the time! Which I guess is why I have a such a problem with someone arguing with me. I don't mind a good debate I will define in this case as solid factual and re-searchable reason designed to enlighten or expand upon the views of the people involved but I can not stand arguing defined this time as two or more people having senseless discourse because they wish things were another way even when they are not, kind of like desperation and it often includes, nonfactual statements, points of view and excuses stated to persuade or dissuade a person from a course of action and get them to go in another often while not stating the true motive. Yes I can and do this and do heh heh do this with myself!

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