Why do you believe in God?

[McCulloch]

The arguments for believing that there is a God can be categorized as follows:

1. Four Classical Arguments
2. The Argument from First Cause
   1. Everything must have a cause
   2. Causal Chains cannot go on forever
   3. Therefore there must be a first cause, and that is God.
3. The Argument from Design
   1. Something in the universe or the universe itself seems to be designed
   2. Therefore a designer must exist and that is God
4. The Argument from the Anthropic Principle
   1. The universal constants are fine tuned for the existence of humans.
   2. Therefore there must have been a God to fine tune the universe for our existence
5. The Ontological Argument
   1. God is a being than which nothing greater can be conceived.
   2. Assume that God does not exist.
   3. An existent God is a being greater than a non-existent one
   4. If God did not exist, then we could conceive of a being greater than God -- A God that exists.
   5. This is a contradiction, therefore (2) must be false and God exists
   Courtesy of Saint Anselm.

1. Four Subjective Arguments
2. The Argument from Coincidence
   1. There have been some remarkable coincidences.
   2. There must be a reason for those coincidences.
   3. That reason is God.
3. The Argument from Prophecy
   1. A holy book makes prophesies.
   2. A holy book or the adherents of it report that those prophesies have come true.
   3. Therefore whatever else is in the book, such as the claim that God exists must be true.
4. The Argument from Subjectivity and Faith
   1. People feel sure that God exists.
   2. Therefore God exists.
5. The Argument from Divine Interventions, Miracles and such
   1. A miracle occurs, perhaps as a response to prayer.
   2. God exists as evidenced by the divine intervention

1. Four Psycho-Mathematical Arguments
2. The Argument from Redefinition
   1. God is Love or Goodness or some other such thing.
   2. Love, goodness or whatever, clearly exists.
   3. Therefore God exists.
3. The Argument from Cognitive Tendency
   1. Some cognitive tendencies suggest the existence of an all-powerful agent.
   2. God must be that all-powerful agent
4. The Universality Argument and Morality
   1. Across cultures, the similarities in moral values are quite apparent.
   2. They must come from God
5. The Gambling Argument
   1. We can choose to believe or not in God.
   2. If we choose wrongly then negative consequences of choosing to disbelieve are greater than the negative consequences of choosing to believe.
   3. Therefore it is prudent to believe.

The classifications and much of the synopses are from John Allen Paulos, Professor of Mathematics at Temple University, in his book Irreligion, A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up As fallacious as these might seem, these seriously are the arguments put forth by philosophers, theologians, saints, apologists and preachers.

These are the arguments for God. There are numerous subtle variations on them, but essentially, as far as I can tell those who claim that God exists do so based on one or more of these arguments and nothing else.

Why should I believe that there is a God? What are your reasons? Are any of these reasons valid? If your reasons do not fall into any of the above groupings, please let us know why you believe. If you believe for a combination of these reasons, select the strongest one and explain why.

[COG12]

What Bernee51 said and

I believe someone had to create me for everything to work out so perfectly.

Check out your blind spot. Did your Creator design your eyes with such a deficiency yet grant the octopus and squid with a better design?

Although all vertebrates have this blind spot, cephalopod eyes, which are only superficially similar, do not. In them, the optic nerve approaches the receptors from behind, so it does not create a break in the retina.

Science isn't my best subject, Where is my blind spot?
Understand that I'm not here to shove bible down anybody's throat, I'm here to learn.

[nygreenguy]

It's no secret that things evolve, but to say that that lizard could one day evolve into an entirely different organism (kinda like that amoeba) is completely ridiculous to me.

You do realize this is an argument to ignorance, dont you?

[twobitsmedia]

Where is my blind spot?

To begin with, admitting this:

Science isn't my best subject,

You will now be "enlightened" to the wonderful and logical world of science and how "factual" it is...in spite of the holes in the many theories...

[McCulloch]

Science isn't my best subject, Where is my blind spot?
Understand that I'm not here to shove bible down anybody's throat, I'm here to learn.

The nerve that transmits visual signals from your eye to your brain is attached to the front of your retina not in the rear. This creates a blind spot in each eye. Since these blind spots are located in different places in the field of vision in each eye, you do not notice them most of the time.

http://www.ballantyne.com/rjb_resume/Se ... _Spot.html

[COG12]

OK, so I have a blind spot that may or may not inhibit my vision. But I do have a mobile eye to compensate for that. Part of God's work or evolution?

[McCulloch]

OK, so I have a blind spot that may or may not inhibit my vision. But I do have a mobile eye to compensate for that. Part of God's work or evolution?

An intelligent designer would not have designed a defect that needed a means of compensation. Only mindless evolution explains such things.

[bernee51]

Take the human eye for instance, You need all of your rods and cones to have a functioning eye. If our eye has evolved to what it is today, at what point did it become a working eye? Based on this theory, we haven't always been able to see because our eyes did not always have a full set of rods and cones. Is the eye still evolving? At some point will we develop extra rods and cones? What will the eye be capable of in a billion years? Xray vision perhaps?

I suggest you read up on the many many online sources which set out the evolution of thet eye - and also the evolution of creatures who 'lost' eye function. e.g. in cave salamanders

This is why I am a creationist. I believe someone had to create me for everything to work out so perfectly.

the argumentum ad ignorantiam is one of the most popular logical fallacies. I am not surprised you are attracted to it.

Is the eye 'perfect'?

Are you surprised and baffled by the fact that a puddle fits perfectly in the hole that contains it?


Who created the 'someone' doing the creating?

He always is and always was and will continue to be.

{Special Plead Fallacy}

How do you know?

Who created the single celled amoeba in the theory of evolution?

It evolved from simple 'replicators'. Can I respectfully suggest a peruse of The Selfish Gene?

I think the problem people have with Christianity is that they cannot come up with an explanation for everything...so they take it as untrue.

Either untrue - or 'godddiit'.

That however is not my 'problem' with Christianity.

And no, I'm not baffled by the fact that water takes the shape of it's container.

Are you are baffled by the possibility that the extant universe may hot have required a creator? Are you baffled by the possibility that the universe, in some shape or form, is eternal?

I did a little reading on the cave salamanders. From what I understand, they still have eyes its just that they no longer work. The only thing I can come up with is that the prolonged absence of light from living in a cave caused the tissue in their eyes to die. It's no secret that things evolve, but to say that that lizard could one day evolve into an entirely different organism (kinda like that amoeba) is completely ridiculous to me.

There it is again - the old argumentum ad ignorantiam

But as far as our records show, have humans have always had the ability to see?

Under normal circumstances it would seem so.

Your point?

[bernee51]

OK, so I have a blind spot that may or may not inhibit my vision. But I do have a mobile eye to compensate for that. Part of God's work or evolution?

The latter.

[bernee51]

Where is my blind spot?

To begin with, admitting this:

Science isn't my best subject,

You will now be "enlightened" to the wonderful and logical world of science and how "factual" it is...in spite of the holes in the many theories...

Aren't people who admit their shortcomings and actually want to learn something and seek out knowledge wonderful!

[OnceConvinced]

What Bernee51 said and

I believe someone had to create me for everything to work out so perfectly.

Check out your blind spot. Did your Creator design your eyes with such a deficiency yet grant the octopus and squid with a better design?

Although all vertebrates have this blind spot, cephalopod eyes, which are only superficially similar, do not. In them, the optic nerve approaches the receptors from behind, so it does not create a break in the retina.

I'd also like to point out that the eye is the most vulnerable external part of the human body. Far from perfect.

He always is and always was and will continue to be.

As Bernee pointed out: Special Pleading. Why is it not also possible that the universe always was and will continue to be?

I think the problem people have with Christianity is that they cannot come up with an explanation for everything...so they take it as untrue.

And when a Christian cannot come up with an explanation for something they say "Goddidit".