Is it reasonable to believe in God?

[historia]

Is it reasonable to believe in God?

Note, the question here is not whether you think it is true that God exists, but simply whether such a belief is reasonable or not.

[theophile]

Is it reasonable to believe in God?

Note, the question here is not whether you think it is true that God exists, but simply whether such a belief is reasonable or not.

Reasonable can mean different things.

Is there reason in the sense of logic or argument? Yes. You could look to classical arguments for God for example, like the need for a first cause and therefore some kind of unmoved mover. Arguments such as this give us reason.

But is there reason in the sense we should actually give weight to such arguments? i.e., is there reason to accept them and the God that they imply?

I think there are certain notions of God that are entirely reasonable. But we'd have to clarify what God is, and what the argument is, to answer your question... In the example I gave here, the Greeks meant something very specific by an unmoved mover.

[Miles]

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Lacking convincing evidence that god exists, it is not reasonable to believe in him.



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[Diagoras]

I think there are certain notions of God that are entirely reasonable. But we'd have to clarify what God is, and what the argument is, to answer your question…

Would such ‘notions’ include things like ‘God is in all things’ (i.e. simply calling the laws of nature, ‘God’)?

What about multiple gods? Is it still reasonable to allow for them?

And how about advanced alien civilisations? Is it reasonable to believe they exist, and by virtue of their ‘godlike power’, deserve to be described as gods?

[TRANSPONDER]

The Reasoned answer is no. But we are not a reasonable people in fact. And given the situation where we seem to be born with an instinct to trust authorities, a drive to invent hypotheses based on what we know to explain what we can't (if we don't know how animals evolved, we suppose that a huge invisible human made them) and a habit of getting used to the explanations that get dinned into us, it is at least understandable why people may think that that it is reasonable to suppose that a god exists, and even that it must be the god of whichever religion is taught in the land they live in.

[1213]

Is it reasonable to believe in God?

If there are reasons, it is reasonable.

For me the reasons to believe in God are:
1. The Bible.
2. World as explained in the Bible.
3. Things happen as told in the Bible.

[TRANSPONDER]

Is it reasonable to believe in God?

If there are reasons, it is reasonable.

For me the reasons to believe in God are:
1. The Bible.
2. World as explained in the Bible.
3. Things happen as told in the Bible.

That is of course the rationale for continuing to believe in the god that is taught to us from infancy. I don't want to hi-jack the thread bit it has to be said that people in time hear or find out that the Bible is not reliable, the world is not as explained in the Bible or, where it is, the Bible is just saying what everyone can see, and things 'happening as told' (prophecy) in the Bible are either retrospective, wrong or supposedly still in the future and so unproven.

Once they understand this, they will see that there is no reasonable reason to believe in the bible, Christianity or God.

[1213]

...Bible is not reliable,...

Why do you think so?

[TRANSPONDER]

...Bible is not reliable,...

Why do you think so?

Many things are wrong in the Bible. Demonstrably so. At one end nobody surely thinks the earth is flat and the sun was made after daylight. No, the Believers try to argue that Genesis actually fits the science. At the other end, the Nativity cannot be correct, the resurrections are open to question, and many really important things appear to be unknown to some writers.

I know the Bible - apologists argue and contest this. It's what we debate here. But those are just a few reasons why I say the Bible is unreliable, and why I (therefore) can't accept the claim that 'The Bible' justifies a 'reasonable' belief in God.

[theophile]

I think there are certain notions of God that are entirely reasonable. But we'd have to clarify what God is, and what the argument is, to answer your question…

Would such ‘notions’ include things like ‘God is in all things’ (i.e. simply calling the laws of nature, ‘God’)?

We should for sure consider the reasonableness of such notions. There is something extremely important about God's relationality to things, and whether God is in all things or is the causal force behind them. Some notions of God related to this are far more reasonable than others.

For example, I don't think it's reasonable to believe that God is the causal force behind all things. There's nothing we know about the universe that requires such a notion of God and lots of reasons to think that it isn't the case. (There is too much wrong with the world.)

This doesn't, however, mean that God has no causal power... I think a far more reasonable notion of God's causal power is one that limits it (at least originally) to moral causation (versus, say, physical). Which is to say, God's causal power is literally the Word, which can only cause things to happen much the same way as any other word (e.g., by influencing, commanding, etc.). As such, the only physical power God has (with such a notion) is what we physical beings give God by listening and doing what the Word says. (Which I think is perfectly reasonable.)

What about multiple gods? Is it still reasonable to allow for them?

Depends what you mean by 'gods'. I do think it's reasonable to think of God as a multitude of things, or potentially as such. God's Word is meant to be lived / done. All things are meant to take part in it. And when something takes part in it they essentially become God (or members of the body of Christ to use an NT formulation of this notion).

Again, all perfectly reasonable I think. And results in a notion of God that includes a multitude of 'gods'.

And how about advanced alien civilisations? Is it reasonable to believe they exist, and by virtue of their ‘godlike power’, deserve to be described as gods?

I do think it's pretty reasonable to believe that more advanced civilizations exist given the sheer size of the universe. But their physical power (per above) is not what would make them deserve to be called gods. Again, it's more about what 'word' they devote that power to.