- Anything Else -

Proof and belief.

Posted by: Gideon Hallett ( UK ) on December 14, 1999 at 17:43:08:

In Reply to: Encore! Encore! posted by Gotch on December 14, 1999 at 10:28:04:

: Encore! Encore! Extremely well said.

: And for those of us who do believe that God exists, there is no difficulty in finding physical proof -- our eyes work, our hearing works, we live, we breathe, the earth exists, etc.

Gotch, for the nth time, this isn't physical proof.

Proof is, by definition, something that you can show to other people; whether they agree with you or not.

It doesn't matter if you believe in the thermochemistry of mercury fulminate or not; if you don't and someone shoots you, you are as shot as you would have been if you did. Belief is immaterial if 'proof' is involved; since proof can be demonstrated.

If it can't be demonstrated to a sceptical audience, it's belief, not proof.

If you are trying to say that God is responsible for physical phenomena but can never be demonstrated to be so, you are on ground no firmer than someone who attributes everything to the Flower Fairies.

You cannot test for God; and thus God is a belief, not a matter of proof; and personal anecdotes can't change that.

Gideon.


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