Wednesday, February 28, 2007

No proof can exist for God's non-existence

The Proof of the Mischievous God

1) Suppose that God exists, and that this God is all powerful and all knowing.

2) God can, then, influence the human mind and make one believe whatever He wants us to believe. This would certainly fall under the heading of what an all powerful person could do. (As for making us believe anything, see my earlier post about unreasonable doubt.)

3) God could, for example, cause one to believe a false proof for God's non-existence, and to believe it for as long as He so chooses.

4) Therefore, there can exist a situation where a proof for God's non-existence exists despite God's persistent existence.

5) Under these circumstance, the proof would be false There would be no way to determine if these circumstances exist, because God, being all-powerful and all-knowing, could keep us from finding out.

6) Any proof for God's non-existence could therefore be false beyond our ability to prove otherwise.

7) Since a good proof, by its definition, can never have a false conclusion, it follows that God's non-existence cannot be proved.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would offer a concrete proof that God does exist -
Thoughts are combinations of chemicals and electrical forces in the human brain. If a person thinks of anything, they do in fact give it a physical reality in a way. Considering the number of people who belive in a God, God(s) has(have) an enormous physical presence in our world. Beyond that, the belief in that God affects the way people approach reality, so the God has an active hand in the workings of our society.
There - I've proven that something in which I do not believe does in fact exist... :) Granted, it is not in the same way that most people think of it, but what's the difference?

Alphonsus said...

But Mykyl, this doesn't prove that God exists. It just proves that BELIEF in God exists, and that this belief affects the way people approach reality.

And even if it did prove God's reality, it would one very mixed-up, mish-mashed God who was a combination of every religion on the planet, and would exist with troublingly impossible contradictions.

Which isn't to say that this isn't an exact description of God, but still. ;-)