Re: All this babble.
@jake
First, I apologize for the long, long post.
The fact of the matter is that over the last umpteen thousand years, humans have postulated gods or a god exist.
"Postulated" means that there's definitely no supernatural entity but humans have made one(s) up.
There's quite a bit of circular reasoning in this statement, don't you see?
You assumed that there's no evidence for such an entity, then assumed that humans assumed that a supernatural cause doesn't exist based on that first assumption.
In all those thousands of years, there is not a single shred of evidence that a god or gods actually do exist.
Not if you look though. I used to swing between atheism and agnosticism myself, until I looked for the evidence. The first shred of evidence is that something doesn't spring out of nothing. A program can't write itself. "Laws of nature" need an "enforcer" to keep them in effect.
And is absence of evidence evidence of absence? Not necessarily true, not necessarily false.
This sword has two edges, mind you.
One thing to point out though: Evidence for a supernatural deity isn't necessarily of a definitive/conclusive nature. Don't raise your hopes too high; you won't "see God".
The opposite is also true. We can't "go up there and see that there's no supernatural power" as well.
Based on the above, the proverbial thinking man could easily come to the conclusion that god or gods is/are an invention of man. In other words, man made god in his own image.
If these were premises built on facts, then sure. But these aren't premises, but rather built on a mix of opinions stated as facts (<u>The fact of the matter</u> is that over the last umpteen thousand years, humans have postulated gods or a god exist. - that's your opinion until you definitely prove the absence of a supernatural entity).
Unless you have proof that god or gods exist, of course. Do not use "faith" as proof, unless can prove to me that you do, in fact, have that faith.
I agree with that - faith by and of itself is no proof (I believe in a ghost under my bed != there's a ghost under my bed)
Until then, this conversation is pretty useless.
Ever asked why is this topic still brought up?
Ever asked why is the concept of a supernatural creator still "not dead", despite numerous figures in the past claiming the "death" of the creator?
Because there are still strong arguments on both sides. The eternal debate is still going on.