Atheist to Christians: Show Me Evidence that God Exists
In every era of history there were gaps in our understanding. We knew how women got pregnant through sex but we didn't know the internal bodily process, so guess what? God did it. We knew rain fell from the sky but we didn't know the process so guess what, God did it.
But look what's going on here, okay? Science closes the gaps. When it does it creates deeper problems and with them come the recognition of new gaps. The whole discussion about wormholes and cosmic singularities has been brought to us by the same science that closed a thousand previous gaps. Believers have been wrong to find God in the gaps of the past just as they are wrong to find him in today's gaps.
To argue like they do is an Argument From Ignorance, that is, we cannot explain something so therefore God did it. This is not considered positive evidence for god just as the negative evidence showing that an object is not a door tells us nothing positively about what that object is.
The ONLY science that supports a god faith is therefore negative evidence based in an Argument From Ignorance, a known informal fallacy. Christian, if you think otherwise then provide me some positive evidence that your god exists or acknowledge that you got nothing.
And no, historical evidence so-called, is poor evidence.
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shows doubt in ones own beliefs, validity.
No one can prove God does or does not exist, to me.
Evidence, which I do not seek anymore, leads me to not believe.
Only when we allow our self government to be polluted, by anyone's belief, are we bound to close our eyes to the issues.
Isn't it good to doubt ones beliefs? If you don't then it is quite likely that you will go on believing something that is incorrect
The question is not only valid but even logical. It is not about doubt. An atheist will certainly never believe the existence of an only true God. And that is definite. Thus common sense dictates that to prove to an atheist that God really do exist is an effort in futility. That's what closing one's eyes is all about. Self government is the thick high wall that prevents men from seeing the true realities of an only true and real God. He is the Lord who must rule all of His creations.And His government is perfect in justice and righteousness.
That you cannot prove to a Christian that their deity does not exist?
There are Christians who have become atheists, and atheists who have become Christian... so it is clearly possible to show an atheist sufficient evidence that a deity exist, and it is possible to show a Christian sufficient evidence that a deity does not exist.
Your last bit there has just as much objective support as someone saying "Allah is merciful"
There is a real problem here. Has anybody ever found one atheist who is ready to accept any evidence of God's actual existence? There is none to be found, ever. And that's the big problem. Atheists defend their denials about God by demanding evidence and proof of His existence. But they reject the evidence even before it is propounded to them. There are a lot of evidence that prove God's existence convincingly. But how can you convince the atheist who do not believe in God? Thus, to exert any effort to prove to an atheist that God really do exist is just a waste of time.
Nobody can show anybody any evidence that God exists except those who have received His revelations which God only imparts to those who believe in Him. And definitely, atheists are never worthy to receive God's revelations of His actual realities.
Why, then, should anybody bother to show evidence of God's existence to an atheist?
Saying that God will only reveal himself to those that already believe does not make much sense. As under such an argument it could just as easily be said that any arbitrary deity exists. If something exists then evidence for that thing should exist independent of the observers belief... a lightbulb does not "care" if the person throwing the switch believes in electricity.
It must be underlined here that God, as the object of one's faith, must be true since there is an only true God and many other false gods. And thus must one's faith in Him be also established in truth.
As there are false gods, there must also be false and erroneous faiths. True faith must only be founded upon perfect knowledge and understanding of the true realities in the actual existence of the true God that one must believe in. On the other hand, ignorance of God, His existence, His divine will and purpose and everything He is there for only leads men to false, erroneous and vain faith that merit nothing good for the believer.
Which is better? To believe and adhere to something that is perceived in goodness, justice and love or to believe that there are no such things? When the weather is extremely hot and unbearable for some time, we wish it would soon end and hope we can feel comfortable once again. What's wrong with hoping that way? God promised good things for those who will believe in Him. Is it awfully wrong for anybody to hope to receive His promise?
I agree that if one of the Monotheistic religions is "true" then only one of them can be true (there are religious systems that can exist alongside other religious systems and still be "true"... Buddhism and other Asiatic religions for example).
However that does not prove that a deity exist, nor does it provide evidence to support the existence of one deity over another...
Let's define religions as follows:
the statement "Christianity is true" as C
the statement "Islam is true" as I
and ! The negation... so !I is "Islam is not true"
So the possible states are
!C and !I
!C and I
C and !I
All that is perfectly reasonable... but it does not prove that one faith is true and the other is false, nor does it discount that neither is true.
So then how does one determine which set of belies is the "true" one? You do a fairly good job of describing a set of conditions under which Christianity (or Islam) would be true, but you do not demonstrate that those are the conditions that exist.
Interestingly enough you do offer a way to objectively determine which belief set is true. If God does promise "good things" to those who have the correct belief set then we if we examined a population of similar Christians to a population containing a representative population of the worlds population we should see a higher then average number of "good things" among the Christian population. That would constitute proof that Christianity was true. Similarly if we examined the "good things" rate among Muslims compared to the control then if Islam is true then there should be a similar statistical correlation.
Is it wrong to hope? Well that depends on a number of factors...
If a person hopes that a deity exists, and that deity exists then no it isn't wrong.
If a person hopes and no deities exist then it isn't wrong (but is a waste of time/ resources).
If a person hopes that a deity exists, and another deity exists then that is wrong... as the person faces divine punishment.
I like your bit about the weather... but does hoping that it will be cool at some point actually make the cool weather arrive faster? Is it better to stand around in the sun talking about how you hope it will be cooler later on... or is it better to go find some shade to stand under?
We can only hope for the things that are not seen, the things that are yet to exist which we wish and expect to exist. On a hot and sunny day, one hopes it will sooner or later cool down because it is an expectation based on previous occurences that has taken place before. But such hope should not prevent one for seeking remedies to cool himself down as he waits for his expectation to come about. It is the truth whereupon one can depend on in order to be certain that his hope shall find realization. But the truth and the lie exists side by side like parallel lines whose ends will never meet. Thus, correctly determining which is true and which is false in the world of faith and religion remains the supreme problem of humanity that it has failed to finally resolve until today.
Even those who believe and identify themselves as Christians have not resolved the issue of the truth or fallacy of their self-claimed Christianity. The same goes for the others.
The act of hoping does not have any impact on it being cool again at some point in the arbitrarily distant future.
So while it can be nice to hope that it will be cool it is ultimately meaningless to do so.
It reminds me of a bit I once read:
If there is a diamond in the box then I desire to believe that there is a diamond in the box...
If there is no diamond in the box then I desire to believe that there is no diamond in the box...
Determining truth from lies is a deep problem with religion, because by its very nature religions castrate their ability to make such a determination (at least the revelatory ones do).