I Know That God Does Not Exist

I've always taken the position that if someone could define what a "god" is, then I could decide whether or not such a thing exists, or whether I could decide or not.

But I just want to know what we're talking about.I know a unicorn doesn't exist - if it's a magical quadruped with one horn.I know unicorns exist - if it's a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion.

Just because people believe something isn't proof. Even if a lot of people believe.As for the "Fall" This goes against what you believe about the children not being punished for the sins of the fathers, doesn't it?Finally, what does "god" mean to you? If you're just saying that lots of supernatural things happened, but you don't know about the source, that's a different issue.

But you don't believe that stuff about people being punished for the sins of their ancestors. That's why the Constitution has that passage about "corruption of blood" doesn't it?

When you say "I look for God in the hearts of people like Dale Lang and I find Him there. I look for God in the hearts of people like Jean Vanier and I find Him there. I look for God in human activities such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission..." you are speaking poetically, not literally.The fact that people may do good is not evidence that there is a deity.

Probably because any definition of a deity would allow one to check and see if it exists, and . . .

When you write "I believe that God works through the hearts of humans and I find that confirmed by the actions of people who live out lives of altruistic sacrificial love of others" you only demonstrate that you believe there are people who act in altruistic ways. That is not a demonstration of why one out to believe that there is another entity behind such people.

But what is the evidence that "a powerful (possibly all-powerful) being that created us, loves us, and is a part of our lives in some fashion" exists in the first place?

Blaming demons or angels or gods or whatever for the actions of persons is not the least evidence that those demons, angels or gods exist.

On the other hand, people are not wholly rational beings, so this is all no real surprise.

It can't be "proven" in the same sense that I can't prove there are no unicorns on the Moon, because I haven't searched every crater. But the possibility is pretty small, no?

What does it mean to "inherit" a sin from your ancestors?You can inherit a house or a cat or an eye color, but a sin?

You're putting the cart before the horse. If you think intelligence has to exist before life itself can exist (because you think life has to be "created" by an "intelligence") then you're postulating that an intelligent agency can develop out of some kind of natural origin without the need for life to exist first!But this means you think that something even more extraordinary than just "life" (that is, "intelligence") can develop naturally. So you must also concede it is even more likely that life can develop naturally.

It's a C. S. Lewis sort of view. But as there's no evidence for it...

Oh yes, it's been a long struggle up from superstition. A struggle that has to be renewed every generation.