sidelined writes:
What is the probability of the existence of God? Is there a way in which we can put numerical values,even rough ballpark figures that allow for a guess,or is the idea worthless?
I'd say its
almost worthless, although I would also say that it's possible to assign a 0% probability to definitions of God which are rigorous enough to be analyzed and shown inconsistent. For example, the probability that an omniscient and omnipotent God exists that does not want fetuses to be aborted is 0% since fetuses obviously are aborted and nothing happens contrary to the will of an omniscient and omnipotent being.
In fact the two attributes of omniscience and omnipotence are basically inconsistent since a being that exhaustively knows everything about the universe including Itself and Its actions must thereby be limited in the exercise of its will. In other words, such a being is bound to do only that which it foreknows it will do, and
cannot do otherwise lest it compromise its infallible knowledge.
These are, of course, classical concepts, and revised definitions can marry the two attributes. For example, it may be that all probable universes are real and God can therefore commit and know all of His probable actions and is not limited to knowing only one actual act or sequence of acts. Along somewhat the same lines (perhaps the
sidelines ), it might also be possible that the future is inherently unknowable even to God. Therefore God can know all that is knowable - namely everything that actualizes in the present moment within quantum uncertainty limits - but the future simply cannot be accurately known.
That brings up another interesting thing to consider: Is knowledge of probabilities real knowledge? If I say it is X% probable that tomorrow I will do my laundry, what type of knowledge do I have? Is it knowledge at all? What if I don't know the exact probability, but I know that the probability of it happening is still real. Is that knowledge? Is it just a flight of fancy? If God knows that at a certain moment M He has a 50% probability of doing act A, a 20% probability of doing act B, a 10% probability of doing act C, etc... What type of knowledge is that? Since He doesn't know anything to be 100% probable, does He really know anything at all? What if the probabilities are relative? Perhaps
ALL the probabilites actualize in some universe (like the Everett Interpretation of QM), and the probabilities that He will experience each universe are unique to Him as an individual.
I dunno... just some stuff to think about.