What are the odds of God existing?

I think so too. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a paradox. I don't know about "infinity," but to me "eternity" is no paradox. What is a paradox is everything being non-eternal.You seem to pick and choose among your paradoxes. You don't even blink your eyes at something coming from nothing. There's a real paradox.

So its hardly possible to calculate the odds is it? If I rolled a die, I might say the odds of it landing on 6 are one in six, however I would be assuming that all possibilities are equiprobable. If I bought the die from a professional die makers who based their reputation on that, I'd be happy with it. I could even test it to see.In the case of the creation of the universe itself, there is no reason to assume the possibilities are equiprobable. It doesn't matter about the evidence, if we don't have any evidence either way we can't use that to assume they are equiprobable.There have been no logical grounds on which to make the assumption, contrary to the die scenario. Consider the Monty Hall problem as an alternate way to illustrate it. There are only two options, but they are not equiprobable.

Hi Robinrohan. Would your defintion of cause and effect be considered an example of circular reasoning?

NO, it's just a definiton. No reasoning involved.Would you agree that all events are effects of causes?

As far as WE are concerned, they are equiprobable. To us they are, since there's nothing else to go on.

O, I like paradoxes, I just think reality does not exhibit them. Eternity is infinity in terms of time. Again: why?

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

It's not about feeling; it's about thinking. I think the axiom that events are effects of causes reflects reality very well, don't you?

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I think the axiom that events are effects of causes reflects reality very well, don't you?

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It appears to me that the universe itself might be an example of something that has not existed for eternity and has no cause.

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"Religion is the best business to be in. It's the only one where the customers blame themselves for product failure."
-- Ellis Weiner (quoted on the NAiG message board)

How could nothing produce something? Normally, one would think one needs something hanging about to do something, wouldn't you agree? Are you suggesting that the universe "produced itself"? How could it, if it didn't exist? Just "poof"--and it's there? Don't you find that odd?

Lay out your proofs, please, for this assertion.

I thought you said axioms should reflect reality. Have you ever known an event that was not caused?

Why would something need 'producing'? Normally yes. But I find it hard to be normative when talking about the origin of the universe. No. Why would it need 'producing'? How shall I phrase it? O, I know: just "poof"--and it's there. Yes, it's odd. But no odder than that it always existed. Actually, less odd even. I've already explained why.This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 28-Apr-2006 09:40 PM

I understand that, but you are simply saying that because we don't know what the probabilities actually are, we'll say they're equiprobable. Therfore the probabilities are....Its not a particularly inspired line of reasoning is it? You just throw in an assumption which gives you the answer to your problem. It seems almost circular: What is the probability that God exists? Well...if we assume that it has as much probability as any other possiblity then its 50%Should we start accepting Pascal's wager now?This message has been edited by Modulous, Fri, 28-April-2006 09:47 PM

You think that "What are the odds of God existing" is a non-trivial question? Okay. That's fine. However if I drew of a list of questions and ranked them from least trivial to most trivial I'd say that "What are the odds of God existing?" would rank somewhere below "Whether I should use the Pelikan 800 today as opposed to the Parker 51" or "Whether Quink is better ink today then when it first was introduced" and way below other trivial questions such as which pair of socks I should wear with khaki pants.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion