Does God Exist?
What does this have to do with guitar pickups? Nothing. Anyway:
“Only if there is a God who created man is man worth anything more than the value of the chemicals of which he is composed.” -- Dennis Prager
Does the universe have any meaning or purpose or is it just one big, pointless accident?
“If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark.” – CS Lewis
Do you believe there is no God because there is too much suffering and evil in the world?
The following question is not intended to take anyone's suffering lightly, but I have to ask it: What is the right amount of suffering and evil for you to allow for God's existence?
Before your answer, consider: You don't have to believe in God to see that zero suffering turns us into spoiled, entitled, self-infatuated demons in the flesh, so apparently we have to have some. The only question is how much...
Is man the measure of all things?
This question is rarely directly asked but is implied when the question of evil comes up as an objection to the possibility of God's existence. To question God's existence by raising the problem of evil, you must first assume that human life has instrinsic value and that a moral code exists outside of the mind of man by which we can tell good from evil and which we can use to protect human life. But if there is only the physical universe, then there is no reason to believe human life has inherent value and any moral code we might make up for ourselves would be based on literally nothing.
When confronted with this, the skeptics I have conversations with will retreat to what I call the Well We Can redoubt. It comes in various forms and expressions but boils down to, 'well, we can make up our own moral code'. Well, no-one denies that; we can obviously make up anything inside our heads. But for those accustomed to ridiculing religious people for playing make-believe or having Imaginary Friends, this is a strange position to take. More importantly, it just avoids the question of whether human life actually has value and is therefore worthy of a moral code to protect it. A bunch of people getting together and agreeing to pretend that human life has value is not the same thing as human life actually having value.
This idea of making up our own moral code is a reflection of the idea that man is the measure of all things, at least in the moral realm. But there is a problem, most pointedly illustrated by the Holocaust. If man really is the measure of all things, then if the Germans had won World War II and eventually exterminated everyone on the planet who disagreed with them, would the Holocaust still be wrong? You can't say yes without invoking the supernatural.
What else would be left?
***
Do you have any thoughts on these quotes, questions and ideas? You can share them with me at zhangbucker2@gmail.com.
Be aware, however, that:
1) These will not necessarily be private conversations. I may post some of them here, unless you are divulging some personal information, though that’s probably not a good idea online with a stranger.
2) Responses that invoke the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the snarky spirit thereof will be ignored. If you have real, honest questions about God that have just never been answered to your satisfaction, I can put up with a certain amount of angst and even take something of a beating for the failures of my Christian brothers and sisters to give a cogent, adequate answer. (For that matter, I may also fail so I ask your forgiveness in advance.) But if you are just trolling or just want to use me as a punching bag or an object of ridicule, you will probably get silence.
Looking forward to your emails,
Mr. Zhang Bucker
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him will not die but have eternal life.
-- John 3:16
He is risen, large, and in charge -- whether you like it or not!
-- Me
What does this have to do with guitar pickups? Nothing. Anyway:
“Only if there is a God who created man is man worth anything more than the value of the chemicals of which he is composed.” -- Dennis Prager
Does the universe have any meaning or purpose or is it just one big, pointless accident?
“If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark.” – CS Lewis
Do you believe there is no God because there is too much suffering and evil in the world?
The following question is not intended to take anyone's suffering lightly, but I have to ask it: What is the right amount of suffering and evil for you to allow for God's existence?
Before your answer, consider: You don't have to believe in God to see that zero suffering turns us into spoiled, entitled, self-infatuated demons in the flesh, so apparently we have to have some. The only question is how much...
Is man the measure of all things?
This question is rarely directly asked but is implied when the question of evil comes up as an objection to the possibility of God's existence. To question God's existence by raising the problem of evil, you must first assume that human life has instrinsic value and that a moral code exists outside of the mind of man by which we can tell good from evil and which we can use to protect human life. But if there is only the physical universe, then there is no reason to believe human life has inherent value and any moral code we might make up for ourselves would be based on literally nothing.
When confronted with this, the skeptics I have conversations with will retreat to what I call the Well We Can redoubt. It comes in various forms and expressions but boils down to, 'well, we can make up our own moral code'. Well, no-one denies that; we can obviously make up anything inside our heads. But for those accustomed to ridiculing religious people for playing make-believe or having Imaginary Friends, this is a strange position to take. More importantly, it just avoids the question of whether human life actually has value and is therefore worthy of a moral code to protect it. A bunch of people getting together and agreeing to pretend that human life has value is not the same thing as human life actually having value.
This idea of making up our own moral code is a reflection of the idea that man is the measure of all things, at least in the moral realm. But there is a problem, most pointedly illustrated by the Holocaust. If man really is the measure of all things, then if the Germans had won World War II and eventually exterminated everyone on the planet who disagreed with them, would the Holocaust still be wrong? You can't say yes without invoking the supernatural.
What else would be left?
***
Do you have any thoughts on these quotes, questions and ideas? You can share them with me at zhangbucker2@gmail.com.
Be aware, however, that:
1) These will not necessarily be private conversations. I may post some of them here, unless you are divulging some personal information, though that’s probably not a good idea online with a stranger.
2) Responses that invoke the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the snarky spirit thereof will be ignored. If you have real, honest questions about God that have just never been answered to your satisfaction, I can put up with a certain amount of angst and even take something of a beating for the failures of my Christian brothers and sisters to give a cogent, adequate answer. (For that matter, I may also fail so I ask your forgiveness in advance.) But if you are just trolling or just want to use me as a punching bag or an object of ridicule, you will probably get silence.
Looking forward to your emails,
Mr. Zhang Bucker
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him will not die but have eternal life.
-- John 3:16
He is risen, large, and in charge -- whether you like it or not!
-- Me
