Is Atheism viable?



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Topic: Religions > Atheism
User: "J Young"
Date: 18 Sep 2006 11:08:15 PM
Object: Is Atheism viable?
http://www.carm.org/atheism/viable.htm
Atheism is, essentially, a negative position. It is not believing in a
god, or actively believing there is no God, or choosing to not exercise any
belief or non-belief concerning God, etc. Which ever flavor is given to
atheism, it is a negative position.
In discussions with atheists, I don't hear any evidence for the
validity of atheism. There are no "proofs" that God does not exist in
atheist circles; at least, none that I have heard -- especially since you
can't prove a negative regarding God's existence. Of course, that isn't to
say that atheists haven't attempted to offer some proofs that God does not
exist. But their attempted proofs are invariably insufficient. After all,
how do you prove there is no God in the universe? How do you prove that in
all places and all times, there is no God? You can't. Besides, if there
were a proof of God's non-existence, then atheists would be continually
using it. But we don't hear of any such commonly held proof supporting
atheism or denying God's existence. The atheist position is very difficult,
if not impossible, to prove since it is an attempt to prove a negative.
Therefore, since there are no proofs for atheism's truth and there are no
proofs that there is no God, the atheist must hold his position by faith.
Faith, however, is not something atheists like to claim as the basis of
adhering to atheism. Therefore, atheists must go on the attack and negate
any evidences presented for God's existence in order to give intellectual
credence to their position. If they can create an evidential vacuum in
which no theistic argument can survive, their position can be seen as more
intellectually viable. It is in the negation of theistic proofs and
evidences that atheism brings its self-justification to self-proclaimed
life.
There is, however, only one way that atheism is intellectually
defensible and that is in the abstract realm of simple possibility. In
other words, it may be possible that there is no God. But, stating that
something is possible doesn't mean that it is a reality or that it is wise
to adopt the position. If I said it is possible that there is an ice cream
factory on Jupiter, does that make it intellectually defensible or a
position worth adopting merely because it is merely a possibility? Not at
all. So, simply claiming a possibility based on nothing more than it being
a possible option, no matter how remote, is not sufficient grounds for
atheists to claim viability in their atheism. They must come up with more
than "It is possible," or "There is no evidence for God," otherwise, there
really must be an ice cream factory on Jupiter and the atheist should step
up on the band wagon and start defending the position that Jupiterian ice
cream exists.
At least we Christians have evidences for God's existence such as
fulfilled biblical prophecy, Jesus' resurrection, the Transcendental
Argument, the entropy problem, etc.
But there is another problem for atheists. Refuting evidences for God'
s existence does not prove atheism true anymore than refuting an eyewitness
testimony of a marriage denies the reality of the marriage. Since atheism
cannot be proven and since disproving evidences for God does not prove there
is no God, atheists have a position that is intellectually indefensible. At
best, atheists can only say that there are no convincing evidences for God
so far presented. They cannot say there are no evidences for God because
the atheist cannot know all evidences that possibly exist in the world. At
best, the atheist can only say that the evidence so far presented has been
insufficient. This logically means that there could be evidences presented
in the future that will suffice. The atheist must acknowledge that there
may indeed be a proof that has so far been undiscovered and that the
existence of God is possible. This would make the atheist more of an
agnostic since at best the atheist can only be skeptical of God's existence.
This is why atheists need to attack Christianity. It is because
Christianity makes very high claims concerning God's existence which
challenges their atheism and pokes holes in their vacuum. They like the
vacuum. They like having the universe with only one god in it: themselves.
--
----------
J Yöung
youngopinions@aol.com
.

User: "Free Lunch"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? God is impossible 24 Sep 2006 01:00:01 PM
On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 08:05:55 +0100, in alt.atheism
"Malcolm" <regniztar@btinternet.com> wrote in
<IqydnWQJV6P3rIvYnZ2dnUVZ8s6dnZ2d@bt.com>:

"Free Lunch" <lunch@nofreelunch.us> wrote in message

On 23 Sep 2006 15:16:12 -0700, in alt.atheism
roger_pearse@yahoo.co.uk wrote in
<1159049772.180538.207740@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:

Uncle Vic wrote:

Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Malcolm
(regniztar@btinternet.com) made the light shine upon us with this:

"Uncle Vic" <address@withheld.com> wrote in message


Can you prove Jesus existed? That's a big claim you've made, "Jesus
was a man".

Not really President Bush is a man.


What evidence? Post it. ...
My atheism is one of the reasons I don't believe in a historical
personification of Jesus.


Indeed. It sort of dissuades people from being atheists.


That doesn't make sense.

Most atheists think that their position is very strong. They only maintain
that position by shying from the evidence.

What evidence? There is none to support the claim that any gods exist,
let alone the specific God you worship.

When you look at what Jesus did
and said, you can, without absurdity, remain an atheist.

Correct. I am pleased to have the Jesus represented in the Gospels as
one of my role models.

But you do have to
admit certain problems. For instance the Resurrection is a cetnral element
of the story.take out that event, and suddenly you can't explain how the
church expanded, without resorting to rather unconvincing theories of mass
hallucination or auto-persuasion.

It's story-telling. Christianity's greatest early growth came outside
Judea and Galilee, the places that there were no witnesses. Paul was a
very persuasive teacher. None of it is evidence that any gods exist.
.

User: "Uncle Vic"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? God is impossible 24 Sep 2006 06:01:19 AM
Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Malcolm
(regniztar@btinternet.com) made the light shine upon us with this:

Most atheists think that their position is very strong. They only
maintain that position by shying from the evidence. When you look at
what Jesus did and said, you can, without absurdity, remain an
atheist. But you do have to admit certain problems. For instance the
Resurrection is a cetnral element of the story.take out that event,
and suddenly you can't explain how the church expanded, without
resorting to rather unconvincing theories of mass hallucination or
auto-persuasion.

Where in secular history is there an account of the Resurrection that is
not just a report on what people believe? Do you understand the
difference? Do you understand the difference between fact and fantasy?
The Resurrection is only accounted for in the Bible. Talking about the
Resurrection as if it actually happened, then giving evidence for it from
the bible is a circular argument.
There was no mass hallucination. It's just a story in a book.
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department.
Plonked by Kadaitcha Man
.

User: ""

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? God is impossible 25 Sep 2006 05:36:54 AM
Free Lunch wrote:

On 23 Sep 2006 15:16:12 -0700, in alt.atheism
roger_pearse@yahoo.co.uk wrote in
<1159049772.180538.207740@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:

Uncle Vic wrote:

Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Malcolm
(regniztar@btinternet.com) made the light shine upon us with this:

"Uncle Vic" <address@withheld.com> wrote in message


Can you prove Jesus existed? That's a big claim you've made, "Jesus
was a man".

Not really President Bush is a man.


What evidence? Post it. ...
My atheism is one of the reasons I don't believe in a historical
personification of Jesus.


Indeed. It sort of dissuades people from being atheists.


That doesn't make sense.

Actually it does.
All the best,
Roger Pearse
.
User: "Free Lunch"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? God is impossible 25 Sep 2006 05:47:41 PM
On 25 Sep 2006 03:36:54 -0700, in alt.atheism
roger_pearse@yahoo.co.uk wrote in
<1159180613.948752.51110@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>:

Free Lunch wrote:

On 23 Sep 2006 15:16:12 -0700, in alt.atheism
roger_pearse@yahoo.co.uk wrote in
<1159049772.180538.207740@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:

Uncle Vic wrote:

Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Malcolm
(regniztar@btinternet.com) made the light shine upon us with this:

"Uncle Vic" <address@withheld.com> wrote in message


Can you prove Jesus existed? That's a big claim you've made, "Jesus
was a man".

Not really President Bush is a man.


What evidence? Post it. ...
My atheism is one of the reasons I don't believe in a historical
personification of Jesus.


Indeed. It sort of dissuades people from being atheists.


That doesn't make sense.


Actually it does.

Explain it then.
.


User: "Uncle Vic"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? God is impossible 23 Sep 2006 07:49:39 PM
Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Free Lunch
(lunch@nofreelunch.us) made the light shine upon us with this:

On 23 Sep 2006 15:16:12 -0700, in alt.atheism
roger_pearse@yahoo.co.uk wrote in
<1159049772.180538.207740@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:

Uncle Vic wrote:

Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet Malcolm
(regniztar@btinternet.com) made the light shine upon us with this:

"Uncle Vic" <address@withheld.com> wrote in message


Can you prove Jesus existed? That's a big claim you've made,
"Jesus was a man".

Not really President Bush is a man.


What evidence? Post it. ...
My atheism is one of the reasons I don't believe in a historical
personification of Jesus.


Indeed. It sort of dissuades people from being atheists.


That doesn't make sense.

Thanks. I read that one several times.
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department.
Plonked by Kadaitcha Man
.

User: "BAM"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? God is impossible 21 Sep 2006 04:41:51 PM
"Uncle Vic" <address@withheld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns98456BE83EB28vicman@216.196.97.136...

Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet BAM
(mcca5761@blahblahbellsouth.net) made the light shine upon us with this:


"Uncle Vic" <address@withheld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9844E069326E1vicman@216.196.97.136...

Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet BAM (mcca5761
@blahblahbellsouth.net) made the light shine upon us with this:


"2688Dead" <zepp22112688@finestplanet.com> wrote

How do you hate something that doesn't exist?


You tell me. You're the atheist. What thinkest ye of Christ?


Probably the same you think of Apollo.


That's dishonest, and reflects that supercilious tone of the atheist.
Like a little kid who walks off with his present as if he'll never
need anyone ever again for anything.


What present, the one you *think* you're getting? Didn't anyone teach
you not to count your chickens before they hatch?

What's dishonest is what you just wrote. There is just as much evidence
for the existence of Apollo as there is for Jesus.

You are a fewell.
BAM
.

User: "Gandalf Grey"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? Debunked Barwell Spam 20 Sep 2006 06:24:10 PM
"wcb" <wbarwell@mylinuxisp.com> wrote in message
news:12h3i84q2g9l14d@corp.supernews.com...


GOD, FREE WILL AND ORIGINAL SIN.
(The short version)
W.C. Barwell - 8-3-06

Some people claim man has free will and this
is necessary and good.


But most people know that free will is problematic regardless of whether
they believe in a god or not.


God supposedly created the garden of Eden
and created Adam and Eve there.


Appeal to orthodox, literalism. Nearly all modern theologies view the
bible as...at best...allegorical.


Theologians

tell us that original sin came into the
world there when Eve was enticed to eat of
the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of God
and Evil.


No. Only orthodox literalist theologians would say that.


If god allows original sin to exist this
impinges on our free will.


And if no original sin exists, determinism impinges on our free will.
This is why a 'free will' argument can't disprove the existence of a god.



.
User: "wcb"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? 21 Sep 2006 08:48:36 PM
IS GOD POSSIBLE? - NO.
STRONG ATHEISM'S ANSWER - PART 4
1. THE RULES AND LAWS AND LOGIC OF THE UNIVERSE
A. In part three, we saw that the Universe's rules
and laws and logic cannot have been created by
god. These things are exist beyond him and
outside his control, even god must obey them.
2 + 2 = 4 for god as well as us.
B. But what are these rules, these laws, this
logic?
2. The CLASS OF OMNI-EVERYTHING, CREATOR GODS
IS USELESS.
A. Bluntly, Grand Theology cannot help us here.
These questions, "What is the nature of the
Universe?" were abandoned centuries ago as it
was merely assumed god explained that. The
fact is, as was shown in part three, its almost
trivial to show that the omni-everything god
cannot account for either the creation of the
Universe or the Universe's attributes, its laws
and logic.
B. God as a class of omni-everything, creator gods
cannot exist as having created all as claimed.
C. Obviously, the fact that god is still referred
to as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent
shows that most of theology has failed to consider
the facts and to reason rationally about the
facts. Theology does not see and has not seen its
methodology is failed. That it has given us
obviously wrong ideas. It has nothing thus to
offer us on the real and meaningful questions
asked above.
D. Such questions will be answered, if answered at
all, by physics, by science. Why are there three
spatial dimensions, not more or less? Why are
there 4 forces? Why does time seem to move only
forward? What is the real nature of matter, of
energy? Why does 2 + 2 = 4? Grand theology is
singularly unsuited to answering these questions.
And the class of omni-everything creator gods
cannot explain anything. That is a failed idea.
E. We do see rules and laws of the universe by
careful observation. The rules of physics,
chemistry, biology, cosmology, derived by
observation, and contradicting many theological
dogmas based on a class of omni0-everything gods.
F. Theology based on the class of omni-everything
gods has for millenia, when theorizing about the
natural world had a perfect record, always wrong.
Obviously that idea is an abject failure.
3. CAN A GOD EVEN EXIST?
We see that things that have complexity and think
and act and reason are made of matter, and obey
the known laws of physics and biology.
Can a god or deity for being that can think, and
reason exist apart of matter and energy and
dimensions and the laws and rules of the Universe?
The only rules and laws we can observe do not
allow for that. The fact that the claims made
for a class of omni-everything creator gods
contradict each other fatally dooms these gods
anyway. Since they cannot exist as claimed,
obviously physics and the rules, laws and logic
of the Universe have nothing to do with such
entities. And there is nothing outside of these
laws, rules and logic of the Univeerse, obviously
physical, to sustain something we can prove cannot
exist.
4. WHAT IS SUPERNATURAL?
A. Before Thales and the Ionian philosophers,
there was no real concept of natural and
supernatural. These earliest Greek philosophers
dispensed with the idea of gods and considered
the way the world works without regards to
dieties. They adopted the word phusis to their
investigations, a word used roughly to mean
nature, a word that gave us our word physics.
B.Later philosophers explicitly introduced the
idea of god as foundation of nature, starting with
Xenophanes, as distinct from water or air as
claimed cause of the Universe, or later atomists
with their atom theories of materialsm.
C. Here we find the first dividing lines between
the natural world and the supernatural. After
Galileo, when science as we know it was well
created, this gap between the natural and
supernatural became obvious.
D. As science became successful, and needed
nothing supernatural to explain anything, god
became to seem superfluous. God was banished as
an explanation from more and more disciplines
and became the god of the gaps, only capable of
existing as an explanation where science had not
yet moved in and shown how the Universe works
without need for gods or deities in that gap.
E. Now the Universe is regarded as a largely
natural place, with no supernatural aspect to it
by science. The Universe is natural and
supernatural has no real definition. It can only
be defined parasitically, the supernatural is what
the natural world is not.
F. But how do you define natural? Natural is that
which needs no supernatural to explain its
workings.
G. The problem for supernaturalists is they have
no facts, no real theories, just assertions. The
claims they make, heaven exists, there is a god,
we have souls, are unproven and they have no
programs for proving any assertions they make,
which sets them apart from science.
It is this lack of a research program, a method
of proving any assertions, lack of ability to show
any claimed fact really exists, that sets
theology apart from science.
H. Nor can they base such claims on the existence
of a supernatural realm,because that realm not
only seems to be absent, but cannot be proven to
exist. Its hard to even define except in
opposition to the natural realm we see around us.
And as the Grand God class is now dead as a
possible explanation, there is no need for
supernaturalism to be a foundation for
something that cannot exist as proven on other
grounds.
-----------------------------------------------
-
--

You are a fluke of the Universe
You have no right to be here,
and whether you can hear it or not,
the Universe is laughing behind your back.
Cheerful Charlie
.
User: "Gandalf Grey"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? 22 Sep 2006 12:14:26 AM
"wcb" <wbarwell@mylinuxisp.com> wrote in message
news:12h6g8q56aght61@corp.supernews.com...


IS GOD POSSIBLE? - NO.
STRONG ATHEISM'S ANSWER - PART 4

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DEBUNKED ARGUMENT
ATTENTION!
THE FOLLOWING ARGUMENT HAS BEEN DEBUNKED FOR YOUR READING SAFETY.


1. THE RULES AND LAWS AND LOGIC OF THE UNIVERSE

A. In part three, we saw that the Universe's rules
and laws and logic cannot have been created by
god.

No we didn't. At least nothing you wrote demonstrated the necessity of such
a conclusion.


B. But what are these rules, these laws, this
logic?

2. The CLASS OF OMNI-EVERYTHING, CREATOR GODS
IS USELESS.

We've already gone through this and seen that everything you have to say
about your self-created, self-serving 'class' of gods is either a fallacy of
composition or a biased sample and so invalid. It also falls prey to
Russell's paradox.

B. God as a class of omni-everything, creator gods
cannot exist as having created all as claimed.

Since you're nearly the only one making such a claim, it hardly matters.


C. Obviously, the fact that god is still referred
to as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent
shows that most of theology has failed to consider
the facts and to reason rationally about the
facts.

Since the above attributes do not represent "most of theology" again, all we
have here is your fallacy of composition.

Theology does not see and has not seen its
methodology is failed.

Which theology?

E. We do see rules and laws of the universe by
careful observation.

What is the difference between rules and laws? We do not see "rules and
laws" of the universe at all. We see the results of some of the laws of the
universe whether we're careful or not.

The rules of physics,
chemistry, biology, cosmology, derived by
observation,

Are not the rules of the universe. I should think you'd know that at least.

3. CAN A GOD EVEN EXIST?

We see that things that have complexity and think
and act and reason are made of matter, and obey
the known laws of physics and biology.

And that implies what? That we see all beings?


Can a god or deity for being that can think, and
reason exist apart of matter and energy and
dimensions and the laws and rules of the Universe?

Does one have to?

The only rules and laws we can observe do not
allow for that.

Unsupported assertion.
1. There's excellent, nearly self-evident reason to believe that we do not
see universal laws at all.
2. There's no reason to believe that the laws that govern what we do see are
the only possible laws.
3. There's no logically neccessary reason that we see everything that is
governed by actual laws or that we ever will see everything governed by
actual physical laws.
4. There's no logical reason that the local physical laws governing what we
do see could not under any circumstances have been caused or created by a
god.

The fact that the claims made
for a class of omni-everything creator gods
contradict each other fatally dooms these gods
anyway.

You mean the claims you choose fatally contradict the strawman you've set up
to destroy.

Since they cannot exist as claimed,
obviously physics and the rules, laws and logic
of the Universe have nothing to do with such
entities. And there is nothing outside of these
laws, rules and logic of the Univeerse, obviously
physical, to sustain something we can prove cannot
exist.

1. You haven't proved god cannot exist. Again you dishonestly sneak your
universal assertion of god into the smaller argument.
2. There's nothing to prove that we know everything that can and does exist
and every reason to believe that we do not know everything that can and does
exist.


4. WHAT IS SUPERNATURAL?

A. Before Thales and the Ionian philosophers,
there was no real concept of natural and
supernatural.

That we know of historically. It's quite likely that the concept itself was
well known before the fragmentary remains of pre-socratic philosophers.

These earliest Greek philosophers
dispensed with the idea of gods

So they thought. You assume too much as usual.

and considered
the way the world works without regards to
dieties. They adopted the word phusis to their
investigations, a word used roughly to mean
nature, a word that gave us our word physics.

B.Later philosophers explicitly introduced the
idea of god as foundation of nature, starting with
Xenophanes, as distinct from water or air as
claimed cause of the Universe, or later atomists
with their atom theories of materialsm.

C. Here we find the first dividing lines between
the natural world and the supernatural. After
Galileo, when science as we know it was well
created, this gap between the natural and
supernatural became obvious.

It was obvious long before that time. The apostle Paul was having problems
with Greek skeptics long before this.
[skip rest of Weekly Reader summary]

F. But how do you define natural? Natural is that
which needs no supernatural to explain its
workings.

Hardly. Again, you substitute rhetoric for reality. Science attempts to
explain nature in terms of nature. Nature is what there is. Nature is
whatever is.


G. The problem for supernaturalists is they have
no facts, no real theories, just assertions. The
claims they make, heaven exists, there is a god,
we have souls, are unproven and they have no
programs for proving any assertions they make,
which sets them apart from science.

Only a moron is unaware of the difference between science and religion. The
difference between the two does not help your claim.

H. Nor can they base such claims on the existence
of a supernatural realm,because that realm not
only seems to be absent, but cannot be proven to
exist.

Nor can science prove that it does not exist.
That was the truth you pretended to be able to disprove.
You've failed, Barwell.
.



User: "wcb"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable? Omnigenesis proves Atheism is only viable religious system 19 Sep 2006 04:30:28 PM
Gandalf Grey wrote:


Well, since your original argument was fundamentally flawed and NOT true,

The only flaw is you semi-operational brain.
IS THERE A GOD? NO. STRONG ATHEISM'S ANSWER
- PART 1.
1. In this essay, proof "God" does not exist
is aimed at an entire class of gods, not
particular gods. This is the class of gods that
are omni-everything and creator of all gods.
Hereafter OEC, that is, omni-everything, creator
gods or OEC class of gods).
If an class of gods can be disproved, all particular
gods that belong to that class are collectively
disproven too. This is an efficient, and sensible
approach to disproving god, by which the
god of major religious and theological traditions.
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Brahamanistic
Hinduism and other claimed gods of this class
are meant. But it would also disprove any
other particular gods, known or unknown who
have the characteristics placing them in this
class of gods.
This of course does not disprove all possible
gods, nor is Part 1 alone meant to do that, it
is meant only to deal with the OEC gods that are
the main problem for this world, the gods of
4 1/2 billion believers. The OEC gods that are the
source of fundamentalism, bigotry, fanaticism,
anti-intellectualism and various kinds of
backwardness.
There are a number of other classes of gods but
comparatively speaking far fewer people believe
in these other classes of gods, these believers
are not very numerous or very important.
Animist gods, such as found in Voodoo, nature
gods and the like. It is possible to sort other
kinds of gods into a number of classes of gods
and likewise disprove each class. That shall be
considered in later parts.
Here I am primarily looking at the class of
Omni-everything creator gods. This should not be
taken to mean other classes of gods cannot also
be likewise disproven.
Or that such secondary classes are totally
unimportant. But basically the Omni-everything
class of gods is so far above any other god that
once it is debunked, its hard to step down to
distinctly second rate gods. Its like stepping
down from a Cadillac to a bicycle. If we can
thus disprove that class, we have done most
of strong Atheism's work.
No other class of gods, a lessor kind of god,
can plug the hole left by the debunked OEC gods,
the omni-everything creator gods of classical
major religions and theological systems, either.
These systems have all based themselves on a set
of claims about god that lessor classes of god
cannot fulfill. No lesser class of gods can save
the religions based on this class of gods if the
OEC class pf gods proves vulnerable.

2. A BASIC DEFINITION THE CLASS OF
OMNI-EVERYTHING AND CREATOR-OF-ALL GODS.
A. We will start with 8 assertions drawn from
the major religions Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism,
and Islam. Other religions may fit here too.

3. NO EVIDENCE FOR GOD
A. There is no evidence whatsoever for god. One may
search the best textbooks of the best divinity
schools and seminaries and philosophy departments
of the best universities in vain for evidence.
2500 years of philosophy and theology have produced
no good hard, undeniable evidence at all.
4. ALL WE HAVE TO WORK WITH IS ASSERTIONS
A. All we have to work from then, is claims, or
assertions made about god. I have chosen the
following 8 assertions as they are all part of
all great and large religions and theological
traditions of the world. Most of 4 1/2 billion
believers will agree with most of these, and these
are all dogmatic to most main stream religions.
B. If we can show these create contradictions, we
can show that the class omni-everything creator
gods, the Grand God, cannot exist. All we have to
work with are assertions and logic, but this is
all we need. I need not use anything more to
achieve my goal.
C. All these claims are derived from claimed
revelations, taken from the Bible, Quran, Vedas
and other revealed books.
5. THE 8 MAJOR ASSERTIONS I WILL WORK WITH
The general overarching definition of god as per
the major religions of the world is:
A. God is personal, God has will and
consciousness.
B. God is intelligent
C. God has free will.
D. God is the creator of all.
E. God is omnipotent.
F. God is omnibenevolent.
G. God is omniscient.
H. God is that which nothing more powerful
can be imagined.
These are the basic attributes that can be claimed
for the god of orthodox Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, and Hinduism. I have chosen the
specifically because they are in fact assertions
made about god traditionally by these religions
and are all that is needed to show this class of
OEC class of gods cannot exist.
A.- C.show god is a personal god, not a mere
force of nature or another name for for nature.
This is a personal god, with will, intelligence,
purpose.
B. Omniscience are actually logically derivable from
the claimed attribute of omnipotence and so aren't
not truly independent attributes, and may be considered
a special aspect of omnipotence.
6. WE CAN THUS ABSTRACT A GENERAL CLASS OF
OMNI-EVERYTHING GOD FROM THESE 8 GENERAL
ASSERTIONS.
A. We can abstract a class of gods,
omni-everything, creator gods from these 8
characteristics. We could probably drop G. and
collapse B. into A.
We can initially ignore secondary claims though such
claims as god's mercy, justice and love. These are
also affected and could be used to strengthen the
argument. Many of these are destroyed by considering
assertions A. - G and the resulting contradictions
these cause. But the idea is to use minimal number of
basic claims found in all major religious and
theological traditions. If these do the job of
disproving this class of gods, that is all we
need. Anything else is a luxury.
B. There are other attributes of god, that god is
eternal, infinite, that god is simple and that
god has always existed that are not important
for this discussion and for now, can be ignored.
They are secondary arguments and are for the most
part not foundational or truly necessary. Some
claims can be logically derived from the
attributes listed above or are destroyed by
discussion of the 8 attributes discussed above.
C. It does not mean we cannot later consider
such secondary claims as many are also rather
useful at showing this class of gods is
impossible. Some are rather amusing in this
regard. But they are secondary and not critical
for the main argument here. But some are peculiar
to one religion, for example Christian theologians
alone have the doctrine of god's simplicity.
7. CLASSES OF GODS
A. It is important to note here in 2., that this
is a definition not for a particular god, but an
entire class of gods. This is key to this
disproof which is designed to be general in nature.
B. If we disprove the entire class of gods by
examining the logical implications of a few
claims, all secondary claims are also destroyed.
We need not examine claims of god's simplicity or
whether god is immanent or transcendent or other
similar claims. We need not break down
omnibenevolence into secondary associated claims
such as such as mercy, justice, or implied claims,
though we might mention their destruction
in passing when appropriate, and damage done to
such concepts of damnation, or punishment or sin.
C. If we disprove a class of gods, those particular
gods belonging to that class are also disproven.
God of the bible, Allah, Hindu Ishvara.
If the class of omni-everything creator gods is
disproven these gods are disproven if we succeed.
All known gods and possible new or obscure gods
are all dealt with, we need not worry about a god
we have never heard of it it is of this class.
D. Tertiary claims are also likewise disproven.
Mohammad is not a prophet of god and Jesus was not
son of god. Moses did not meet god on the
mountain, God did not promise all of Canaan to
Abraham. God did not part the Red Sea. God does
not speak to prophets. Creationism based on Genesis
claims People's of the Book are to be subdued, or
that Allah sent revelations to Mohammad via angel
Gabriel are all irrelevant now.
E. Thus taking a general approach of disproving
classes of gods is efficient and far more effective
than trying to disprove particular gods one by one.
8. THE PROBLEMS OF AN OMNI-EVERYTHING, CREATOR GOD
The most basic problems are the problems of evil, and
free will. These start the collapse of the OEC class
of gods.
9. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.
The problem of evil was first written down by
Epicurus in about the third century BCE.
It is found in Christian writer Lactantius's
"Treatise on the Anger of God".
A basic formulation is:
A. God is defined as powerful
B. God is defined as as good.
C. Evil exists.
D. God therefore, is not powerful as claimed.
E. Or God is not good as claimed.
F. Or god is neither powerful or
good.
G. Or god is not existent.
It should be noted the original version as found
in Lactantius's "Treatise of the Anger of God" does
not use the words omnipotent or omnibenevolent,
these are much later restatements of the original
problem of evil which works just as well without
these terms. Later versions come basically from
David Hume's "Dialogues on Natural Religion"
posthumously published in 1779.
10. THE FREE WILL DEFENSE
A. The free will defense of the problem of evil
goes back to St. Augustine who popularized it. It
is still popular, and is championed most notably
today by Alvin Plantinga, but also by many other
theologians, old and modern.
B. God gave man free will. Man freely chooses to
do evil. Ability to do evil, having a free will,
is more important for god than lacking free will.
11. THE FREE WILL DEFENSE DISPROVEN. FIRST WAY
God has free will.
God is has a good nature
incapable of doing evil.
A. If god can have free will, and a good nature,
this good nature is not allowed to count
against god's free will.
B. Nor is god's lack of ability to do evil
allowed to count against god's omnipotence
C. Likewise, man could easily have a god-like
free will and a god-like good nature.
D. Inability then to do evil would no more count
against man's free will than it does for god's
free will.
E. If so, it also counts against god's free will
and god does not have free will as claimed.
F. If god does not have absolute and total free
will, thus free will is not a true necessity
at all.
F. If god is omnipotent and omnibenevolent, and
can give man a god like free will and a
god-like good nature incapable of moral evil,
god must do so or god is not moral, not
good.
G. Evil exists because he allows it to.
H. Thus since all evil exists because of god's choices
where evil may be eliminated it if god choses to act
means god is evil, a contradiction in claims about god.
a god taht is claimed to be all good cannot exist.

So god can have free will and a good nature and
still be said to have free will despite never
doing evil. Man can thus also have this and
inability to do evil is not a sign of lack of free
will. We both would have potential to do evil, but
simply don't. Here, the free will defense fails,
the problem of evil remains.
13 OMNISCIENCE VERSUS CREATORHOOD OF GOD
FREE WILL DISPROVEN, SECOND WAY.
God is defined as creator of all in these
religions.
And god is claimed to be omniscient, all knowing.
A. God created the Universe and all in it.
B. God is omniscient, all knowing, he knows all
in the Universe and he knows the future of the
Universe and its contents.
C. If god creates a Universe, he will know that
in 13 billion years this Universe will have a
man named John Smith in it.
D. If John Smith is good and saved, or evil and
damned, God will know that.
E. As he knows that the Universe in its present
state will have a John Smith, god may then
contemplate the future state of Smith and
decide if he will tolerate an evil Smith.
F. If yes, Smith will be evil only because of a
specific personal and will choice made solely
by god.
G. If Smith is evil, then evil exists solely
because of a choice made by god. In fact all
moral evil done by creations of god will be
evil and do evil only because of personal and
willful creations of god allowing evil acts
to be done, by direct decision of god.
H. If evil exists in a world with an omniscient
creator god, it is solely and only because
god allows evil.
I. If evil exists solely because of personal
choices of god, god then is not as defined,
omnibenevolent. A contradiction of assertions
about the nature of god.
J. Man and any other sentient being in such a
Universe cannot have any free will, not even
in principle. A Universe with a god that
creates all and knows all precludes free will
for all beings god creates in the strongest
possible manner.
14. OMNI-EVERYTHING GODS HAVE THUS SELF
DESTRUCTED.
A.The OEC class of gods is thus self destructive,
it is incoherent and contradictory as a theory
and such a god is impossible.
B. Further more such a situation makes god a
problematic idea. If there is no free will and if
thus god makes all decisions to the smallest
physical extent possible, at all times, then not
only is this god not good, but evil, a contradiction,
and it destroys all of this purported god's secondary
attributes. In such a universe, mercy, justice, god's
alleged love of mankind are all incomprehensible
nonsense. It makes no sense to create a man to do
evil acts and condemn him to eternal torment forever for
something god decided, not that man.
C. Any system of theology that claims god created
all and that god is omniscient, knowing the
future, faces this problem and dissolves into
total incoherent nonsense, a reductio ad absurdum
that makes a mockery of all religions based on a
god that is allegedly creator of all and
omniscient, knowing the future. As we will see,
omnipotence, time and creation will combine
(in future parts) to create a far more powerful
disproof of this class of gods.
15. THE SITUATION SO FAR.
1. A minimalistic class of gods is defined, this
Grand God has been defined here with as few
terms as possible.
2. The problem of evil dooms such a claimed god.
3. The attempted defense, free will is fatally
flawed. God's good nature and free will doom
claims free will makes evil necessary for man
to have free will.
4. Omniscience and creatorhood of god further
doom claims of god's omnibenevolence and
man's free will free will cannot exist for
man. All evil is the direct and knowing
creation of god contradicting claims of
omnibenevolence.
5. Since Free will for man is totally impossible,
free will cannot be a good quality, much less
necessary.
6. This destroys all other claimed secondary and
good attributes of god, mercy, justice, love.
16. GOD AND TIME.
A. Both Augustine and Boethius described god as
being transcendent to time, outside and beyond it.
Thus there is no past, present, or future to god,
all is now. Since all is now, god must have
create all things at once at once. Including
again, our every act, thought and inclination.
God is said to be out of time because otherwise he
must affected by time, which would mean he is not
as defined, all powerful or omnipotent. But this
means he is omniscient and again, we have no free
will.
B. As seen, explicit claims of omniscience, and
creatorship of god doom free will and more. Any
claim god is outside of time forces us to the
claim god is effectively omniscient.
C. But if we drop claims god is out of time and
now is affected by time, god cannot be as claimed,
omnipotent. And since omniscience, foreknowledge
of the future is important to the concept of
prophecy, that secondary assertion fails too.
Prophecy is a key concept of traditional religions
and theologies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
17. MANY SECONDARY AND LESSOR ATTRIBUTES ARE
DOOMED BY THE CONCEPT OF OMNIPOTENCE AND
CREATORSHIP OF GOD
A. If evil exists, god is evil. We have no free
will which means secondary attributes of God such
as mercy, love, justice are pretty meaningless
in face of a god that creates many of us morally
evil. Heaven, hell, damnation, sin, punishment,
salvation, nothing much makes any sense with such an
omniscient god. Augustine's free will defense of
God in face of Epicurus's problem of evil is
utterly undone by his claim god is sovereign over
time because he is all powerful, or omnipotent.
B. Besides these attributes being destroyed, this
destroys all religions that dogmatically claim
god is omniscient, creator of all and has these
secondary tributes.
C. This all calls all claims of revelation
in regard to revealed books into question.
18. TIME CONTRADICTS GOD'S CREATION OF ALL.
A. If we say god is omnipotent, all powerful, he
is outside of time then free will is impossible
and all else is simply an Universe utterly alien,
incoherent and mad and most certainly not anything
the great theological traditions tell us it is.
B. To avoid this, if we say god is not outside
of time, this then implies time is outside and
beyond god and he cannot have created it. Thus
contradicting claims of being the creator of all.
Especially ex nihilo as many religions claim.
C. Thus the another contradiction pops up
dooming a major claim, god created all. Theology
cannot keep the claim god is outside of time or
keep the claim god is subject to time, as then
they lose omnipotence and creatorship of the
entire universe as dogmatic claims.
19. Here, the OEC class of gods has collapsed.
As has theology and revealed religion itself as a
methodology. As pointed out, this destroys the
claims and viability of an entire class of
possible gods, all secondary and tertiary
claims for such a god of this class also
fail, as do dogmas or secondary or tertiary
claims based on real existance of this class
of gods in any way.
20. If this entire class of omni-everything
creator gods cannot exist as defined, specific
gods cannot, nor can claims such as this or that
Grand God sent this or that revelation to man or
some prophet or did this or that. This there are
no grounds to use these religions to deny rights
to say, homosexuals, or to claim Genesis myths are
true since they are god's word and thus evolution
must not be taught in schools.
21. This OEC class of gods is thus disproven and is
utter irrelevant to anything real and existant.
And this is not the last of the problems of the
class of Omni-everything gods that are creators
of all.
And there are more problems that will be
considered in other parts to come. Such as the
nature of logic, and the rules and laws of the
Universe.
(End of Part 1)
*************************************************
--

You are a fluke of the Universe
You have no right to be here,
and whether you can hear it or not,
the Universe is laughing behind your back.
Cheerful Charlie
.
User: "Gandalf Grey"

Title: Re: Is Atheism viable?Barwell DeBUNKED 19 Sep 2006 05:12:18 PM
"wcb" <wbarwell@mylinuxisp.com> wrote in message
news:12h0od9c1hp4ec1@corp.supernews.com...

Gandalf Grey wrote:


Well, since your original argument was fundamentally flawed and NOT true,



The only flaw

The first and fatal flaw is that you wrote it.

IS THERE A GOD? NO.
Strong Atheism's answer.
Part 1.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DEBUNKED ARGUMENT
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PSEUDO ARGUMENT HAS BEEN DEBUNKED FOR YOUR READING
SAFETY.


1. First of all, this proof "God" does not exist
is aimed at an entire class of gods, not particular
gods.


This remark alone is an explict admission that you've been lying up to
this point.


No, its just an admission I underestimated the intelligence
of SOME of my audience.

That's a lie. You explicitly stated originally that you had a simple proof
that no god can exist.
So now you're lying about it after failing to demonstrate such a proof.




This is the class of gods that are
omni-everything and creator of all. If I can
disprove an entire class of gods, all particular gods
that belong to that class are collectively disproven
too. This is an efficient, and sensible approach to
disproving god, by which I mean the god of major
religious and theological traditions.


No, it is not. Since your argument aims at attributes of God, not at the
existence of god per se. The god of the major traditions might still
exist apart from the attributes the theologians have ascribed to that
god.


1. Tom is a doctor.
2. Tom has never been to college and is illiterate
3. Since doctors are literate and have to attend college, Tom
is obviously not a doctor as claimed.

So what?
1. Bill exists.
2. It is said that Bill never picks his nose.
3. But Bill does pick his nose.j
4. Hence Bill does not exist????
Your argument fails. No single attribute or group of attributes necessarily
implies existence would be possible were it proved those attributes were
false.


What I do is point out that the class of omni-everything gods
similarly contains claims that disprove each other.

When are actually going to do that? You've failed to prove, for example
that omniscience cannot exist without omnipotence.
You keep making claims about what you're going to do, but you never actually
do it.


Naturally, all claim specific examples of that class likewise
are impossible.

Do you even know what the above sentence means?


You reek of stupidity and intellectual incapability.

Ad hom in place of a defence noted.


1. Bill Smith exists.
2. It is said by his admirers that Bill Smith always tells the truth.
3. But Bill Smith cannot always tell the truth.
4. Hence Bills Smith does not exist?????



That is just dumb. Just pathetic.

Ad homs 2 and 3
A particularly, glaringly stupid

strawman.

Ad hom 4
You have to be the most dishonest man I have met

on the net this month.

Ad hom 5
If you're done throwing your usual hysterical fit, answer the criticism.


A class of gods is said to be omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient and
creator of all.

Said by who? You? Who made you the decider of what a "class of gods" is
going to consist of.
And even if we give you your homegrown class of gods, you fail to prove
anything by it. The fact remains that any god within this class of gods
could still exist were it shown that one or a combination of the assertions
made about that god is not true.
Once again....

1. Bill Smith exists.
2. It is said by his admirers that Bill Smith always tells the truth.
3. But Bill Smith cannot always tell the truth.
4. Hence Bills Smith does not exist?????

If god creates all, and is omniscient, he knows what his creations will do
in the future. Any possible god must then examine each potential act and
all it to come to pass or something else to be substituted. he and olny
he creates or decides what is created.

Not necessarily. A creator god could know exactly what's going to happen in
a deterministic universe by simply knowing the beginning position of all
molecules and physical entities. That does not mean that god has to examine
each potential act and 'will it' to come to pass. Foreknowledge is not the
same as actively forcing everything to a particular end.

Free will cannot exist for man. Man can decide exactly nothing at all.

So? The same holds true in the deterministic world of the scientific
materialist.


Thus all evil is god's doing, personally and knowingly, all evils from
greatest to smallest.

Absurd. Foreknowledge does not imply personal responsibility. You presume
that omnipotence has to be a part of the mix. It doesn't. There's no
logical law that insists that a creator god must be all powerful.


Evil =/= omnibenevolent as explicitly claimed.

Claimed but nowhere proven. There's nothing about being all good that
implies that god can will evil out of existence. Again, you presume that
god must be omnipotent, but there's no logical necessity for this
conclusion.


All gods that are said to be omniscient and creator of all are thus
contradictory

Nope. You're utterly wrong. Omniscience nowhere implies creation, and both
together are not at all contradictory. You can assert it but you can't
prove it.

Omnibenevolent implies good and evil exist, do I have to make THAT
explicit
too, for the jerk squad? I think I shall just in case.

Ad hom 6. Who was the "King of Ad homs," again?


Omnipotence. Omnipotence mean all powerful. That means not
affected by other forces or powers. Time is does not affect god.

That presumes that Time is a "power." You have no justification in making
such a claim. Like most of your claims, it's rhetorical. Time could be
just as real for an omnipotent being as it is for any other being.

God is outside and transcedent to time.

Why?

Time does not affect god so
theer is thus no past, present, future. To god all is now.
Thus god created all at once in all its particulars to the smallest
physical
degree.

Not necessary and going way too far as a presumption. According to
materialistic determinism, the closest thing to a dogma in science, the only
thing necessary to bring all things to their present state is to arrange
them in a particular sequence at the beginning. Everything follows from
that. Hence God need not know the smallest physical particular of
everything, nor did everything have to be created at once.

Thus again, there is no free will and all evil acts are thus god's
doing.

There may in fact be no free will, but that is not necessarily god's doing.
All things that occur happen because of the initial state. If god is not
omnipotent, god is as powerless to prevent evil as anyone else. God may in
fact have foreknowledge, but that does not imply control.


Thus the class of all gods that are said to be omnipotent, are thus
transcedent to time, not bound by time, and thus free will cannot exist
mthus evil is all god's doing.

You haven't shown this. Omnipotence does not imply transcendence to time
because you haven't shown how time is a "power."
You fail again.
Do you see where you're going wrong yet?

All gods of the class of god that are omnipotent are thus all evil.

That may be true, but you haven't actually addressed the issue. You've
talked about the supposed contradiction of omnibenevolence and omniscience
while leaving omnipotence essentially untouched.

And "Bob's" yer uncle.

Irrelevent comment noted.



Thus the concept of a class of creators gods that are
omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent is impossible.

You haven't shown that.

And last but not least, little Gandalf flailing his arms futility as he
trails smoke and fire into the eternal pit of bad ideas and lack
of reasoning ability.

Ad hom 7 noted.

An obvious absurdity.

And so your argument fails. The fact that God cannot logically be
omnipotent in the extreme sense that the Christian tradition insists,
does
not in itself prove that God does not exist.


It does show the god that is indeed dogmatically claimed to be omnipotent
cannot exist.
Obviously.

Only in your preselected strawman universe. And as I've shown, you've
failed miserably even to prove your own handpuppet argument.
If you can't even prove a pre-selected, skewed strawman argument, how are
you possibly going to attack the real article, Barwell?

"Extreme sense" is your strawman.

For example Aquinas states god is only omnipotent in regards to real
thhings, not say bad definitiions like "unmarried batchelors".
I don't have to pick a strawman extreme omnipotence to do the job.

As demonstrated, you flop before you even make it to omnipotence.

Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, Brahamnistic Hinduism.
Some have complained that this does not disprove all
gods. True, but this is not meant to, it is meant
only to deal with the gods that are the main problem
for this world,


Another unsupported assertion. Nowhere does your original argument prove
this universal claim. Religion in general has caused tremendous
suffering
in the world, but your argument nowhere addresses this particular
problem.


Supported. You are being irrational here.

Bald assertion without support noted.



the gods of 4 1/2 billion believers.
The god that is the source of fundamentalism,
bigotry, fanaticism, anti-intellectualism and
backwardness. There are a few other classes of gods
but numerically by believers, these are not that
widespread or important.


According to whom? You may be competent to recognize what is
'widespread'
but who are you to decide what is "important?"


According to all with brains.

Dismissive reply noted. Where's your actual evidence? Where's your actual
defence?

for example, without religious idiots in the US would we be having
problems with creationists assaulting science teaching in schools, and in
may cases, all but gutting science education in backard states and cities?

I repeat...who are YOU to decide what is important?


You are a fool. and wrong.

Ad hom 8.


But it is possible to sort
them into a few classes of gods and likewise disprove
each class.


Which you have not done and cannot do. Hence, another lie on your part.


Which I do, stop lying, it makes the peanut gallery laugh at your
pretensions.

Ad hom 9. If you've done it, you should be able to point to it
specifically. You can't because you haven't and can't.


Here I am primarily looking at the class
of omni-everything creator gods. This does not mean
other classes of gods cannot also be likewise disproven.


And it doesn't mean they can be.


You lame and wrong opinion.
as if you know zip about it.

Ad hom 10


Or are totally unimportant. But basically the
omni-everything class of gods is so far above any
other god that once it is debunked, its hard to
step down to distinctly second rate gods.


Why is this so and why should it be so? 100s of years ago, the vast bulk
of
humanity believed that space was filled with an ether. Did this make the
fact that it was not filled with ether "unimportant?"


Non sequitur.

It's a perfect analogy. You're attempting to float the notion that the only
gods that need 'debunking' are the gods of the most powerful and numerous
religious traditions.
1. You havne't succeeded in debunking them
2. You haven't demonstrated why those particular gods are the only important
ones.
3. You haven't offered any rational basis upon which a god becomes "second
rate."






Its like
stepping down from a Cadillac to a bicycle.


Why? You're making a value judgement about something that you're
attempting
to prove or disprove. Hence, you're committing the naturalistic fallacy.



Fallacy.

Bald assertion without support noted. If it's a fallacy you should be able
to prove that it's a fallacy.



2. A BASIC DEFINITION THE CLASS OF GOD,
OMNI-EVERYTHING AND CREATOR OF ALL
Also known here as the Grand God of Grand Theology.

There is no evidence whatsover for god. All we
have to work from is claims, or assertions made
about god. I have chosen the following 8 as they are
all part of all great and large religions and
theological traditions of the world.


But mostly because you've decided that they are the weakest factors. In
other words, you still haven't attacked the assertion of God's existence,
only assertions concerning God's attributes.


I need only weak factors to work with and basically all basic claims of
this
class of god are indeed, weak,
Sorry, thems just the facts. All we have are weak assertions.

You've made one honest statement above. William Barwell NEEDS weak factors
to work with. This is the case because you can't handle stronger factors.


I mean, what facts are there that save omnipotence, omnibenevolnece
and omniscience, free will and this class of gods.
Nothing. Nothing at all.

Real existence is hardly "nothing." And, as noted, you've flopped trying to
debunk everything save omnipotence, and THAT is only because you've never
actually attempted to deal with it.



Most of 4 1/2
billion believers will agree with most of these,
and these are all dogmatic to most main religions.


Fallacy of composition. Not even all Christians agree with these points.


Most...

So what. That's precisely what makes it the fallacy of composition.
You keep smacking into that fallacy, and you keep embracing it as though it
were a great truth. All it is is a great mistake.


We will fid a few wimpy newage type salad bar christians and so on.
But conservatives, evangelicals, fundies and moslems mostly agree god is
omni-everything. Sorry.

Fallacy of *argumentum ad numerum*. I don't give much of a damn what most
people think. I give a damn about whether a logical proof is a logical
proof.
When are you going to come up with one.



If we can show these create contradictions, we can show that
the class omni-everything creator gods, the Grand God,
cannot exist.


No, you cannot. All you can prove is that any particular attribute is
illogical within that particular argument.



We can. You simply are wrong. As usual.

But you can't demonstrate why. Again, Barwell runs away from defending his
own argument.


All we have to work with are assertions
and logic.


Get on with it, Barlow.


Read faster.


The general overarching definition of god as per
the major religions of the world is:

A. God is personal, God has will and consciousness.
B. God has free will.
C. God is the creator of all.
D. God is omnipotent.
E. God is omnibenevolent.
F. God is omniscient.
G. God is that which nothing more powerful
can be imagined.

These are the basic attributes that can be claimed
for the god of orthodox Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, and Hinduism.


1. you're utterly wrong about the beliefs that form Hinduism and
obviously
have no idea what the hell you're talking about.


I do, you do not.

Hinduism does not incorporate all the characteristics you list, you fool.
Hinduism is not even monotheistic.



2. Judaism is NOT Christianity, and you're attributing to the one what is
strictly true only of the other.



I didn't say it was, did I?.

These are the basic attributes that can be claimed
for the god of orthodox Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, and Hinduism.

You lied again.,

These are the basic attributes that can be claimed
for the god of orthodox Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, and Hinduism.

Strawman, reading comprehension problem, basic inability to read and
understand simple english sentence written at a 6th grade level for your
reading pleasure.

Ad hom 11


3. The same can be said for Islam.


Omnibenevolence and omniscience are actually
logically derivable from the claimed attribute of
omnipotence and so aren't not truly independent
attributes, and may be considered special aspects
of omnipotence.


No they aren't and you can't prove that they are. There is no logical
reason that a being could not be omnibenevolent without being omnipotent.
The same is true of omniscience. Neither knowledge nor goodness are
power, hence neither omnibenevolence nor omniscience are Omnipotence.


Sighhhhhhhhhh. Omnipotence means all powerful. Including logically,
omniscience, and the power of being morally perfect and more.

Sorry, omniscience and omnibenevolence are not necessary attributes of
omnipotence. They aren't even implied by omnipotence. Some of the kindest
people in the world are relatively powerless.

Simply wrong. You are not logical nor thinking.

Bare assertion, unsupported by an argument or facts.

Since being evil is by all accounts of theology a defect, god cannot have
defects because then he is not all powerful.

Circular argument. Plus being flat out wrong.
1. All accounts of theology do not account evil as a defect in god, only in
man. Many accounts of god attribute the direct creation of evil to god.
2. Evil is considered a defect in man by the major theologies, not a defect
in god.


This is old dogma.

Dogma that you have no understanding of judging from your arguments.


We're beginning to see that your argument is as fallacious in its details
as it was in its major presumption.



We see you are still wrong about everything

Then you should be able to present arguments and facts as to why I'm wrong,
not a dozen ad homs and unsupported assertions.
So far, you've made no defense of your argument, Barlow.




3. We can abstract a class of gods, omni-everything,
creator gods from these 8 characteristics.


Except that you haven't proved the 8 characteristics at this point.


You are obviously a goofball.
1. God is personal, god has conciousness and will
2. God is intelligent
3. God has free will
4. God created all
5. God is omnipotent
6. God is omniscient
7. God is omnibenevolent
8. God is that which is so great, nothing greater
can be imagined.

All are dogmatic among these basic religious traditions.

1. No they aren't.
2. No one of them, nor any group of them has anything to do with the
existence of God.
Let's go back to our analogous argument.

1. Bill Smith exists.
2. It is said by his admirers that Bill Smith always tells the truth.
3. But Bill Smith cannot always tell the truth.
4. Hence Bills Smith does not exist?????

This is your basic problem. Even a malicious creep like Martin McPhillips
could see it. You're attempting to prove something about the EXISTENCE of
god by making a mess of attacking arguments ABOUT God.







5. CLASSES OF GODS

It is important to note here in 2. that this is a
definition not for a particular god, but an
entire class of gods. This is key to this disproof
which is general in nature.


Except that your list is both incomplete and internally illogical as I've
shown.


6. If we disprove the entire class of gods by examining
the logical implications of a few claims, all secondary
claims are also destroyed.


1. That's not necessarily true.
2. You haven't disproved the entire class.


we are about t get there, stop squawking and keep reding.

Give me something of value to read.



We need not examine claims of god's simplicity or whether
god is immanent or transcendent or other similar claims.


Which you can't begin to do.


I could, its for another time.

Classes of transcedent or immanent gods go away when
they are claimed to be of class of omni-everything anyway.
Other problems go away automatically, following them in flames
the hole of bad ideas.

You haven't shown this to be the case as demonstrated above. Since you
haven't succeeded in dealing with the 8 points you mention, you obviously
can't dismiss derivative claims.


Siggghhhhhhhh. This isn't going anywhere, is it?
Waste of my time to see you failing to think.

Ad hom 12. When are you actually going to present a logical argument,
Barwell?


We need not break down omnibenevolence into secondary
associated claims such as such as mercy, justice, or
implied claims, though we might mention their destruction
in passing when appropriate, and damage done to such
concepts of damnation, or punishment or sin.


Such destruction as you have NOT caused, due to the flaws mentioned
above.


7. If we disprove a class of gods,


But so far you haven't.

9. THE FOUR GREAT THEOLOGICAL TRADITIONS

Again, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism hold
to this basic Grand God and are typical Grand
Theologies holding to this basic class of god as
their basic definitions of what god is at god's
most basic level.

Hinduism does not. It is not Christianity or Judaism or Islam. Islam is
not Christianity. Christianity is not Judaism. Their claims about god are
distinctly different. And even if we assume that your 8 points about god
are representative of SOMETHING, you haven't made a successful claim about
any one of them much less all of them.


But I've shown that they do not hold to the god you've constructed, nor
are they equivalent to each other.

I chose these since the majority of
believers 4 1/2 billion approximately belong to these
traditions and related religions and sects.


Fallacy of *argumentum ad numeran* It makes no difference how many
people
believe what. A proof is supposed to address truth, not popular opinion.
At this point, you've failed to even accurately describe what the major
beliefs believe in. You're certainly in no position to make statements
about the importance of those beliefs taken as an illigitimate group.

I see that you agree that you've committed the *argumentum ad numeran* as
you offer not even an ad hom in its defense.


10. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.

The problem of evil was first written down by
Epicurus in about the third century BCE.
It is found in Christian writer Lactantius's
Treatise on the Anger of God.

A basic formulation is:
A. God is defined as powerful
B. God is defined as as good.
C. Evil exists.
D. God therefore, is not powerful as claimed.
E. Or God is not good as claimed.
F. Or god is neither powerful or
good.
G. Or god is not existant.


Not a true representation of the argument. The argument does not prove
that
god does not exist UNLESS god must be powerful and good as asserted. And
even then, even assuming that god must be either good or powerful, god
might
not be the one and still be the other. Therefore the argument from evil,
which reaches its most powerful form much later than the pre-socratics
that
you seem to be limited to, does not prove the non-existence of god. It
only
proves that god cannot be both ALL-powerful and all good. If god were
simply powerful, god might not be powerful enough to eliminate evil. The
true argument claims that god is omnipotent, that god could unilaterally
prevent the occurance of evil in the world if god wanted to. The further
assumption that god must be infinitely good creates a god that MUST want
to create a world in which no actual evil exists.

Hence, the original form of the argument does not prove a thing. The
final form of the argument only proves that IF a god MUST be, by
definition BOTH infinitely good and infinitely powerful, then such a god
is a logical contradiction.

[argument from free will clipped since it derives from your fallacious
presentation of the argument from evil]

I see that you agree with my criticism of your lame argument from evil,
since you offer no defence.


13 OMNISCIENCE VERSUS CREATORHOOD OF GOD
FREE WILL DISPROVEN PART 2.

Obviously you bow to my criticisms in the remainder of your screed, as you
offer no defense.


God is defined as creator of all in these
religions.
And god is claimed to be omniscient, all knowing.


Not in all of the religions you've named. Thus your argument fails right
here.


A. God created the Universe and all in it.
B. God is omniscient, all knowing, he knows all
in the Universe and he knows the future of the
Universe and its contents.


In some traditions.

C. If god creates a Universe, he will know that
in 13 billion years this Universe will have a
man named John Smith in it.


This is not omniscience vs. creatorhood. There is no necessary reason
that a creator logically must also know the full details of all possible
futures.

D. If John Smith is good and saved, or evil and
damned, God will know that.
E. As he knows that the Universe in its present
state will have a John Smith, god may then
contemplate the future state of Smith and
decide if he will tolerate an evil Smith.
F. If yes, Smith will be evil only because of a
specific personal and will choice made solely
by god.
G. If Smith is evil, then evil exists solely
because of a choice made by god. In fact all
moral evil done by creations of god will be
evil and do evil only because of personal and
willful creations of god allowing evil acts
to be done, by direct decision of god.
H. If evil exists in a world with an omniscient
creator god, it is solely and only because
god allows evil.


Non sequitur. An omniscient god that is not omnipotent might not have a
choice as to whether to allow evil or not.

I. If evil exists solely because of personal
choices of god, god then is not as defined,
omnibenevolent.


Non sequitur. You haven't proved that evil necessarily exists due to
god's
choice. If god is not omnipotent, evil may exist regardless.

J. Man and any other sentient being in such a
Universe cannot have any free will, not even
in principle. A Universe with a god that
creates all and knows all precludes free will
for all beings god creates in the strongest
possible manner.


Non sequitur. Mere knowledge does not imply control. God might know
everything that is knowable and still not know the future, or god might
know everything including all possible futures [though I doubt it].
Nevertheless, the fact that god knows everything does not logically imply
that God denies free will to actors in the world. In a purely
deterministic universe, which is a scientific materialistic assumption,
there is also no
such thing as true 'free will'. What does god's foreknowledge of such a
universe have to do with the actual precluding of free will? Simply
knowing that the universe is predetermined is to know that there can be
no
such thing as true free will, but knowing and causing are two different
things. Your argument implies that if a scientist believes that the
universe is deterministic and the scientist is right, then the scientist
is responsible
for destroying free will. That's an absurdity.


The Grand God of Grand
Theology is thus self destroying,


Not from what you've shown.

THE SITUATION SO FAR.

1. A minimalistic class of gods is defined, this
Grand God has been defined here with as few
terms as possible.


Actually, you've been as wordy as you can be in order to cover the
numerous logical flaws in your argument.

2. The problem of evil dooms such a claimed god.


As I've shown, it does not.

3. The attempted defense, free will is fatally
flawed.


As I've shown, free will or its absence need have nothing to do with god
one way or another.

4. Omniscience and creatorhood of god further
doom claims of god's omnibenevolence


No they don't, as I've shown. In fact, as I've shown, they have nothing
to do with one another.

man's free will free will cannot exist for
man.


If this is true, it need have nothing to do with god.

All evil is the direct and knowing
creation of god contradicting claims of
omnibenevolence.


You haven't even begun to show that. You haven't even addressed it.
Hence, I can only presume that you've pulled that claim out of thin air.

5. Since Free will for man is totally impossible,
free will cannot be a good quality, much less
necessary.


Again, you havne't demonstrated that.


14. GOD AND TIME.

Both Augustine and Boethius described god as being
transcendent to time, outside and beyond it.
Thus there is no past, present, or future to god,
all is now. Since all is now, god must have
create all things at once at once.


Again, you're conflating terms. Here you conflate timelessness and
creation when you haven't proved that both must be necessary attributes
of
a god.

Any explicit claims of omniscience, and creatorship of god
doom free will and more. Any claim god is outside of time
forces us to the claim god is effectively omniscient.


1. you haven't doomed free will.
2. Being outside of time is not a necessary corollary much less a cause
of
omniscience.


15. If evil exists, god is evil.


Another assertion out of left field. Please show your proof of this
assertion. You've not even addressed this question to this point.

We have no free will which
means secondary attributes of God such as mercy, love, justice
are pretty meaningless in face of a god that creates many
of us morally evil.


If such a god existed, that might be true. But you offer no evidence to
suggest that god must have had a choice in the fine details of creation.
I.e., you haven't offered proof that god must be omnipotent. Hence, your
derived assumptions that he must not be merciful, loving or just, are
what
is truly meaningless here.

Heaven, hell, damnation, sin, punishment,
salvation, nothing much makes with such an omniscient god.


How so? How does Omniscience imply any of the above?

Augustine's free will defense of God in face of Epicurus's
problem of evil is utterly undone by his claim god is sovereign
over time because he is all powerful.


You haven't shown this to be the case.


16. TIME AND GOD'S CREATION OF ALL.
If we say god is omnipotent, all powerful, he is outside
of time and free will is impossible and all else is simply an
Universe utterly alien, incoherent and mad and most certainly
not anything the great theological traditions tell it it is.


That does not follow. The fact that Augustine said that god is all
powerful and outside of time, does not mean that god is either all
powerful or outside of time, OR that either of these attributes are
necessary attributes
of god. Omnipotence does not imply being outside of time. Being outside
of time does not imply omnipotence.

And if to avoid this we say god is not outside of time, this
implies time is outside and beyond god and he cannot have
created it. Thus contradicting claims of being the creator of
all. Especially ex nihilo as many religions claim.


Not all religions make a ex nihilo claim.


17. Here, the Grand God of Grand Theology has
collapsed.


Apparently not, since you haven't made an argument that would lead to
such
a collapse.

As has Grand Theology.


1. Only the Grand Theology that you deliberately made up out of a
patchwork, skewed selection of elements would be impacted by even that
small part of your lengthy argument that was actually valid.

2. Since no such theology exists save in your skewed list, it cannot be
said that you've said much of anything about the major tenets of Western
Theology.

3. Your argument seems to be an argument about what you think is most
popular in most of theology.

4. Since what you think is most popular is not even representative of all
the world's MAJOR theologies [you haven't even touched the dogma of
hinduism] your argument is at best a strawman.

5. As has been shown, you're points are mostly non-sequiturs even against
the trumped up list you've created.

In short, your argument is a strawman, and you haven't even succeeded in
debunking your own strawman.

As pointed out,
this destroys the claims and viability of an
entire class of possible gods, all secondary and
tertiary claims for such a god of this class also
fail, as do dogmas or secondary or tertiary
claims hanging off this class of gods in any way.

18. If a this entire class of omni-everything creator gods
cannot exist as defined, specific gods cannot


Once again, you're attempting to slip in a general statement about any
specific god when you haven't even made a successful argument against the
strawman god you've created.

Your argument fails, even in this altered version, in both its specific
and its general claims.

In summary of part 1, your argument fails on every level, Barwell.
Regardless of
whether you zero in on particular attributes of god, or you move out to a
general view, you've failed to prove your assertion that ANY class of god
can be disproven by anything you've come up with to this point.

DOES GOD EXIST? STRONG ATHEISM'S ANSWER - NO.

1. OMNIGENESIS, DETERMINISM, FREE WILL,
METAPHYSICAL CHAOS AND THEOLOGICAL NIHILISM.

Omni - all, genesis - creation.
Omnigenesis = creation of all.

Here I shall coin a word for further discussion.
Omnigenesis means creation of all, to the smallest
physical detail.

Actually it doesn't. It means simply all creation. As thus, it doesn't
imply a god per se.
Also it doesn't imply anything beyond creation. Many native myths and
religions are also based on a creator god who is not omnipotent, omniscient,
and so on.

If god is in any way omniscient,
and creator of all, then he in fact creates all

Translation: If god creates all, god creates all.
Not terribly insightful, Mr. Barwell.

, omnigenesis,
to the smallest detail,

Non sequitur. God does not have to create the smallest detail of all things
in order to "create all." Even taking god completely out of the picture,
the big bang is one theory on how initial conditions could begin a process
that includes the present condition of the universe. It would be absurd to
assert that the big bang created all in the finest detail, although it would
not be absurd [if the big bang existed] to assert that the big bang created
all.
Your argument therefore fails at this point in the following manner.
1. God creates all.
2. God is omniscient.
3. If god creates all, god must create every detail of everything created.
The argument above does not follow logically.
all of creation to the smallest

quantum level material, to the smallest Planck quantum
distance, Planck quantum time, dimensions, fields,
everything, all of it. All that is, was, and shall be and can be.
At higher levels emergent qualities arising from these
basics create our physical world and us. It creates us,
our actions, our consciousness, feelings, nature, mental
inclinations and surrounding environment. One man may
be a lawyer in California, another an illiterate peasant
in Bangladesh. One man may be good, another an evil
psychopath. Omnigenesis means god creates all things
and all of this and all men's actions and existance
to the smallest details.

Since I've already demonstrated that the above is not a logical implication
of 'creation' as creation, the only thing you're left with is the "argument
by assertion," the fallacy that contends that an argument consists of merely
repeating unsupported or illogical assertions.
In other words, what you're really saying is God created everything down to
the finest detail because Barwell says that god created everything down to
the finest detail.


It removes all possibility of free will.

Of course it doesn't. It doesn't remove all possibility of free will,
because it is not a logical consequence of creation.
At this point you're tacking free will as another assertion onto your
original argument by assertion.
Since your original argument is illogical and does not follow from the
initial premise, this additional conclusion does not follow either.


2. THE OMNISCIENT, CREATOR GOD

God creates all, all our acts, inclinations, personalty,
to the smallest detail. This is extreme determinism.

No it's not. Hard determinism does not require god at all.

3. Omnigenesis destroys free will utterly and totally.

As I've shown, that does not follow from your initial premise. A god that
creates all does not logically imply a god that creates every detail.


This destroys compatibilism,

This could only be written by someone who has no understanding of
compatibilism. Even if your argument were valid, which it is not, classic
compatibilism does not deal with anything other than external constraint.
Unless your creator god restrains his creation physically from performing
actions, this god does not undermine classic compatibilism.
Therefore free will does not mean what you evidently believe it means,
because "will" is not effected by classic arguments of compatibilism and
determinism.

the doctrine god creates
all but we have free will, and even though god knows what
we do, he does not interfere with our free will to choose
what we do. Many people hold this doctrine is incoherent
and impossible that knowing what we do destroys free will.

Another argument by assertion. "Many people" hold many things to be true.
Interested students should note that this is a recurring theme in weak
arguments. The proponent of the argument states that many people assert
that something is true and then attempts to move on, hoping that the
objection has been dealt with. It is in effect the Appeal to Popular
Opinion in one of its forms. Mr. Barwell, would have to actually explain
how these "many people" have made a valid argument to uphold his assertion.
As always, assertions are not arguments.


But omnigenesis makes that argument moot anyway, we can
have no sort of free will at all and thus no sort of
compatibilism can be true. Compatibilism is now irrelevant
and meaningless as a dodge to exlain way free will
vs God's foreknowlege of the future.

But, as has been demonstrated before,
1. God or no god, compatibilism is problematic to modern notions of "free
will." Hence, god need have nothing to do with "free will"
2. Your entire argument to this point is flawed, hence, your so-called
"omnigenesis" has nothing to do with free will because there is no such
thing as omnigenesis as you've described it.

God knows the future because he knowingly creates its every
tinyest detail.

Unsupported and uncalled for assertion based on your own initial premesis.


4. THERE ARE 3 ASPECTS OF CREATOR GODS
OMNIGENESIS FORCES US TO CONSIDER.

Since omnigenesis as it occurs in your argument is a fallacious concept, it
doesn't "force us" to consider anything.


A. The Clock maker, determinate universe, and foreknowledge

This is idea that god is omniscient, has foreknowledge
of the future because the universe is determinate.
That god somehow winds up the Universe and lets it go
and it goes on unfolding in a determinate manner.
Laplace's demon is said to be able to know the future
relying on determinism like this. God is theorized
as just a sort of Laplacian demon here. This god created a
determinate Universe and knows the future since he can
calculate the future state of the Universe from a starting
state due specifically to the determinate quality of
the Universe.

But omnigenesis means there is no wind up universe
that unfolds,

And omnigenesis is unproven because your argument is flawed, hence the
'deist' god of the clockwork universe is quite possible.

B. God and omnipotence and time.

If god is omnipotent,or even just magnipotent, greatly
powerful, he is beyond being affected by mundane
things. Time does not affect god,

What forces "Time" to be a "mundane thing" ?
If time is not a mundane thing, how is it that you can know that time cannot
effect God?

But again its omnigenesis. God creates all. And there
is no past, future all is now. Thus all is created at
once, now, in all its finest details. We are back to
omnigenesis as above.

And omnigenesis cannot be true according to your own initial premises.


We are driven there

Only by your repeated assertions, not by logical necessity. That is why
your argument fails.

C. Omnigenesis - Creator of all and Omniscience
As seen above in 2., a god that is simple said to
be creator of all and omniscient even with no
particular theory how he knows all, out of time,
or creates a determinate word that unfolds, no
theory as to how he knows all, also dooms free will
in the strongest manner possible. Just the fact this
god is omniscience and creates all is sufficient
to create omnigenesis and doom all free will.

But the doom of free will isn't necessitated by the existence of any kind of
god.
Here again, your argument fails to account for how god directly needs to be
involved in the failure of free will in a logical sense. Since it is not
necessary for god to create all particulars in order to create all, it is
not necessary for god to have anything to do with free will.


D. Three theories of creation, omniscience
1. Deterministic, clock maker style Universe.
The theoretical deterministic prime mover's world.
2. Omniscient - creator god.
3. Omnipotent god transcendent to time.

All 3 theories lead to total omnigenesis.

Of course they don't. Your theory of omnigenesis is flawed. Therefore
nothing but your own flawed thinking "leads to it."

5. OMNIGENESIS AND METAPHYSICAL NIHILISM

God is alleged all good, totally good, omniscient,
creator of all. And the omni-everything creator
class of gods including the gods of Judaism, Islam,
Christianity and others have these attributes explicitly,
and also have other attributes.

1. Your class of gods has already been proven not to exist in anything other
than your mind in many other essays.
2. Significant differences exist in the beliefs you list as to the
attributes of god.
3. Since your theory doesn't work concerning "omnigenesis," if follows that
your theory won't work for a class of gods anymore than it works for a
single god. It does not work for any single god, even the one you've
attempted to invent. Therefore, it does not work for any class of gods
other than the class of gods that contains exactly one god, which is the god
you invented.

Heaven, hell, sin, salvation, damnation lose all
coherent sense and meaning. Where is love in
creating one man evil and many his victims?
How can that be loving, merciful or just?

The above is a pale attempt at summoning the ghost of the Argument from
Evil. Nothing you've written above is implied by your flawed theory of
'omnigenesis' even if your theory was correct.
Again, you've essentially constructed an argument by assertion alone.
Arguments consist of more than assertion, Mr. Barwell.

6. SOULS

And supposedly this god creates souls,

Which is also unnecessary from the premises leading to 'omnigenesis.'
Hence your remarks on souls do not follow from your premises.

7. CHAOS, NIHILISM, IRRATIONALITY, UNREALITY OF ALL

We achieve then total, absolute, furious metaphysical nihilism.

Not in any fashion you've described.
1. Your argument does not imply nihilism as a conclusion.
2. God is not necessary for nihilism to exist.

This is In the end, taken to their logical ends are all
theology religion, and omni-everything, creat