When you say you believe in God you will undoubtedly hear a skeptic ask the question “can you prove God exists”. Of course, no matter what you offer them in terms of proof or evidence will ever satisfy their request. They will argue go on and on that what you offered isn’t “evidence” or “proof” for your conclusion.
Ironically, this is because they believe in God already and are just suppressing the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18-19). They don’t want there to be a God because then they will have to submit to His Lordship.
So, Whattaya Do?
I would simply answer that without God you can’t prove anything.
God provides the basic preconditions of intelligibility.
He provides the foundation for the laws of logic, the foundation for the uniformity of the universe, and the objective foundation for morality.
Without God, these preconditions do not exist and your worldview is reduced to absurdity. Without God, your conclusions are arbitrary!
So, God exists because of the impossibility of the contrary. Wait, huh?
Imagine every time you claim something is true, you would also have to prove that the laws of logic exist, and haven’t changed, since the last time you made a truth claim.
The skeptic presupposes that the laws of logic exist, are universal, and constant every time he makes a truth claim without evidence that those laws exist and haven’t changed.
The skeptic presupposes the uniformity of nature in every scientific claim he makes with no basis for that uniformity. He has no basis for believing that the future will be like the past in an ever changing, random universe and therefore presupposes uniformity.
The skeptic presupposes a moral standard every time he claims that the God of the bible is evil with no basis for the objective moral standard he uses.
The simple fact of the matter is that the skeptic lives in a Christian world and uses the tools given to him by God to deny God. He has to sit in God’s lap in order to slap Him in the face. The skeptic cannot consistently live in his naturalistic worldview without assuming the existence of God, or be left to absurdity and arbitrariness.
In fact, every time the skeptic asks for proof, he enters the Christian worldview and proves his own worldview false!
The skeptic assumes logic, uniformity,
and morality with no basis for any of them.
So, without God you can’t prove anything.
And now you know Whattaya Do. Thanks for asking.
Great job, thanks!
I do not believe deep down (and if I did I would refuse to worship your god anyway), logic is simply how we describe our systems of reasoning (not “laws” to be created), and when I say your god is evil I am using my own moral standards (i.e. I personally find your god to be evil).
But, even supposing what you wrote here makes sense and assuming that there must be a creator we call a god(s), giving you all of that, this fails to make a case for your god in particular or even for monotheism.
Thanks for the comment Bradley. I think you recognize that our system of reasoning has rules – what philosophers call laws of logic. We agree that these laws weren’t created, yet they exist and govern reasoning. Laws do not form themselves, they come from law givers and thus we conclude a personal law giver, or God.
You using you own moral standard to judge God is evidence that you believe a moral standard exists – you can recognize good and evil. That’s good and we agree on it. However, what we disagree on is the grounds of your moral standard. If there is no ultimate standard, then there is no true good or evil – it would just be our preferences like chocolate or vanilla. However, if there are things that are evil regardless of what humanity decides, then there must be an objective moral law which necessitates a law giver that does not change. That is further evidence of God.
If you are an atheist and recognize that morality and logic exist, the first thing you would have to do is determine the foundation that those things rely on. Are they subjective or objective? In a universe that was randomly generated and governed only by the laws of physics, why is anything moral or immoral?
Thanks for reading and responding. The last part of your question is answered in the last NY Minute segment here: https://www.newyorkapologetics.com/god-is-one-ny-minute-monday/