Why God Is Impossible

Prayer

Prayer is a topic covered often by atheists, but it still bears discussing. 

There are several kinds of prayer. As far as I can tell, they can be covered in three sections. The first is the phenomenon of asking God for something, the definition treated by many atheists to be synonymous with prayer. the second is almost the opposite, prayer as means of learning what God wants you to do: the third and final is similar, prayer as a way of simply becoming closer with God.

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Fine-Tuned Universe

I briefly brought up this point while discussing the argument from first cause. In that case, I explained the so-called ‘fine-tuning’ of the universe by saying that a generic cause to the universe, whatever it is, is highly unlikely to stop working, and so would result in a multiverse: multiple universes making it easily likely some would allow for life. 
Some people find a few issues with a multiverse, but they generally seem to hinge on a misunderstanding of what it actually is. 

Personally, I accept the idea of a multiverse. Let’s move past it, though: is it possible to explain the apparent fine-tuning of the universe, in a situation where this is the only universe that exists?

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Free Will

Many religions require some form of free will, the definition usually relying on some variation of 
People are able to control their own actions
Usually to allow for some kind of retributive punishment or judgement, or as a response to the problem of evil. However, this definition is impossible; something that can seem surprising at first, but is fairly simple to demonstrate. 

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Near Death Experiences, Take Two

I’ve already made a general overview of Near Death Experiences, and why they make no case for an afterlife of any kind. I didn’t cover each sort of argument used, as there are so many. Still, none are convincing, that I’ve seen, so it’s worth revisiting the topic. 

Last time I covered a scientific basis for them, showing easily that they’re possible under an atheistic worldview and need not require an afterlife, and pointed out some theological difficulties with the idea. 
This time I’ll deal more with why so many people report broadly similar events, and why some atheists have also experienced them. 

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The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Revisited

I think possibly the longest post I’ve made for this blog, was on the resurrection of Jesus Christ: how, as a historical event, evidence for it was sorely lacking. Still, it’s meant to be the definitive argument for Christianity, so I’ve been making sure to look at any evidence that’s also put forward in support of the resurrection. 

Recently, I watched through Lee Strobel’s documentary, The Case for Christ; the story of his conversion from atheism to Christianity, and the justification for it. It’s an interesting documentary, and did bring up a few issues I hadn’t dealt with before. For this reason, I’m revisiting the topic. In this post, I’ll look at:

1. The Reliability of the Bible and Gospel Testimony
2. The Empty Tomb
3. Messianic Prophecy

With a few references to the documentary thrown in, just to demonstrate how the points are made. Still, this and the previous post should successfully show that there is no reason to believe the resurrection occurred. 

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First Cause

I honestly can’t believe this argument is used so often. Look up any attempted proof of God, and the odds are you’ll see some variation of this point. 
It’s put many different ways, from the Islamic (yet ironically favoured by Christian William Lane Craig) Kalam, to Aquinas’ multiple formulations. Ultimately it’s some expression of the question ‘if all things need a cause, what is the uncaused cause that must necessarily be the First Cause of the universe?’
The answer is meant to be God.  

We’ll go past the ‘what created God?’ response to this argument, as it really just shifts the level. 
The ‘which God?’ argument is more on the right lines; though the argument itself isn’t meant to establish a specific religion, the point of the question is key. How can so much be read from ‘something behind the universe’?
Even granting some cause to the Big Bang, why believe it to be even sentient? 

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On Personal Experience

By far one of the most common explanations of belief is ‘I have personal experience of God’, taking numerous different forms. 
Some claim to have felt a signal, some say they’ve felt God’s presence. I’ll dwell on God’s presence here, as the other kinds are generally covered by this. 
So, what can we say about God’s presence?

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Divine Command Theory

An attempt to justify atrocities perpetrated or encouraged by a deity in numerous religions. It dwells on part of the definition of God: that it is apparently the pinnacle of goodness, and so when it issues a divine command, that too must be good. 
There are two grounds that this can stand up on, that I can think of, the stronger of the two positions making the title of this ‘theory’ rather questionable. Nonetheless, we’ll examine each of these. 

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Near Death Experiences

Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) are often hailed as evidence of an afterlife: when someone comes so close to death as to appear lifeless for a little time, sometimes they speak of viewing some kind of world beyond death. 
This could indeed be heavily convincing evidence, if that was the only side there was to look at. We will however examine the likelihood of an afterlife demonstrated by NDEs, on three grounds:

1. The Role of Expectations
2. Theological Implications
3. Scientific Explanations

None of this would make impossible the viewing of heaven via NDEs, though the second point may raise an issue. It does however make assuming an afterlife as an explanation completely unnecessary. 

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The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

On historical sources, and the Bible: whether it counts as a historical source, and what it says in any case. Specific sources brought up; I’ve done quite a bit of research on this topic. Though it was quickly discussed here, it’s a point on which an entire religion can stand or fall: and one of the few arguments that are for Christianity alone. It merits more discussion.
So, in any case, is it reasonable to suppose the resurrection of Jesus Christ occurred?

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Why do you believe?

Can be faith, can be anything. I’m not aiming to criticize with this post, I’m just interested in learning for future reference. For believers in God, why do you believe?

Heaven: Justification.

A while ago, I made this post. Rereading it, I’ve realized I did little to explain myself. I’ll just quickly remedy that here. 

In essence: will any human go to heaven?
The answer is, essentially, no.

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Universal Significance

This point is relevant to so much, even beyond religion. There are a few things which, almost invariably, will mean something. Examples in religion include prophecy, ‘Bible Code’, and all kinds of answered prayers. 
The point is, nearly all the time, similar things will be seen to have the same kind of meaning, regardless. That probably doesn’t make much sense. 

Take numbers, for one example. Perhaps numerology, perhaps the idea that the Bible having 66 books makes it satanic: whatever the case, looking at the kind of charts used to read significance into numbers, every number has some meaning. Every single one. All the seemingly impressive meanings read into something, no matter what the number is, there’ll be another meaning, no doubt with some other justifiable relevance. 

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Die For A Lie

The basis of this argument for God is that the founding figures of a religion died for their beliefs: when, if they were the inventors of that religion, they’d know it to be false. 
Commonly used in defence of Jesus’ resurrection: but really, only Mormons should use it. Looking at the LDS Church, the founders were killed for creating the Mormon religion: surely they would have recanted had they thought it to be a fiction?
If a non-Mormon uses the argument, then they need to provide a reason why their own argument doesn’t convince them of the truth of the LDS Church. 

In any case, the argument falls because of the quantity of assumptions made. 

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