The Christian God is personal and not merely philosophical

I shall rebut a few of con's opening statements: 1. Allah is also omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipotent given that people define him that way as is the Jewish God. This definition can be applied even to a deist God. Con failed to demonstrate how this strictly applies to the Christian God. 3. Wrong, it would be the theology of it. Theology is the study of who God is and not of his existence which is the concern of philosophy (1). My opponent presents the ontological argument as proof that God exists however he did not define precisely which God exists which is the problem that Christians, Jews, Muslims, and any other religious person face when attempting to prove that God exists using the moral argument, ontological argument, cosmological argument, list goes on. You may successfully prove that God exists but inevitably you did not prove that YOUR God exists. What did those philosophical arguments accomplish? Nothing unless you want to support a philosophical definition of an impersonal God. I'll now explain the flaws of the ontological argument. The argument is as follows (2): 1.By definition, God is a being than which none greater can be imagined. 2.A being that necessarily exists in reality is greater than a being that does not necessarily exist. 3.Thus, by definition, if God exists as an idea in the mind but does not necessarily exist in reality, then we can imagine something that is greater than God. 4.But we cannot imagine something that is greater than God. 5.Thus, if God exists in the mind as an idea, then God necessarily exists in reality. 6.God exists in the mind as an idea. 7.Therefore, God necessarily exists in reality. The first premise is "i cannot imagine a being greater than God" but you imagined God into existence. The main problem is that you did not define precisely what God is or even if it is a being at all. It's also entirely subjective. Perhaps you could not imagine a being greater than God because you lack a great imagination, i don't know. The other problem is that "Greater" is not defined. What would it mean for a being to be greater? It's entirely subjective. I can claim that my mother is greater than my grandmother simply because she cooks better. Is greater defined by majesty? Skills? Abilities? Attributes? It's not precisely defined. Last, you imagined God into existence which is entirely subjective and not based on reality (something objective). Thus you can replace God with another word such as aliens, unicorns, etc. and the argument would still be equally valid. Existence is not dependent on attributes (being "the greatest") but simply being or having the ability to take substance and interact with reality. I know that you exist because i see you, not because of your attributes. That being said, i now move to my argument: The ancient mind is very different from our own perspective. William Barrett summarizes these differences: "The distinction arises from the difference between doing and knowing. The Hebrew is concerned with practice, the Greek with knowledge. Right conduct is the ultimate concern of the Hebrew, right thinking that of the Greek. Duty and strictness of conscience are the paramount things in life for the Hebrew; for the Greek, the spontaneous and luminous play of the intelligence. The Hebrew thus extols the moral virtues as the substance and meaning of life; the Greek subordinates them to the intellectual virtues the contrast is between practice and theory, between the moral man and the theoretical or intellectual man." (Taken from his book "Irrational man" The Hebrew mind revered morality rather than theoretical and intellectual knowledge by the Greek. This helps us understand the Scriptures in their proper perspective. "To the Jewish mind, the understanding of God is not achieved by referring to a Greek way to timeless qualities of Supreme Being, to ideas of goodness and perfection, but rather by sensing the living acts of His concern, to His dynamic attentiveness to man. We speak not of His goodness in general but of His compassion for the individual man in a particular situation" ( "God in Search of Man" by Abraham Heschel p. 21). In other words, God is revealed to man by his divine acts and works rather than in philosophical dispute. Furthermore, existence is dependent on personal interaction when the being interacts with reality. "Our analysis of the Hebrew verbs that express standing, sitting, lying,, etc., teaches us that motionless and fixed being is for the Hebrews a nonentity; it does not exist for them. Only being which stands in inner relations with something active and moving is reality to them...only movement (motion) has reality. To the extent that is concerned Hebrew thinking at all, static being as a predicate is a motion that has passed over into repose" (Boman, p. 31). Hebraic thought sees knowing as having an experience or a relationship with another person (Ps. 95:10). The Hebrew is not concerned with knowledge of everything in the universe, he simply accepts it and marvels at it (3). The Scriptures affirm God's existence from the beginning. Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" What came before God? What is God made of? What are the philosophical implications of God? The Hebrew mind says "I don't know, i don't care..i don't meddle with things that are too high for me to understand." Genesis 1 is concerned with God's relationship to the world in bringing purpose to it. Genesis 6:13 says "13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." What did God sound like? How did he speak to Noah? The Scriptures doesn't say. God acted (proving his existence) and Noah responded in faith to his will which is the point of the story. We also see the relationship between God and his people in the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Exodus 20:1-2 "And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." God delivered his people from his slavery, thus placing emphasis on Israel as his chosen people to obey his commandments. No where do we see a philosophical argument which establishes God's existence through reason alone, simply affirms it. Sources: 1. http://plato.stanford.edu... 2. http://en.wikipedia.org... 3. http://books.google.com...