Con (Theist) Will Not Fulfill His/Her Burden of Proof in Establishing The Existence Of God

I will be arguing for the existence of the Jewish G-d. Before I start, I would like to make a slight disclaimer. Proof, as my opponent asks for, could be considered to some as life-altering. Should there be proof to the existence of G-d, a viewer might feel an obligation to follow His commandments. As I have accepted the burden of proof and expect to give it, I have put myself in a rather precarious situation. There might be a considerable bias coming from anyone that does not believe in an exclusively Jewish G-d, and I just ask that people reading try to keep that in mind. And obviously, any observant Jew should keep their own bias in mind when reading. (It might be interesting to note, however, that Judaism does not seek to actively convert others. A non-Jewish person can go to heaven, just as a Jewish person can go to hell. ) Please note that this disclaimer is not said to insult anyone, assume superiority over a single person, or suggest that anyone doesn't think logically (though it may be presumptuous of me, despite all that). Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, however, I felt it necessary to be clear about the above. Thanks to all the readers and I hope I meet your standards for this debate. My argument is based on the Kuzari Principle. I will write each point, then proceed to go through them, one by one, expanding on each principle. Point 1: If a reliable witness, person-m, for example, witnesses an event, (event-n) and a continuous chain of reliable sources passes on person-m's testimony, then, given certain conditions (concerning the composition of the chain, the validity of person-m's claims, and the original observation's details) we have good reason to believe that event-n transpired. Point 2: The validity of such a claim increases in relation to the number of witnesses that claim to have witnessed the event first-hand. Point 3: The Biblical Narrative states that G-d spoke to the entirety of the Jewish Nation at Mount Sinai and that they were all witness to the miraculous events that transpired at Mount Sinai. Point 4: Jewish History, as well as the Jewish biblical narrative, evidence that the Jews passed the story of mass-revelation, uninterrupted, on to every ensuing generation following the revelation at Sinai. Point 5: Given the above points, there is good rationale for the belief that there is a Jewish G-d. Now, on to the explanations: P1 is pretty clear cut. In other, simpler words: if someone says something happened, they are a reliable source, and this information is passed on without significant interruptions, then it can be assumed that the information is reliable. This point, however, does have a flaw, being that the validity of the original source is still ambiguous because one person, (no matter how reliable their information), may have biased cause for relating the event. Which brings us to: P2: The more people involved, the greater chance information being conveyed is legitimate. The reason for this is due to the varying differences in human personalities. While it may suit several people's needs to fabricate a story, it would not suit thousands of people's needs to pretend an event occurred when it didn't. P3: I will now bring sources from the Jewish Bible (Torah) that state explicitly the revelation was witnessed by all present a Mount Sinai (approximately 2.5 million Jews (. http://www.bible.ca...) were present. ): Exodus 19:9; and the LORD said unto Moses: Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee forever. Exodus 19:11; and be ready against the third day, for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. Deuteronomy 5:4; The LORD spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire (. http://www.mechon-mamre.org...) and (. http://www.mechon-mamre.org...) P4: This is ultimately the crux of the issue. However, before we go into proofs I'd like to explain why this is so important. If at any point throughout Jewish history the transmission of mass revelation was dependent on one person, then the claim immediately looses authenticity. Why? Because at that point the testimony isn't really that of multitudes, rather, validity rests solely on the shoulders of the individual claiming mass revelation. We once again fall into the problem that said individual may be biased, not have witnessed the event accurately, or may have fabricated. (As a reminder, as the number of witnesses increases, so does the likelihood of the story. ) Now, this should be able to apply to other religions as well, and it does. The Mormon religious texts, for example, state that Jesus appeared to multitudes of people in North America. Based on the above, it would seem we should believe that as well. However, it is also accepted within the Mormon tradition that Joseph Smith - an individual - was responsible for translating these texts from golden plates written in an unknown language (that he subsequently lost the ability to translate them). Once the testimony of thousands rests on the shoulders of one, it is no longer the testimony of thousands, but the testimony of one. Now, if the revelation at Sinai is to be considered false, that would have to mean that at some point in Jewish history (after the mass revelation) a single individual was responsible for the transmission of the Torah. But that is not the case. Firstly, in Judaism, there is an oral and written Torah. They go hand in hand, each helping to broaden the others concepts. The oral Torah, which is mostly significant because it represents the tradition of transmission, 'was memorized verbatim and passed down orally in an unbroken chain from generation to generation. .. According to Jewish tradition. ' (. http://en.wikipedia.org...) Secondly, at no point throughout Jewish history has transmission ever been dependent upon the word of a single individual after the revelation at Sinai. (. http://en.wikipedia.org...) Mass revelation is a belief permeated throughout Orthodox Jewry. (. http://www.myjewishlearning.com...) and (. http://www.simpletoremember.com...) and (. http://www.chabad.org...) P5: Is a culmination of all the above and hopefully self-explanatory. From here I'd like to offer some possible refutations and explain why they are next to impossible. Assuming that the story of revelation isn't true, we must ask ourselves how it came about to be accepted within Jewish tradition. There are a number of possible circumstances: C1) The Jewish nation lied to their children about these events/Moses lied to the Jewish people about what happened. C2) The Jewish people were tricked into believing these events were Divinely Inspired. Now, note here, this implies that events as substantiated by the Jewish nation did occur, just, they were of natural causes (i. e. I have heard that the events at Sinai could have been a national drug trip). C3) The most common, and likely answer: Like a game of 'broken telephone' the story could have been adapted/altered over time to include mass revelation. C1: This can be easily refuted because, once again, when we are discussing such a large magnitude of people, there is no reason they should all willingly lie to their children. And there is no way Moses could have convinced 2.5 million people that G-d spoke to them. Remember, when the number of people involved increases, so does the likelihood that any fabrication will be discovered. C2: The problem with this circumstance supposes that it was a natural event. Natural events are reoccurring, but why has a similar event never occurred again? In the example of the national drug trip, why is it that no other sizable group of people claimed to experience G-d through a national drug trip (or any other supposed possibility)? This leads to the implication that it was NOT a natural event, rather a supernatural one. C3: This argument carries the most weight, but I'd like to diminish the impact of such an argument. A Torah scroll can be considered invalid even for the minutest of reasons. A missing letter invalidates the Torah scroll, letters written too close to one another invalidates it, an extra letter would be cause for invalidation, as would exchanging two letters. (www. torah. net/eng/kids/know/torah. htm) Because of this, the Torah transmission has been known to be remarkably precise. 'The proof that the copies of the original documents have been handed down with substantial 35 correctness for more than 2,000 years cannot be denied', writes Dr. Wilson in his book, A Scientific Investigation of the Old Testament. (. http://www.bible-researcher.com...) I conclude here with my arguments and hope this is sufficient enough to garner a good response. Thanks to my opponent for providing such an environment for rational discourse.