god

While I appreciate the counter points my opponent offers, I am disappointed that no substantial evidence for the existence of god has been provided. God and the bible Pro states that god has given his instruction through the words of the bible. But god is not believed to have actually penned the bible or any of the various Holy Scriptures that claim his authority over man (1). It was man who wrote and translated these books through the centuries. This is clearly demonstrated in the Exodus 21:20-21(2) where slavery is considered acceptable and beating them is equally acceptable. If a benevolent God existed, would he disparage his creation and allow for unequal treatment? More important perhaps is that the passages in the bible can be contradictory. For example, in Deuteronomy 5:17 (3) it states that "thou shall not kill", but it is unclear in what context we should not kill. It would seem that the true meaning is not to commit murder. Yet in Deuteronomy 20:17 (4), god commands the Israelites to "utterly destroy….the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites"; god is explicitly ordering murder here. Further in Deuteronomy 32:39 (5), god clearly states he kills and wounds. If a benevolent god existed, would he violate his own commandment by killing, wounding and ordering murder? Is Free will truly free? My opponent raises an interesting point about free will. Specifically that god doesn't control our actions, but he just knows what we are going to do before we do it. This would imply that any decision to perform an action is irrelevant, because it will always be the action we were going to do; hence it was predetermined. Further, if god does exist and knows all actions before they occur, why would he allow bad things to happen to good people? Jesus is not evidence for god Pro puts forth the idea that Jesus is indirect physical evidence that god exists. But this fact only stems from the Christian idea that Jesus was the messiah. Adherents of Jewish tradition disagree with this notion that Jesus was the messiah and both Jewish and Muslim adherents don't believe that a messiah is the son of god (6); and both of these religions find this belief embedded in their holy scriptures, which are supposedly the word of god. And even if we consider for the moment that Jesus is the son of god, Revelation 2:22-23 (7) tells us that Jesus will kill innocent children if Jezebel doesn't correct her misdeeds. Would the son of god violate god's commandments if god existed? Other logical inconsistencies Pro believes that assuming something is true establishes proof that it is true; the design of the universe doesn't assume a creator: my opponent does. The watch analogy only demonstrates the point trying to be made, not that the point being made is valid. Also, it doesn't logically follow that since all cells come from pre-existing cells, that the first cells had to have a ‘conscious creator'. There can be another logical and natural explanation. Cells are made up of proteins, which are made from amino acids. Some amino acids are electrically neutral and don't like water, while others have an electrical charge and interact with water; and those that don't interact with water can aggregate and can spontaneous form macromolecular folding leading to a closed protein structure (8). This can provide the foundation in which cells can evolve. Closing comments I agree that the universe in general is a hostile place, but I don't agree that the since life found a way to flourish on earth it proves the existence of god. Life follows from the direct result of the intrinsic natural law and properties of the cosmos. My opponent would have us believe that god established these conditions, but has yet to convincingly prove it. The concept of god is a man-made abstract idea to explain concepts we don't fully understand. References 1.http://en.wikipedia.org... 2.http://www.bartleby.com... 3.http://www.biblegateway.com... 4.http://bible.cc... 5.http://bible.cc... 6.http://en.wikipedia.org... 7.http://www.biblegateway.com... 8.http://en.wikipedia.org...