So guys I want to share a thought I have been pondering for a few days with you. Now, before I get too into it, I want to stress that I dont want this to boil down into a discussion of IF God exists between Theistic Philosophers and Atheistic Philosophers. I am an Atheist who has a growing fascination with the Philosophy of Religion. This discussion will be about the conception of God (Anthropomorphic, Ephemeral Consciousness, etc.) and the repercussions. Now, all the competing religions of the world seem to give an account for God in an Anthropomorphic sense. He has human like qualities but possesses omniscience and omnipotence. However, I propose that since human beings are fallible and since all of these competing religions exist, it logically follows that one or all of the accounts for God are wrong. So I am going to reset everything about God and start solely with the premise that he exists. A premise which I support using the Kalam Cosmological Argument. (KCA) Proofs of the KCA: (1) Everything that has a beginning of its existence has a cause of its existence. (2) The universe has a beginning of its existence. Therefore: (3) The universe has a cause of its existence. (4) If the universe has a cause of its existence then that cause is God. Therefore: (5) God exists Source: philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/the-cosmological-argument/the-kalam-cosmological-argument/ Now, I am going to list argument so that it is neatly organized. A. The Epistemic Problem I. Human beings are flawed II. Human beings commit fallacies III. A flawed being cannot possess perfect knowledge of an all knowledgeable, powerful, supreme being such as God IV. Religion is an institution on the basis of knowing the will, word, and nature of God V. Religion is comprised of human beings VI. Therefore religion is ignorant of God VII. Conclusion? If the Kalam Cosmological Argument is correct, then it is not that God does not exist, it is that every account/conception that the human mind, with all of its epistemic barriers, came up with of God is inaccurate. B. The Implications of Ignorance I. If human beings cannot accurately through philosophical reasoning or scientific evidence ascertain the will of God, where does that leave us morally speaking? II. Since I have outlined the problems of religion we cannot say we understand the moral philosophy of God thus, it is proven that even with God in existence there also exists a moral desert where subjective human and thus flawed values are imposed. III. This leaves people playing a moral lottery of sorts where people can only hope that they have lived a life in as close in accordance with God as possible and thus being rewarded or at the very least, not suffer. C. The Existential Side Effect I. If our human conception of God is inaccurate, then we start at square one simply knowing that God exists through the K.C.A. II. Since we cannot trust religion to interpret his nature (Ontology) and word, we can at least assume (I wont say know because of the epistemic barriers I mentioned earlier.) that we can account for Gods will through metaphysical investigation (Taking note that trees exist, that I have two hands, etc.) and scientific evidence (The Earth revolves around the sun, the force of gravity, etc.) III. Our Metaphysical investigation will yield the existence of things such as poverty, disease, murder, etc. Yet, if multiverse theory is correct, there must be a universe where these things do not exist. IV. Of course, by the same token we know that in this universe, friendship, love, community, progress, and autonomy also exist and if we are to follow my logic, there would have to exist a Universe where all of these things are void contingent on the accuracy of Multiverse Theory V. This begs the ultimate question of why God put us in this particular Universe with all these things in the proportion that they are in. Ultimately, I believe Theistic Philosophers need to move beyond arguments dealing with the existence of God and focus more on the conception of God and the epistemic barriers it raises, as well as the moral lottery I spoke of (and potentially others as well) and the Existential implications of both our potentially incorrect conceptions of God and the true conception of God should he exist. What are your thoughts on this?
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 05:47:01 +0000
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