I don't think it can be reasonably posited that there's a low likelihood for a single God to exist on the merit of a few thousand years of history and inherent subjectivity when it comes to interpreting evidence that may or may not suggest said God's existence alone. In the two quotes above, you're suggesting (correct me if I'm misinterpreting) that within the same period of time, it's reasonable that humans have only just begun to find new habitable planets (relevant new article!), but unreasonable that they haven't found "concrete" evidence of a deity's existence. In our lifetime, I don't believe that we'll be able to physically find irrefutable proof that something in the natural world demonstrates the undeniable existence of God, with absolutely zero room for speculation or hypothesizing. Something I am suggesting (and this once again relates to my personal worldview but cannot be completely and objectively grounded without room for counterarguments) is that we may be able to infer the existence of a God based on the cosmological argument and principle of sufficient reason. While they may not put all counterclaims to rest, I don't think it's illogical to factor them in when contemplating whether or not it's possible that God exists. And although it is certainly true that some "evidence" is more compelling than others, when it comes to whether or not a piece/pieces of evidence can reasonably point to God existing, there will always be scholarly debate as to what can be considered more concrete. Given that I am neither a philosophical nor a religious scholar, and that in this discussion I carry the much bigger burden of having to suggest something exists (when in cases like these it's a lot easier to not have to prove something if you don't believe it exists in the first place), I cannot physically show indisputable "proof" without inherent doubt and bias surrounding it.
This is disgustingly verbose, but what I gleaned from this paragraph (Forgive me if I'm mischaracterizing your argument) is that there can be no absolute proof that a god exists. All existing evidence is subjective and there is no evidence which is completely immune to other explanations will be produced in any reasonable amount of time. Therefore the only way we can deduce the existence of a god is through logic.
I don't know if I totally agree with that, but I'm not really here to refute it. I find the logic behind your assumption severely flawed. (Hilariously, the cosmological argument was devised before the widespread use of deductive reasoning in Medieval Europe.) The concept of principle reason is strong enough, and makes sense when you apply it here. However, when you add the cosmological argument as further deduction from that point it doesn't work. The main tenet of the cosmological argument is that if you trace every single cause far enough back, there must have been one starting or universal cause- in your argument this would be god. The issue is that if you take that cause (god) one more step back then that cause is without cause which would violate the principle of sufficient reason.
The other significant issue is that beyond the flaws of that specific reasoning. I think Ako touched on this but I wanted to go a little more in depth. When you break everything down to the absolute base of logic (I exist and that something created me) there is obviously the potential to say that the thing which created you was a god, but how can you be sure? IIRC you are of the Muslim faith. How do you rationally transition from something created me to this specific god which has these rules and spoke these prophets created me?
I'm trying to not be very argumentative because I genuinely want to see how you look at the stuff outlined above. I also wont try to refute or reply to any of the other paragraphs in your post for now, because I think Ako and you were having an interesting discussion. So I'll leave that to you guys if you decide to continue it. Also this thread now has over 100k views lol
100k views!
Was exceedingly verbose because I didn't want to leave any room for misinterpretation where available. I think it's a fitting end to this whole saga.
I don't condone most of my past behavior here. Given that my first forum post was on this thread, it's fitting that my last one is too. You know where to reach out to me if necessary. Thanks for the memories y'all.
I'll still hop on the server once in a blue moon. Take care.
