Rebecca Newberger Goldstein - Diverse Arguments for God?

Arguments about God, whether based on science, philosophy, theology or personal experience are always fascinating. Those arguments should push and be pushed in order to consider the possible existence of a Creator. We must also consider defeaters of God. For all arguments for and against God, we should explore their assumptions, logic and boundaries.



Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is an American novelist and professor of philosophy.


Closer to Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[johnyharris]

My favourite argument for God was Voltaire's - 'If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him'.

[browngreen]

The "universe" is just a temporary manifestation of Existence -- not a fundamental state or condition. Universes come and go, but there is something within Existence itself that is eternal, unchanging and endures these vast cosmic transitions. That was never mentioned. Amazing how these deep thinkers don't understand the most obvious basic things.

[FurlogTheGiant]

Yes! Let’s get real serious here and take a sophisticated look at this stupid fairytale

[lourak]

Talk about bias and lack of objectivity: Dr. Kuhn says at the outset: "I've never had a religious experience - and don't particularly want one". Is this the profile of an honest seeker? I think not...regardless of how many nice shows he puts on, purporting to be obsessed with finding "the truth".

[kevinrombouts]

If the universe is intelligible where does this intelligence come from? You said it comes from within the universe, permeating the entire universe. The universe is a collection of billions of galaxies. Is there one particular galaxy from which intelligence or consciousness emanates? You are far from discounting intelligence lying outside the universe - the Transcendent which would be Source for all things. Spinoza's God is pantheism and because all material is contingent, the source of contingency must lie outside that which is contingent. That Source is God.

[shelwincornelia]

Meanwhile we haven't figured out the nature of our own consciousness, we are not ready to understand the mystery behind the existence of the universe.

[vonBottorff]

What if explanation does go all the way down like turtles, but then dead-cat bounces back up? That would explain Milton Friedman's understanding of the world.

[michaelhill]

Intelligent designn is my favorite. Atoms are 99.9% empty space but the periodic table and evolution managed to work together to make bonds and form living cells than living creatures smart enough to question the root if their oen existence. If it all is just chance, we really hit the lottery when we got a chance to be one of those creatures, btw we are the only ones we know about in the universe. I sure am lucky. If there is no god, we all hit the powerball,
I really douvt that more than i doubt the possibility if a god

[maxwellsimoes]

She believes there is nothing outside in Universe are fake philosophy. Spinoza Universe are stunning philosophy though how figuret it out in geometry Universe. She shows her concept with hipotesy is keeping it going true philosophy though pedantic speculations. Lack philosophy Standard like Spinoza.

[nickydaviesnsdpharms]

As an atheist myself, i spend a lot of time learning about the bible and it's compilation as it's interesting an vital if you wanna engage in conversations with believers. My thoughts about religious belief in general are that if you go back in time far enough long before the religions of today, people always believed in superstitious things and supernatural things (not to be confused with religious beliefs) because it's the nature of our brain we perceive agency where there isn't necessarily any.
I think if there really was a God who wanted us to know him, it would be undeniable and there would be no debate.

[earthpictures]

Very limited short sighted views... The only TRUTH is that no mortals EXIST because mortals have zero control over their fate.. So we are here to create ourselves by becoming immortals.. So everybody who is living in this world do not yet exist, they are just given a chance to create an existence for themselves.. Be selfless good and trustworthy and you will be.. Be selfish greedy and arrogant and you will not be.. End of story.. Each and everyone of us has the freedom to decide to be or not to be

[vbk]

1. It's not God in or outside the universe because if you say in or out you limit Him to space, in short. He is in without mix with things and He is out without separation from things because he is everywhere and in nowhere " everywhere among the material world and non material world and in nowhere in the material world", because He is not like anything.
2. She said they used the suffering cause to prove God, that's a lie most common athiests I read for here and met think the suffering prove no God because if there is One must end it.
3. No matter how much strong the argument or not it depend on the receiver not the giver because human logic acceptance not like a digital input 0 and 1 it's complicated as the consciencenes and the individual experience.

[greenspeed]

Arguments for the existence of God are really only as good or useful as our evidence of such a god. If you seem to have a reasonable argument, but have no evidence, then you still have nearly nothing. And they are not the same, an argument for God's existence is definitely not the same as outright evidence. If you cannot measure something, then you have a very difficult time demonstrating its existence. In this particular case I think we definitely should be able to notice or sense clearly this God that is being talked about. Obviously there are many things that exist that we cannot yet measure such as at the sub atomic level.

[thomasridley]

So, just another design argument. 🙄
The history of theology is very clear. We haven't got a clue as too the meaning of this reality.

[MrSanford]

Well to disbelieve God is believe that human intelligence is the greatest intelligence in the universe, and that human intelligence is actually greater than the non-intelligent universe that created it, which has to be quite impossible. But if you could prove definitely that God exists, I think that would defeat the purpose of us being here the first place. I believe ultimately that some of us are gifted to have a personal connection with God which would be beyond words therefore beyond the need of proof, and the rest of us like myself are probably here just to test those who do….

[vasyakalistrov]

unsubscribing since the showman is biased to idealism which is definitely not scientific

[nellwhiteside]

The Universe and everything in it is self-organising - no god (or agency) required.

[gettaasteroid]

I prefer the Chekhov argument which is that beginnings are only a problem that by the end become everyone's. The problem, Chekhov might claim “is not that we hate our enemies who
are few but that we do not love enough our neighbor who is infinitely numerous.”

[Trovadorleones]

God is a personal neccesity and religion is both a social and political one..

[mickeybrumfield]

Of all the things the human mind is capable of imaging there is nothing more improbable than nothingness.