Ha, I won't let you sneak this one past me.
Sam:
What are you up to? Sneaking off, are we?
Gollum:
Sneaking? Sneaking? Fat hobbit is always so polite. SmÈagol shows them secret ways that nobody else could find, and they say sneak. Sneak? Very nice friend. Oh, yes, my precious. Very nice, very nice.
Sam:
All right all right! You just startled me is all. What were you doing?
Gollum:
Sneaking.
Yeah... sneaking... These do not show evidence for god's existence. Let me rephrase for you, the cosmological argument is an unsound argument for the prime-mover/first-cause, not god or the
supernatural. If this was evidence for god, we wouldn't need this debate and it would be substantiated in science.
Wait, so the cosmological argument isn't arguing for "god or the supernatural"? Really? It's one thing to disagree with the argument, but are you claiming that something natural--maybe aliens again--could be the first cause of the Universe? I get that we can't learn everything about God from the cosmological argument as well as the argument from cosmic constants (aka the fine-tuning argument). But surely the goal of the arguments--whether sound in your mind or not--is to show that there is a God, right?
However, if you really want to examine those syllogisms, I'd be happy to, but I feel as though we'll run into the same problem. Nonetheless, we have direct evidence for sentient life(human beings) and technology. Just for fun and for arguments sake, I'd even be willing to say the supernatural is on the same level as aliens
I keep going back and forth in my mind as to whether we should get into arguments for the existence of God. It's definitely likely we should.
So are you saying we haven't found aliens in science, therefore, they don't exist? Ahhem, let me do the same. We haven't found god in science, therefore, god doesn't exist. Phew! is our discussion done? hahahaha
Did I say that? I thought I said, "Arguments for God (e.g., the cosmological argument, cosmic constants, etc.) show evidence for God's existence, whereas no evidence for aliens has been discovered, even in spite of expensive SETI efforts."
There's no "in science" clause; whether philosophical, scientific, or otherwise, there's evidence for God and no evidence for aliens, unless you're saying otherwise.
Hmm, we probably
are going to have to have some sort of "God vs. aliens" debate, lol!
No. You always, at least I hope you do, examine every claim individually. If Jesus said he's hard to kill, sure, that sounds pretty reasonable, but anything else requires it's own evidence. This is exactly why in any science report there are references to studies for every single claim, which you can check. Even then you have to weigh the evidence at hand and use critical thinking.
In a documentary I saw, some Christian scam artists were selling holy water for thousands of dollars. Should you believe them because they say it's miraculous water
? Lots of people lost their life savings.
Now this is an interesting point to consider. I guess the way you're seeing it, even if Jesus rose from the dead, it doesn't prove He can do anything else out of the ordinary.
I'm with you about not trusting scam artists selling "holy water." However, if they performed miracles in the past like rising from the dead, etc. (as is the case with Jesus), then I'd consider it possible. If they had an honest reputation to go with their previously performing miracles, maybe I'd even buy some.
You know, now that I think about it, what would it take for you to believe, Charlie? Even if God Himself appeared in front of you in some way, would you just write Him off as some giant alien?
The more we understand about a topic the less confident we become. When you claim certainty you close your mind off to possibilities. This is demonstrated by the Dunning Kruger Effect and even Socrates understood this. This link I gave did not just discuss the possibility that they were mistaken as dead but also gave possible scientific explanations if they actually died(check the What might cause Lazarus syndrome? heading).
To continue with this line of thought, the article explains that,
""Death should not be certified in any patient immediately after stopping CPR," the researchers write, "and one should wait at least 10 minutes, if not longer, to verify and confirm death beyond doubt.""
Now, I found that pretty interesting! Even with our technology, researchers advise to wait at least 10 minutes just in case they revive by themselves. Nevertheless, I'm willing to say Jesus, or whoever, was biologically dead even though back then they had no idea what the difference was between clinical death vs biological death, nor did I before I started this discussion. Apparently, if you're not biologically dead, you may wake up the next day and want to go for a run. You do notice how I have to continuously go along your interpretation and satisfy your perspective, but you're not willing to do the same? The more I have to ignore evidence and arguments to the contrary, the more it becomes about satisfying your logical preference and this discussion become less reciprocal. Anyway...
I don't want you to just "go along with" what I'm saying. For the first premise, we
have to assume Jesus rose from the dead, of course. However, I'm not going around like, "So, if we assume this and assume that and then assume ... therefore, the resurrection was a divine miracle." There's a sphere of agreement about Jesus that almost everyone, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist, etc., grants, and I'm trying to work from there. Neither the Journal of the American Medical Association nor John Dominic Crossan are Christian apologists, by any means.
So I'm not asking you to assume anything that mainstream, secular scholarship doesn't grant. This doesn't make the discussion "less reciprocal." Claiming that aliens did it, a theory no scholar of any philosophical persuasion takes seriously, would seem more in that direction.
No, it's not. I'd be much happier with decapitation and actual video footage, you know, a bit like the one I posted of that guy being resurrected. However, I am willing to concede he actually died and I think it's most probable anyway. Though don't say it's the same as laws of gravity since people do die and come back to life(clinical = hours to days; biological 3-10 minutes). People get shot multiple times and live afterwards. I understand for you this is so indisputable that it has to be, but I'm not convinced for a multitude of reasons. However, for this argument I'm willing to concede he actually died. Why don't we say he died a biological death(clinical vs biological). Perhaps then you can explain to me why a million science fiction theories(natural) is less explainable than a supernatural event as I mentioned above? Remember, the supernatural and aliens are not demonstrated in science, therefore, you cannot use science for this.
I don't see how someone can have their heart pierced and still be biologically alive--unless you're heartbroken, of course.
Okay, going back to being serious, Jesus was crucified, and
again, His "death was ensured by the thrust of a soldier's spear into his side." I thought the longest known case of clinical death was one single day, not "days," but regardless of clinical death, how could someone not be
biologically dead after having a spear thrust into their heart?
Just to emphasize my question above, what would it take for you to be a theist? Would God Himself have to appear in front of you somehow? Even if He did this, would you just write Him off as some giant alien?