Simplest, Yet Most Powerful Argument Against the Existence of God

[Rational Agnostic]

I remember watching a video on YouTube a few years ago of a Christian apologist discussing various topics with an atheist. At one point in the video, the apologist asked the atheist "Why don't you believe in God?" He replied casually (as if it were the most obvious reason) something to the effect of "Because I don't see him!" This really struck a chord with me. Why should we believe that some entity is here, hiding in some other mystical dimension, when we have no evidence to believe such a thing? If there were a god, wouldn't he be visible, or at least detectable? But, of course he isn't visible or detectable, which is functionally equivalent to non-existence.

Now, I anticipate many counter-arguments stating things to the effect of "You can't see 'love' yet it exists, etc." The problem with this type of argument is that love is a concept, one could argue, an emotion experienced by humans and animals, while God is supposed to be an actual, sentient being who exists in an objective sense, and should be detectable in some way, yet last time I checked, there haven't been any god-sightings lately.

Of course God, if he existed, would be capable of hiding himself and making the universe appear as if he did not exist.But why believe in such a convoluted, deceiving entity? Believing in such an absurd notion as a god who created the universe, yet hides himself from people in the universe while simultaneously wanting them to believe in him seems about as absurd as believing that you've only been alive for five minutes and all of your memories and knowledge have been entered into you via an invisible hard drive from a magical alien being from the future. Unfalsifiable, but nonsensical. Occam's Razor is a good way of dealing with such absurdities.

 

[lostwanderingsoul]

Faith.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I don't see why there should be any friction between atheists and monotheists. Obviously God is invisible, so its of course reasonable to wonder whether God exists. It doesn't change the weather.

 

[Quintessence]

...God is supposed to be an actual, sentient being who exists in an objective sense, and should be detectable in some way, yet last time I checked, there haven't been any god-sightings lately.

This is here where you lost me. I'll grant I'm not an Abrahamic, so I'd defer to them for explanations of the many interpretations of their theology, but I'm aware of the diversity of those interpretations. Your characterization of their god strikes me as neither thorough nor accurate. From what I've heard of the Abrahamics in describing their god, it is by definition not physically visible because it is not a physical entity/being. If it were, that would contradict the quality of transcendence - or being beyond nature - that they attribute to their god. The exception to this is the idea of Jesus the Christians have, where their god did have corporeal form.

Also, awesome misuse of Occam's Razor. Totally haven't seen that before....

 

[sun rise]

This is here where you lost me. I'll grant I'm not an Abrahamic, so I'd defer to them for explanations of the many interpretations of their theology, but I'm aware of the diversity of those interpretations. Your characterization of their god strikes me as neither thorough nor accurate. From what I've heard of the Abrahamics in describing their god, it is by definition not physically visible because it is not a physical entity/being. If it were, that would contradict the quality of transcendence - or being beyond nature - that they attribute to their god. The exception to this is the idea of Jesus the Christians have, where their god did have corporeal form.

Also, awesome misuse of Occam's Razor. Totally haven't seen that before....

And since the OP did not specify religion, from another perspective, God is both immanent and transcendent. So it's possible to speak of God, the creator, and God who is in everything and everyone.

 

[Kuzcotopia]

The counter to this argument

Believing in such an absurd notion as a god who created the universe, yet hides himself from people in the universe while simultaneously wanting them to believe in him.

This one sentence does sum up why I have trouble understanding religions that define a god in this way.

The absolutely only way to argue in defense of such a god is to make bald assumptions about the god's character and motivations. . . questions for which no one could ever have the answers for.

Imagine claiming such an entity exists, defining that being with the properties of absolute power and knowledge, then claiming, as a timebound mortal, to understand that being's motivations? That is a ludicrous defense.

 

[Muslim-UK]

Faith.

Yes faith backed up with MANY good reasons grounded in FACTS. Don't mean to shout at you, just wishing to make it clear to the 'unbelievers' on here

FACTS:
This Universe came from something, it is perfectly balanced for life.
This Planet is finely tuned for life to sustain itself, everything in the Natural World around us has a part to play.
We are all born with certain knowledge. Even animals know about GOD.
Our DNA has been programmed by someone/thing of incredible intelligence.
This Creator has identified Himself, (He is used out of respect, GOD has no gender) and sent Prophets and Messengers.
These Prophets and Messengers were accompanied with signs to convince the people. Some were given Scriptures containing clear prophecies of future events.
Science points to a afterlife, where the energy within us lives on, perhaps returning to the Universe.
Many people have reported NDE's supporting the notion of energy/soul living on.

For these reasons and many many more, the majority of the World's population accepts the existence of a Creator and happily worships Him in the way revealed to them.

 

[atanu]

I remember watching a video on YouTube a few years ago of a Christian apologist discussing various topics with an atheist. At one point in the video, the apologist asked the atheist "Why don't you believe in God?" He replied casually (as if it were the most obvious reason) something to the effect of "Because I don't see him!" This really struck a chord with me. Why should we believe that some entity is here, hiding in some other mystical dimension, when we have no evidence to believe such a thing? If there were a god, wouldn't he be visible, or at least detectable? But, of course he isn't visible or detectable, which is functionally equivalent to non-existence.

Now, I anticipate many counter-arguments stating things to the effect of "You can't see 'love' yet it exists, etc." The problem with this type of argument is that love is a concept, one could argue, an emotion experienced by humans and animals, while God is supposed to be an actual, sentient being who exists in an objective sense, and should be detectable in some way, yet last time I checked, there haven't been any god-sightings lately.

Of course God, if he existed, would be capable of hiding himself and making the universe appear as if he did not exist.But why believe in such a convoluted, deceiving entity? Believing in such an absurd notion as a god who created the universe, yet hides himself from people in the universe while simultaneously wanting them to believe in him seems about as absurd as believing that you've only been alive for five minutes and all of your memories and knowledge have been entered into you via an invisible hard drive from a magical alien being from the future. Unfalsifiable, but nonsensical. Occam's Razor is a good way of dealing with such absurdities.

That does not make sense.

Do you see your own self? You see its body. You see its thoughts. Do you see the self? To avoid pinpointing the self some people say there is no self. They say "I know there is no self", forgetting that they are asserting a self.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It takes a God in order for there to be a
God.

It's hard fact if you trace the origins of God, it always leads to somebody's mind and Imagination that espouses it. God is found nowhere else.

 

[Little Lunch]

Yes faith backed up with MANY good reasons grounded in FACTS. Don't mean to shout at you, just wishing to make it clear to the 'unbelievers' on here

FACTS:
This Universe came from something, it is perfectly balanced for life.
This Planet is finely tuned for life to sustain itself, everything in the Natural World around us has a part to play.
We are all born with certain knowledge. Even animals know about GOD.
Our DNA has been programmed by someone/thing of incredible intelligence.
This Creator has identified Himself, (He is used out of respect, GOD has no gender) and sent Prophets and Messengers.
These Prophets and Messengers were accompanied with signs to convince the people. Some were given Scriptures containing clear prophecies of future events.
Science points to a afterlife, where the energy within us lives on, perhaps returning to the Universe.
Many people have reported NDE's supporting the notion of energy/soul living on.

For these reasons and many many more, the majority of the World's population accepts the existence of a Creator and happily worships Him in the way revealed to them.

Those aren't all facts.
They also aren't the reasons that people believe in god.
They are desperate attempts to keep an old and tattered security blanket from being torn away.
The main reason that people believe is because their parents told them it was true.
And why wouldn't a child believe their parents?
It's very understandable and has nothing to do with wisdom or intelligence, in my opinion.
Please don't take this as condescending, but as an atheist, I feel very sorry for theists.
It's almost as if you have no choice but to believe.
And if you live a happy life without hurting others, then there is no harm done.
But I personally believe this to be rarely the case.

 

[LuisDantas]

There has always been an inherent, unhealthy weirdness in the expectation from people that other people somehow "should" believe in the existence of some conception of divinity.

Christianity and Islaam, particularly, have not only failed to notice and deal with that weirdness; they have insisted on taking advantage of it and inflating it to entirely absurd levels, to the point that their validity as actual religions is very much in question.

 

[savagewind]

Even animals know about GOD.

I think that deserves an explanation. Please.

 

[savagewind]

Kings and presidents are very real, but I have never met any.

The way I see it is that God is occupied with the business of Heaven.
If you have nothing to do with it, then, of course, you won't see it.

Even the Bible warns about minding one's own business.

 

[Muslim-UK]

I think that deserves an explanation. Please.

Sure:

Birds and Animals instinctively know.

Babies know too:

And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we have testified." [This] - lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware." QUR'AN 7.172

 

[Little Lunch]

Wow, those videos did it for me, where do I sign up?

 

[Little Lunch]

Sorry, that was a bit sarcastically rude.

 

[savagewind]

@Muslim-UK Those are good shares. Thank you.

The first two can be explained by Genesis 1:26, Genesis 9:2 and James 3:7. The animals are behaving according to the will of a human and not according to the will of God imo.

The babies being pacified by the reading of the text could be attributed to the sound and not the words. With deep respect, chant anything to the baby and the same thing might happen. It is the chanting that caused it, I think

 

[Rational Agnostic]

I don't see why there should be any friction between atheists and monotheists. Obviously God is invisible, so its of course reasonable to wonder whether God exists. It doesn't change the weather.

Wish more monotheists had your attitude....

 

[Rational Agnostic]

Kings and presidents are very real, but I have never met any.

.

But, you've seen them on television I presume.

 

[savagewind]

But, you've seen them on television I presume.

Some of them. Not all of them.

Consider doppelgangers, 3D projection and artificial intelligent humanoids and who really knows?
Did I mention aliens?