Evidence for God?
A post in the "How to convert an atheist to Christianity" series.
Some theists actually accept the idea that evidence is important. They also believe there actually is evidence for God. If you fall into this category I have some user recommendations.
Be careful when arguing with an atheist about the evidence for god. Many Christians accept
You are quite clear that you "believe" in a god, and you believe that this god micromanages the world, stepping in to tweak things here and there. That is your belief.
However can you demonstrate that this god exists? You just believe it, but you have no evidence. Or maybe you are different from all the other religious people I have asked: what is your evidence god? Most Christians respond to the question with the most pathetic responses like "my uncle recovered from cancer, therefor there is a god" and such. But maybe you are different. Maybe you are a person who bases their believe on evidence. What is your evidence for God and convinced you to believe?
Atheists Don't Accept Evidence
Bart: there is no evidence of god
Homer: no evidence that you are willing to accept. . .
It always amazes me when having a conversation with someone and they make the claim that there is no evidence for God. Most of the time, it's not the evidence, it's the unwillingness of the listener to accept the evidence which is interesting to consider as it pertains to the Christian God
This reflects the view of many Christians: they think they have evidence, but it is not accepted. If it is actually evidence, then anyone should be able to run the experiment and see the result for myself. Want evidence for gravity: take an object and drop it. Anyone can do it.
If the evidence can not be repeated, then it is not evidence. This is the fundamental problem: evidence can be reproduced. Before asking an atheist to accept evidence for god, ask whether the evidence is reproducible? If not, it isn't evidence.
Recovery from Cancer
I believe in God because my uncle recovered from cancer, and that was by the grace of god, surely proving god exists.
This person thought they were providing evidence for god. But cancer is not 100% deadly. In all of history, and without miracle medicine, there are people who have survived cancer. From 2015 to 2017 the chance of a person getting cancer in their lifetime is about 39%, and the chance of dying from cancer is around 19%. That means about half the people who come down with cancer actually survive it.
This is not an act of God, this is a coin flip. One side is marked "survive". Flip the coin. If you get survive, you are lucky, but this is not evidence for God. It is completely unacceptable to claim that natural recovery from a natural disease is a proof of god. One might just as well claim that anyone that dies of cancer is proof that there is not a god.
Healing from Stroke
I have evidence for God. I'm not wasting my time giving you a four paragraph testimony from God healing my wife from a stroke. Why? Because people like you are so ingrained in unbelief there is no use.
So I understand your wife had a stroke and survived. I am sure that was a horrifying experience, and I am glad to hear she survived and recovered. Strokes are very frightening things, and I understand that can have a profound effect on others.
Did you know that many people do naturally recover from stokes? Only 23% of strokes are fatal. That means that 77% recover naturally. Showing that one person recovered from a stroke is not evidence of anything other than that strokes are not 100% fatal.
The stroke is an event that started and ended. What caused the start of the stroke? Was it god? We broadly agree that a stroke is not caused by the person experiencing the stroke. So did God cause the stroke? If so, how would it be any greater to also end the stroke? It is possible that God created the stroke, and then the proper functioning of the body simply ended the stroke naturally. How would one go about showing that either the start or the end of the stroke was anything other than natural?
You would have zero objectivity in your response. That's why I love jail and prison ministry. They are receptive
It is funny that you accuse me of having "zero objectivity". The term "objective" usually means looking at the world without being persuaded by subjective things, like emotions or personal preferences. It seems quite the opposite: to accept this as evidence you want me to be quite non-objective and instead to be persuaded by aspects which are not part of the fact.