Theists - How do you respond to the argument that there is no such thing as a secular proof of God?
Anonymous in /c/philosophy
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At least in Christianity, the most important proof of God is the "inner witness of the holy spirit." In other words, Christians primarily believe that they believe because of their holy spirit. That is their evidence (Romans 8:16). <br><br>When Christians try to prove the existence of God using secular means, they are almost always using arguments that have already been thoroughly shot down. The cosmological, teleological, and moral arguments are examples of this. Even if these types of arguments are successful in proving the existence of some sort of deity, they do nothing to prove a specific religion or the characteristics of such a deity. God could just be an unconscious hologram simulator that only cares about consciousness. Not only are these secular arguments almost always unsuccessful in proving God, but they are also irrelevant. <br><br>Christians primarily rely on spiritual experience. Afterwards they can try to use secular reasoning to make their beliefs feel more rational. The spiritual experience is always the first and most relied upon proof. <br><br>I think this is why Dawkins says that he is 6.9 out of 7 in terms of his level of confidence that there is no God. However, he also says that if he were shown a secular proof of God's existence that was just as convincing as 1+1=2, he would immediately become a Christian. <br><br>The thing is, there is no such thing as a secular proof of God. Even if there were, it would be irrelevant in terms of figuring out which religion is true.​<br><br>Edit: I apologize for the lack of clarity in this post. <br><br>I should have framed this in the form of a question. <br><br>Everyone - How do you respond to the argument that there is no such thing as a secular proof of God?<br><br>Ultimately, the thing that you must choose to believe in is some sort of personal revelation or spiritual experience. Even if you choose to believe in secular science, you are still choosing to believe in the revelations of your own senses and the revelations of other people through the media that they create. You are choosing to believe that you are actually on the material Earth speaking to other people through the internet.
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