We've all heard it at some point: "Oh, I'm just an innocent and highly rational atheist who only believes in that for which there is empirical evidence which, unfortunately for you, does not include invisible flying wizards with anger issues! The burden of proof is on you, y'know? Pfft! Invisible flying wizards..."
Sounds reasonable enough, right? After all, it is, to some extent, the same logic that we (theists) apply to a great number of things (aliens, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, vampires, the Jersey Devil, fairies, Mothman, etc). But, there is one painfully obvious difference between each one of those things just mentioned, and God: those things, if they exist, are material, and God, if he exists, is immaterial. It is in no way unreasonable to deny the existence of fairies on the basis that those who believe in fairies have never been able to produce any sort of physical evidence, but what about God? He is said to be 100% immaterial and 100% omnipresent. How can we begin to approach the task of proving such an entity exists? Actually, it is quite simple:
Premise 1: The mind exists.
Premise 2: The mind is immaterial.
Premise 3: Substance dualism is false.
Conclusion: All is mind.
The first premise is (hopefully) pretty intuitive. If you are self-aware, you cannot doubt the existence of your own mind. We know that the second premise is true because the mind can exist in a completely immaterial world, and matter, by definition, cannot. Whenever you dream, your mind is existing in a completely immaterial world. I hope we can just agree that dreams are immaterial.
The third premise takes a little explanation. "Substance dualism" is the philosophy that says there are to fundamental types of "stuff" in the universe, material and immaterial. In this worldview, rocks, trees, planets and prunes, are all material, while minds, souls, spirits and God, are all immaterial. However, if two things, say a mind and body, are capable of affecting each other, they must share a property, and if they share a property, they cannot be fundamentally different. Now we know that the mind is immaterial because it can exist in an immaterial world, but we also know that things we do to our bodies, like taking drugs, can affect our minds. That means that our minds and our bodies cannot be made of fundamentally different stuff. The philosophy that says there is only one fundamental substance is called "monism." There are two types of monists; those who believe that all is matter are called "materialists," and those who believe that all is immaterial are called "idealists." But, we know with absolute certainty that materialism is false because we know with absolute certainty that the mind is immaterial because we know with absolute certainty that the mind can exist in an immaterial world because we have all experienced dream worlds. Because both substance dualism and materialism are certainly false, idealism is certainly true. Because we know that mind exists, and that dualism is false, we know that all is mind.
So there you have it. All is mind. There is no rational way to deny this, and yet atheists somehow do. Usually they do this by saying that the mind is merely a function of the brain, and then leaving the conversation before it can be pointed out that this gets them nowhere. Or else they just get mad.
Anyway, let's have some more fun with logic!
Premise 1: If time had no beginning there would have been infinite amount of time before this moment in time.
Premise 2: If there had been an infinite amount of time before this moment in time, this moment in time would never occur.
Premise 3: This moment in time is occurring.
Conclusion 1: Time had a beginning.
Premise 4: Space and time are mutually dependent aspects of space-time.
Conclusion 2: Space had a beginning.
Premise 5: Matter cannot exist without space.
Conclusion 3: Matter had a beginning.
Premise 6: Energy and matter are mutually dependent.
Conclusion 4: Energy had a beginning.
Premise 7: The existence of anything that had a beginning is contingent upon something pre-existent.
Conclusion 5: The existence of time, space, matter, and energy, are all contingent upon the pre-existence of something which is outside of time, occupies no space, is immaterial, and requires no energy to function.
"Hmm, could it possibly be the Mind of God? Nah! Must've been, like, somethin' else, cuz' everyone knows there ain't no God, cuz' if there was there'd be evidence! And proof doesn't count! After all, the crusades were bad..."
I may address the crusades some other time, but for now, I just want to say that atheists don't want proof, or even evidence; they want atheism. But, for any of you atheists out there who reject the logic used in the above arguments, but feel that some hard, tangible evidence might persuade you, I suggest you check out Miracles by Craig Keener. Or better yet, go on a mission trip to a remote tribal area and witness some miracles first hand! Or best of all, sit in your basement with the lights off angrily denying anything that goes against your silly worldview.
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