I have absolute proof that there is no God.

[seeker]

I've just seen in our local paper that a little girl who lives in our town has died. She has been the focus of much prayer since she was taken ill last year. Her parents were thoroughly good Christian people who trusted God absolutely.

The is no way that a loving, omnipotent, beneficent God who notes even a sparrow falling would not have answered these people's prayer.

So, if I had even a scintilla of doubt, it is now gone. There is no God.

Surely the burden of providing proof falls on those who do believe?

I dont think God can be proved in a physical sense.
Thats why faiths are called faith.
The definition of faith is believing in something that cant be proved.

apologies, haven't read the whole thread, but:

That those people didn't get the answer they wanted, doesn't mean they didn't get an answer to their prayers, or that their prayers weren't listened too.

I'm Christian, I believe in God. I believe that God understands and sees everything - total human understand can only see a fraction of what god knows. I trust that he will act in the way that's the best for us, even if it's not what we want in the short term.

Put simply, my toddler DS doesn't understand why he's not allowed to climb on tables, he likes it, it's fun, why does his mean mummy stop him? But I can see that doing that would risk hurting him. God will have a reason for not keeping that little girl alive, we don't know what that is, but it doesn't follow that he didn't hear the prayers of those who wanted her saved.

The fact that she is being discussed on here,may be a tiny part of why.

It seems to me,from what little I know,that children in Heaven are very special indeed.Not that I am saying that I would have wanted to lose mine,I wouldnt,but I would hope that what I just said is a small comfort to those who have lost theirs. .

So, every single time people pray it turns out that what they are actually praying for is not actually the best thing for them- every single time? Oh,apart from the times that what they are praying for is something that there is a pretty good chance of happening without supernatural intervention?

And if it so happens that something good happens after prayer that is a sign of god's intervention, but if something bad happens that isn't a sign of god's indifference, non existence or malificence?

How would we all feel about a human father who behaved the way god appears to?

God knows what is best for us,we dont.We cant see the future.
But I think there are probably different rules for those that are Christians to those that are not.

Personally I think it is random what happens to non Christians.

Isn't it a bit strange that what is good for us is always something that could happen without divine intervention, and anything which does require divine intervention is not good for us? Coincidence?

There is some parable or other,where a building falls down and kills some people.And I think Jesus said that the people that were killed were no worse sinners than those that were not killed.

eh?perhaps too early in the morning for my brain
I will have a bit of a think later,when I am more awake.

The problem with all the comments about miracles etc basically show that the posters do not have a basic understanding of statistics. You may thing that statistics is irrelevant to a discussion about religion, but it has everything to do with our understanding of the world (and events that happen in it).

The earlier post about the pastor who recovered from the brain problem, has nothing to do with a miracle, but everything to do with statistical likelihood. If you were to take a large group of people with a particular terminal illness, then there will be someone in that group who (against all odds) survive. If you look at that individual case and ignore the significant of others that did not survive, then it appears to be a miracle, but to do so would be a complete corruption of the data.

A good example of this is the woman who won the lottery in America twice in 3 months, and everyone said that it was a "miracle"! They said that the chances of someone winning two lotteries in 3 months was something like 1 to a trillion. On one level they are right, the chances of ONLY ME winning two lotteries in 3 months is 1 to a trillion, but the chances of ANYONE in the world winning two lotteries in 3 months is about 1 in 4 (i.e. very likely to occur on a pretty regular basis somewhere in the world).

Fundamentally, religion simply understates the vast number of "things" that happen in the world every second of every hour, of every day, etc, and jumps to a conclusion that something has caused it to occur. If everyone in the world flipped a coin onto a table at the same time, a very small number of the 7 billion coins would land on their edge - those people are not blessed, or special, that is just statistics - boring, but true!

amillionyears - Oh dear, I think I've read it all now. So, what happens to everyone is random (which is what I believe), apart from Christians, who are in a Special Club. God listens to them, but then ignores what they ask and does as he pleases anyway because he has a Plan.

Um, so what about Jews, who are widely acknowledged to be god's chosen people. And, btw, I am one, and while I am an atheist, I like the fact that Judaism is about praising god for being awesome, never about asking him for favours. There is no praying for personal wants. And we don't have an afterlife either. This life is all we can be sure of, and we should live good lives as their own reward.

But that's beside the point. Also, what about tiny innocent children who have never heard of god? Do they all get random pot luck because random fate means they weren't born into a Christian family and raised Christian? But if god is looking after the Christians, surely he gets to decide who is born a Christian. So isn't he being intrinsically unfair by causing some people to be born into his Special Club where he will look after them, and everyone not to be born into this club and left to the ravages of random chance?

I can't get my head around the 'god uses the NHS to heal people nowday'. So for 2000 yeas god had to sit about waiting for humans to learn about medicine. That's right, the creator god who flung stars into space with his bare hands had his desire to heal people curtailed by how long it took the human species to amass all the knowledge they have. I've heard Christians praying for god to 'guide the surgeons hands'. Why can't he just do the surgery himself? And why did that surgeon need 7+ years of university if god is going to guide their hands. You might as well get a check out assistants to do operations.

God also guides the hands of the surgeons who accidentally leave swabs inside their patients!

There is no god, only nature. Which at times is very very cruel

seeker,now I have had a better chance to read your last post I still dont understand it.Sorry.I think I understodd the first half of the sentence,but not the second.

Annie,sort of yes to all of it imo.Have I got it right that you practice paganism?I dont know what they believe.
I am not sure that I believe in God is "fair",in the way that humans might think of fairness.
There is something in the bible about God knowing Christians before they were born.

Ok. If somebody prays for their cat to come home, or for somebody to recover from.a serious but not fatal illness, the chances are the prayer will be answered.

If a person prays for somebody to recover from end stage lung cancer, or for a broken vase of huge sentimental value to be made while again, then their prayers will definitely not be answered, even though god could do it if he wanted to. Why?

no, amillion, as I said, I'm Jewish. You know, the original god's people?

Baffled as to how many of you admit your god is grossly unfair and worship anyway, because you happen to be in the 'right' side of the fence.

seeker,imo,God has lots of answers as I said before upthread.
What do you mean by "answered".Do you mean "answered yes".

And an answer to both of you,God knows the best path,we most certainly do not.

Could you address the point- why does god only answer "yes" to easy things that don't actually need divine intervention?

seeker,I dont think that he does.Why do you think that?

Are you saying you dont believe in miracles?
I can understand that.i think some Christians struggle with them too.

You do realise that most churches nowadays have email addresses,that you can contact the vicar with.I should imagine they would be very happy to get emails from current non believers.Very happy indeed.

Is it the randomness of nature that people find hard to accept? I said "everything's an accident borne of accidents". Let's say I changed that to: "Nature works to a plan, as shown by its intricate use of prime numbers and wave patterns". Does it appear more reasonable to a person of faith like you, amillion?