Posted 8:18 AM by Blah blah

Oh man, god_dot_com is hanging up his heavenly robe. :(

Oh my Han Solo! (Debating if God Exists)

On RBJ, Oliver, this Taiwanese guy in Atlanta, started this debate Does God Exist? He was my main "opponent" in the Creationism Vs. Evolution debate this May. First, I hate religious debates. Religious zealots have NO sense of humor. (I was raised Protestant, became agnostic, and now think that if God exists, He's someone like Alan Greenspan.)

I think it's impossible to ever know if God exists.

I know many of you are Christian, and I respect Christianity and normal logic. But Oliver-logic just blows my mind. Regardless of what you believe about God, isn't this freaky?
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He says:

OK, on to my Human Behavior arguments for the existence of God...

First off, taken individually, each one doesn't prove the existence of God, but they are all blocks in a big puzzle that points to God's existence.

1. Ease of ability to think of a God.

...why is it that humans can grasp the concept of God so easily?

I maintain that humans are prediposed to understand God. We have an innate understanding of God cause we are spiritual beings. And there is a linkup between man and God.

2. Cursing

When people say curse words (or in the south, we call it cuss words), why is it that the worst cursing references God? Why do people say things like, "God damn! Jesus Christ! etc"? People say these things to express their extreme rage, pain, anger, violence, hatred. Why don't people say things like, "President damn! Benedict Arnold!"

I maintain that it originated in the spiritual realm. Expressions of badness originate from the source of evil - the devil. The devil is the epitome of violence, hatred, rage. And what would the devil say as a curse. Things against his enemy - God. So, when humans want to express their extreme negative emotions, they say the same things that the embodiment of evil would say.

3. View of death

Death is a very natural part of this world....But, for some reason, humans don't think it's natural. It's evidenced by the fact that people fear death. And also by the fact that people would like to think of an afterlife of some type (heaven, reincarnation). Why is that? If death is so natural, why is it that humans don't view it as natural? If we did truly view it as natural, we wouldn't have such strong emotions about it.

I maintain it's because that death is not natural for humans. We are not simply a result of biological processes. We have a spirit (or soul, whatever you want to call it) that does not die. And our immortal soul has a hard time dealing with the concept of death.
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I replied:

You can't be serious, Oliver. HUH??? I'd love to send my kids to your homeschool to learn stuff like this:

Ease of ability to think of a God

Oliver reinvents the whole concept of logic:

1. We come up with the idea of a God as easily and naturally as we come up with the thought of the Playboy channel, garage sales, or not calling when we say we will.

2. All things that subliminally pop into our innocent brains must have been installed there by a Higher Power or advertising copywriters. (WINK Unica Hija).

3. THEREFORE, God and the Playboy channel must exist.

Time magazine (I think) printed a cover story about how the concept of some higher being seems wired into our brain. I saw this science TV program (The Brain?) in which a man, whose brain had been injured, felt intense "religious" experiences and got unusually emotional.Since I think religion really is more emotional than factual, with roots more in psychology rather than factual observation, this makes sense.

You could argue the same thing about any kind of superstition we have. Why do so many people believe in:

-ghosts
-Dionne Warwick and her Psychic Friends
-having a shot at winning the lottery
-Santa Claus
-partying all weekend and doing well on a big midterm Monday morning not being mutually exclusive?

All are "easy" to believe. Are we preprogrammed to believe all this? If so, they all must be true, says Oliver!

We use the word "God" often when we curse

"Expressions of badness originate from the source of evil - the devil. The devil is the epitome of violence, hatred, rage. And what would the devil say as a curse. Things against his enemy - God. So, when humans want to express their extreme negative emotions, they say the same things that the embodiment of evil would say."

People also use the word "shit" a lot, Oliver. They swear about all kinds of bodily functions relating to MAN. Couldn't that also mean that swearing comes from MAN, not the Devil? Maybe there's an itsy bitsy chance of it.

Oliver reasons like this. Plato is rolling in his grave now and doing the macarena:

1. We use the word "God" a lot when we swear. If we hit our thumb with a hammer, the first thing we shout is not "George Bush!!!" or "Homer Simpson!!!!" or "DOHHHH"!!!

2. The Devil probably swears like 40% of the time, and most of it is directed at his Public Enemy Number One: God. If it were Star Wars, Darth Vader would be yelling "Lukedamn" or "Oh my Han Solo!!"

3. THEREFORE, God must exist. Like if we mostly yelled "Oh my garters and suspenders!!!" those garters and suspenders are enemies of the Devil and must exist.

People are afraid of death and don't think it's natural. Afterlife dreams

"If death is so natural, why is it that humans don't view it as natural? If we did truly view it as natural, we wouldn't have such strong emotions about it. I maintain it's because that death is not natural for humans."

Another show of Oliver-logic:

1. People tend to think death is not natural. They fear death.

2. If we had no immortal soul, we wouldn't have this weird view. We'd embrace death like a teddy bear. We'd expect to die as routinely as we expect to be put on hold when we call our credit card company.

3. ERGO, we must have an immortal soul and normally live forever. Death is an exception.

Oliver, most people I know think death IS natural. And they have strong emotions about it.

The only thing I know is that THIS DEBATE of God's existence is natural. It will never die. This argument's immortal soul will live on, in every Sunday school, every battlefield of war, every biology class, and every hospital bed with a baby in it.

For eternity.