{"id":31868,"date":"2012-02-18T21:27:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-19T03:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=31868"},"modified":"2021-02-10T21:33:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T03:33:44","slug":"what-if-i-say-you-cant-prove-god-is-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-i-say-you-cant-prove-god-is-real\/","title":{"rendered":"What if I say you can’t prove God is real?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

If religion (Catholicism) is the absolute truth, then how come when questions are asked about it no one can ever answer with facts, only faith and belief? Basically, if I say “you can’t prove God is real”, you can only prove it with faith and belief, no facts. Why is this? Where’s all the proof?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Roman Catholicism isn’t the absolute truth. I’m not Catholic and don’t defend their belief system.<\/p>\n

The Bible claims that it is the truth. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth<\/em>” (John 17:17). It contains verifiable facts and information. For example, it contains prophecies known to be given hundreds of years in advance, that always came out accurately. It contains details about the past that have always been accurate, even regarding events and nations that the world forgot about during the course of time. It is a book unlike any other in the world. These are facts. Now whether you accept that the evidence points to God or not, there you are right, faith is required.<\/p>\n

Not that you are without faith. You see, you cannot prove that God doesn’t exist. You can only offer your belief, not facts. And oddly enough, you don’t have factual evidence that points to the impossibility of God’s existence. I guess we might conclude that your belief system requires greater faith than mine.<\/p>\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I disagree. You don’t have factual evidence that God does exist, aside from what was written\/re-written in the Bible. If one believes in science, that doesn’t require any faith what-so-ever, just empirical knowledge of the topic, tested, hypothesized, and re-tested. My “belief” is not much of a belief because if it is not proven by facts (palpable, undeniable evidence — not the Bible), then it cannot be considered as truth. You mentioned that I don’t have factual evidence that God doesn’t exist, which I do not require not to believe in Him. Where is your factual evidence that God does exist? The Bible does not count as evidence. It has been thousands of years since it has been written and re-written and parts have been added, so who is to say that the story hasn’t been changed and re-interpreted and translated in that amount of time? Where is your factual evidence that the Bible has not been edited since its original publication date? Is faith the only evidence you need to be right? Because by that logic, it seems as though any religious follower follows that logic, no one can ever be wrong by their own interpretation of “faith.” Telling me I need to prove God doesn’t exist is not proof of His existence. If you can assure me that God exists, without evidence, then I can equally dismiss your statement without evidence.<\/p>\n\t

That you don’t accept the evidence doesn’t mean it is non-existent. There are scientists who argue for Intelligent Design. The basis of the theory is that there is too much evidence of design to accept that random events developed our world. The source of that evidence is from science and not from the Bible.<\/p>\n

Discounting the Bible, a proven historically accurate book, doesn’t give credence to your case. Particularly the claim that the Bible has been modified since its origin is something that has been established to be false. Regarding the New Testament:<\/p>\n