What evidence would you need to convince yourself that God exists?

by vdshjffjdhgdfh (student)

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

What evidence would you need to convince yourself that

God exists?

Religion: the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith. The key word here is faith. All religions, whether that be Christianity or Hinduism, are based on faith from the person who practices it. So, when faced with this question, one could say that there is nothing to prove existence of God except faith, which cannot be proven. But as an atheist, my main issue is that I have not personally seen something miraculous, as in something done by God. It is very easy for one to say, “He has been healed from doing this” or “This miracle happened” but unless this is personal to you, it lacks a certain reality and therefore will not be particularly compelling evidence for the existence of God.

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Two main arguments for the existence of God are the following: ‘everything that happens has a cause’. This causal chain goes back and back until somewhere it must have started. This uncaused cause, according to Aquinas, must be God. Also Paley argues that something which is so intricate, such as the human body itself, can’t have formed by accident. It must have a purpose, and then that purpose needs a designer. These are just two theories and both have their counterarguments, but for me, all these theories just do not definitively prove the existence of God either way.

In order for me to believe that God exists, I would need to see Gods actions personally. There are people who are strictly religious and these are people who pray very often. These prayers, although they might say that their prayers are answered, will almost definitely see no effect of these prayers. My objection to this is that, although this would convert everyone to religion, God would still not answer to a very menial prayer, for instance, “Please make this cup move across the table”. This seems very simple, and would make me, without fail, believe in God, but this would never materialise as it is areligious to test God.

Another main criticism I feel is that God would not allow all this suffering and inequality, felt all over the world, if He truly had the power to stop it. We are feeling the pain of huge casualties from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Why would God allow such devastation, to this world he created. I think that my belief in God would rely on the abomination of evil itself.

The arguments I have voiced here are probably very biased and regarded by others as “wrong” or “contentious”. This is the very problem. In this essay I am speculating, “what if this” or “what if that”. This issue is not as defined as being able to say whether God exists or not. I think the question really is if you believe in faith? and if you do, then God exists. God may be something that only really exists if you believe in it, a bit like Christmas is real to children if they believe.