Prove the existence of god

Since many religions are so fond of bragging that their god is "the one true god" and every other religion's deity is fake, inferior, etc... I have the following question:
Is it possible to prove that every god but yours doesn't exist, while not also disproving the existence of your own?
Furthermore, if this isn't possible, does it mean that all religion is a sham?

Well being a very devout catholic i know where you're coming from when you say that all religions say everyone else is wrong. Although devout I don't believe that. I believe that bits and pieces of all christian religions compiled together will give us the truth. As far as proving who's God is the one true god, you can't. You cannot truly know, or find God, whicever god you wish Him to be, without wanting to. We find God within ourselves, we find him in our heart and it isn't until we find him that we will see and believe all the wonders that He has created, and all the miracles and deeds he has done. Someone could come up to you tomorrow and say, "I had a vision from God last night! I saw ....(fill in the blank)." but this will mean nothing to you because you have not opened your heart to HIm, and therefore you do not know him and do not believe in the miracles he performs. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you will only see the physical evidence of God when you have accepted Him into your life, and found Him in your heart. Remeber...Believing is seeing, seeing isn't believing.

fireangel that is very nicely put and I wholeheartedly agree. You cannot as a believer ever describe or explain well enough for a non-believer because you have had such a change in your heart and mind that all you can say for certain is that you believe. I believe there is a God. I try to explain on this site but it never seems good enough or clear enough (even to me when I read my own comments back). I see proof everywhere I turn that there is a God who created everything from nothing. I still would like to know myself what came before that. I think there must have been something before if God existed there and created life but i don't know in what form . I think (at this moment in time in my life) that creation by God and the big bang are one and the same thing. I don't know what form God takes, thought, energy, power, whatever it may be, it is the ultimate creative force that brought life from stardust through the enormous energy and powerful force of the big bang. Again I end up waffling, and my thoughts probably seem confused and disjointed to most, all I can say for certain (at the moment) is that I believe in God.

http://www.captaincynic.com/thread/74724/saint-anselm-proof-for-the-exis
tence-of-god.htm[/url]
I personally don't think this proof is very good but if you are looking for a reason to believe it could maybe help.

I'm not looking for a reason to believe. I'm actually trying to find out whether or not those who do believe have a reason to do so, or if their reason for believing is "I believe because I believe". It seems to me that religious belief is circular. People believe simply because they do believe, something which seems to require that the believer resign all logical thought on the matter, and simply believe without being given a reason why. Only after this is done can they see the "evidence" that their belief is founded. While this may seem overly critical, I was once religious myself, and this is (at least in terms of the christian religion) entirely true.

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Is it possible to prove that every god but yours doesn't exist, while not also disproving the existence of your own?

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Not unless you have some better proof.

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I'm not looking for a reason to believe. I'm actually trying to find out whether or not those who do believe have a reason to do so, or if their reason for believing is "I believe because I believe"

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Yes, there is a reason, and no, it is not just because they choose to "believe". It is because they were taught what to 'believe", and told to "believe" it, or else.

As usual I think a distinction needs to be made. There is a difference between believing that you and the universe around you were created by someone or something other than yourself and believing in some biblically defined entity acredited with doing so, either can be called god, but this does not necessitate that they are one in the same or of equal factuality.

And Jimmy, you are quite correct about the circular logic in play by those proclaiming a corner on the market of the "truth of god".

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You cannot truly know, or find God, whicever god you wish Him to be, without wanting to. We find God within ourselves, we find him in our heart and it isn't until we find him that we will see and believe all the wonders that He has created, and all the miracles and deeds he has done.

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The problem with this logic is that I don't have to know, find, or believe in any definition of god to see the wonders that are existance, actually, I find the notion absurd.

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Someone could come up to you tomorrow and say, "I had a vision from God last night! I saw ....(fill in the blank)." but this will mean nothing to you because you have not opened your heart to HIm, and therefore you do not know him and do not believe in the miracles he performs.

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Again, two issues are confused.

Believing that miracles, definable as events not definable by known natural laws, can occur, and that someone witnessed some and can explain them are two very different things.

One is perfectly understandable, another is most probably a case of self delusion.

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Remeber...Believing is seeing, seeing isn't believing.

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Save your slogans for those who don't bother to use their GOD GIVEN brains.

So, hypothetically, based on your logic, if I believe you are an idiot, does that make it so?

I don't think so.

The fact that you may be an idiot might though, hypothetically.

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I believe there is a God. I try to explain on this site but it never seems good enough or clear enough (even to me when I read my own comments back).

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Again, this is because of the difference between believing in existance and whatever created it, and defining this unknown creative force.

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Furthermore, if this isn't possible, does it mean that all religion is a sham?

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Insofar as their ability to define god, I believe so.

save your atheist views for those who don't bother to use their GOD GIVEN brains. Hypothetically if I believe you're an idiot, my conviction will strengthen my belief of your idiocy. But until everyone else realizes you're an idiot and they accept it, there is no way for me to prove that you are an idiot after all, hypothetically.

Most philosophers are agnostic. They believe there is no real reason to believe in God but the concept of God is not impossible. Which is why they don't look down on people that believe in God because the concept of God is not impossible it is just that there is no real reason to believing it.

Fire, Hmm, all that depth and substance, my mind is so overwhelmed I just don't know where to begin.

So what statements were you so deftly enunciating that you are not in accord with again?

I'm afraid your usufructed mind's advanced lexicon is perhaps becoming incomprehensible to such an unenlightened savage as myself, for your points seem to have eluded me, coming across as little more than garbled and unintelligible cryptic nonsense obviously far to complex for my circumscribed intellectual and spiritual capacity.

Perhaps you will help save me from myself, clarify my misunderstandings, free me from this ignorance. I'd do it for you

WWJD

Do you believe you hold an accurate description of god as an entity that you have a relationship with and that I do not? How presumptuous of you.

What wonders has he created that you think I cannot see because of your assumptive conclusion of my status of understanding of, knowledge of, belief in, and relationships with, god?

I know and believe in god with all of my heart.

I can even prove that god exists. I hadn't yet because I just don't see the point of staying on topic, no one responds to what I actually have to say when I do.

To prove the existance of God, I must define it

God is the word used to represent the generalized concept of the unseen and indefinable creative force behind all known existance.

And then there are the groups of silly hairless monkeys who have usurped the concept's power through structural religions and endless sheeple who have willingly given their minds over to them through indoctrination rituals and blind faith in arrogated and manipulated moral systems as well as a corrupted authoritarian forms of governance, direct or indirect.

But that is a whole other matter entirely, one I alluded to in my earlier cursory arguments against in the above post.

Certainly you know there is a difference between god and religion, between the existance of god and awareness, proof, and definitions of god.



P.S. Hey, saying you only find or know god if you want to, doesn't explain or prove god or your superior knowledge of him, ok?

Sidenote: Seriously, it doesn't.

Well said Jacker, they aren't inclined to make claims they can't back up trying to define that which they cannot comprehend, and they are ok with this because they are not buying what the local religion dealer is pushin, nor giving into the judgemental social pressures preconditioned into majorities of societies.

In my case, I don't take issue with people's belief in god, I take issue with people's attempt to authoritatively define god and god's intentions.

Generally I'm arguing against that or the general religion they follow and the mindsets and often indeed entire virtual realities they take on when they do.

I doubt if there is any way to "prove" the existence of God to anyone but yourself. A person could try presenting an argumenmt of some kind to convince others of the existence of God, but that's not proof. I guess what I'm saying is that you really can't "prove" the existence of God to other people.

While there is truth in your statement, wizardslogic, there must be some way of proving or otherwise demonstrating the existence of god. Otherwise how would any religion that believes in a god or gods gain even a single new follower? Religions gain new followers every day, many of which are adults. Nobody believes something without having ANY evidence to back it up, so there must be some sort of "evidence" that is presented to gain an individual's belief.

Check out Dawkins documentary on tv links or buy his book the God Delusion. Here's the link for the docs:
http://tv-links.co.uk/listings/9/5042

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Nobody believes something without having ANY evidence to back it up

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I think that depends on your definition of evidence. To my point of view people do in fact believe in things without evidence.

But, as for the God idea some people do have very compelling arguments. Most notably recoved drug addicts. When asked with the question, Like how did it happen? Some reply that they literally had hit rock bottom and they prayed to God in a last attempt. They say that something almost pulls them out, they don't know what it is but something kinda relieves them.

Now one thing to remember is they are on drugs. It could be their imagination playing tricks on them but it's pretty hard to get so disoriented that something like that would happen

It's not just their imagination, its another addiction.

You might just be surprised at the parallels between religion and substance abuse.