God: The Failed Hypothesis Read Online Free PDF Page A

17 .
    The following three are examples of multiple-attribute disproofs:
    A Perfect Creator Cannot Exist
    1. If God exists, then he is perfect.
    2. If God exists, then he is the creator of the universe.
    3. If a being is perfect, then whatever he creates must be perfect.
    4. But the universe is not perfect.
    5. Therefore, it is impossible for a perfect being to be the creator of the universe.
    6. Hence, it is impossible for God to exist 18 .

    A Transcendent Being Cannot Be Omnipresent
    1. If God exists, then he is transcendent (i.e., outside space and time).
    2. If God exists, he is omnipresent.
    3. To be transcendent, a being cannot exist anywhere in space.
    4. To be omnipresent, a being must exist everywhere in space.
    5. Hence it is impossible for a transcendent being to be omnipresent.
    6. Therefore, it is impossible for God to exist 19 .
    A Personal Being Cannot Be Nonphysical
    1. If God exists, then he is nonphysical.
    2. If God exists, then he is a person (or a personal being).
    3. A person (or personal being) needs to be physical.
    4. Hence, it is impossible for God to exist 20 .
    Finally, here is an example of a single-attribute disproof:
    The Paradox of Omnipotence
    1. Either God can create a stone that he cannot lift, or he cannot create a stone that he cannot lift.
    2. If God can create a stone that he cannot lift, then he is not omnipotent.
    3. If God cannot create a stone that he cannot lift, then he is not omnipotent.
    4. Therefore, God is not omnipotent 21 .
    The reader will undoubtedly see much in these bare formal statements that needs clarification; again I address you to the original essays for details and additional disproofs of this kind. Like most philosophical discussions, it mainly comes down to the meanings of words and assembling them into coherent, consistent statements. The philosophers who formulated these disproofs have been careful about defining the terms used, while those who dispute them will generally disagree with those definitions or the way they have been interpreted. As a result, the debate continues.
    Ways Out
    Ways out of purely logical arguments can always be found, simply by relaxing one or more of the premises or, as noted, one of the definitions. For example, assume God is not omnibenevolent.
    Indeed, the God of the more conservative elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that take their scriptures literally can hardly be called omnibenevolent—or even very benevolent. No one reading the Bible or Qur’an literally can possibly regard the God described therein as all-good. We will see examples later, but for now the reader is invited to simply pick up an Old Testament or Qu’ran, open to a random page, and read for a while. It will not take you long to find an act or statement of God that you find inconsistent with your own concepts of what is good. And, as we will also see, much in the Gospel can hardly be called “good.”
    In any event, the scientific case is not limited to an omnibenevolent, omniscient, or omnipotent god.
    The scientific method incorporates a means to adjudicate disputes that otherwise might run in circles, never converging as dis-putants on all sides of an issue continually redefine and refine their language. In science we are able to break out of this vicious cycle by calling upon empirical observations as the final judge. Of course, ways out of the scientific arguments can also be achieved by redefining God or by disputing the empirical facts. The reader will simply have to judge for herself whether the examples present are convincing.
    Models and Theories
    Science is not just a matter of making observations but also developing models to describe those observations. In fact, philosophers have pointed out that any observation or measurement we make in science depends on some model or theory. They assert that all observations are “theory-laden.” For example, when we measure the time it takes for a particle to move from one point to another we must