Day 7 – God’s existence: the two possibilities
The question whether there is or is not a god can and should be rewarding, in that it can yield definite results. –J. L. MACKIE
God exists or does not exist; there are no other possibilities.
The theist asserts that the former is true, that there is a supernatural, divine force behind the universe. The atheist believes the latter, that there is no God and that any such notion is but a myth.
That only one of these is correct can be surmised by common sense. If God exists, then the atheist cannot be right to any degree. If the atheist is right, the theist is 100% wrong. There is no middle ground. Even the agnostic, who cannot decide if God exists, would agree that one is true and the other false.
Regarding the reality of God, therefore, our discussion is limited to two possibilities: either God exists or He does not.1
Daily Quotation
J. L. Mackie, The Miracle of Theism (Oxford: Clarendon, 1982), 1.
1Some would venture a third option, namely that God should not be thought of as either existing or not existing. It is futile, they would say, to try to define in any terms what is utterly indescribable. These mystics, as they are often called, shun any objective approach to God, relying entirely on subjective acknowledgement and worship. Such wholesale abandonment of the intellect has never satisfied me. On the other hand, to rely on reason alone and totally dismiss mystery seems no better. My personal faith is actually a blend of the two, as tangible as the wind but just as elusive. For more on this, I refer you to this book’s “Afterword.”
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