... You just dismiss all of my arguments as just assertions. Are you so fond of the word assertion ?
sravna, my retort to this would be, are you fond of making only assertions
.
I think I have shown very clearly why I think your arguments are only assertions in my
post #477. To say that there is a god is itself only a proposition, needing convincing evidence. Instead of providing that evidence, you are doubling down with another assertion that this God is a spiritual being existing outside time and space.
The only reason you say this, it seems to me, is so that you can argue that only matter in time and space need a creator and this God does not since it does not exist in the realm of time and space. This is convenience argument, reshaping the head so that the hat will fit.
I have made my position very clear from the beginning and very often. The question raised in the title of this thread cannot be answered either in the affirmative or the negative, conclusively.
Between the two positions, those who take the affirmative side has the onus to prove as they are the ones who make this proposition. Until it is proved, the rational position to take is that of an agnostic. The reason only an agnostic position is rational is not because there is a reasonable possibility that a creator God exists, but proving he does not exist requires disproving that even the remote possibility he
may exist, which is an impossible task.
If one takes this predicament of the impossibility of conclusively proving a negative as irrefutable evidence of existence of god, then go ahead, but I for one prefer to return to and stay in the natural state of godlessness that we all are born into, until Rama, Krishna, Shiva, or Jesus is poured into us, starting with ஒம்மாச்சி கண்ணக் குத்துவார்.
Argument 1
Premise 1: We are at Present
Premise 2: We reached the present time from the past
Conclusion: Time should have a beginning
Argument 2:
Premise: Time has a beginning (from argument 1)
Conclusion: The theory that universe has been existing forever and therefore needs no cause is false.
Argument 3:
Premise: Anything needs to exist to create something
Conclusion: Self creation is not possible
Argument 4:
Premise 1: Universe did not create itself or spontaneously appear (from argument 3)
Premise 2: Universe did not exist forever (from argument 2)
Conclusion: Universe was created by something.
Sravna, from a purely logical and rational POV, the first two arguments are only conjectures. In so far as nobody can even form a reasonable hypothesis about what was there before Big Bang, your claim time
should have a beginning, the first conclusion, is not really unassailable fact. Since the rest of your arguments are developed with this first conclusion, the rest also falls.
Particularly, the conclusion of argument #3 does not automatically follow even if the conclusions of the previous two arguments are shown to be irrefutable facts. If the universe manifested at some time zero point, does it really mean it was created by a purposeful entity? When it is possible for the Big Bang to have occurred without God, the principle of Occam's razor demands you not assume anything more unless you can provide convincing evidence. So the premises of your argument 4 are just, the word is coming, brace yourself,
assertions.
Argument 5:
Premise 1: Time and space came into being when universe was created
Premise 2: Universe was created by something (from argument 4)
Conclusion: There is a timeless entity
. So obvious, why am I not seeing it, I must be obstinate, like Ravi says below.
Well presented Shri Srvana..
[...]
Basically "You can make a person understand who wants to know. But you can't make a person understand who has determined, not to know".
Ravi, you probably know what truth is and therefore are confident that the other side is wrong and determined to not to know. I can't speak for all who have argued with you, but as far as I am concerned, I can assure you that the position I am presenting is not one based on a determination not to know the "truth" that you are so confident that you know and are presenting.
Cheers!