I haven't been following this thread too closely, but i have noticed a recurring theme of 'proof'.
It seems some here are suggesting that atheism is the default position, and any other views require some sort of proof apart from atheism.
Of course that's not the case.
The only default and absolutely concrete position, is that we exist. We are here, living on planet earth, as a part of a vast universe. That is all we know to be true.
The question following from that reality then becomes: how did we come to exist?
An atheist will take the position of naturalism. i.e. that we are here by natural forces that conspired in the vastness of time to create the universe and all that it contains.
A Christian will content that we are here through the creation of an Intelligent Designer, who created the Universe, and all that it contains.
Now people will obviously call me biased for writing that a natural beginning to the universe not only doesn't make logical sense, but has also been basically written off as a realistic theory by many great modern (atheist) scientists. It might surprise people to know that even Richard Dawkins has abandoned naturalism as a realistic theory for the creation of the universe. He supports the theory that aliens from other dimensions created us (amazing how un-scientific a scientist will become to avoid including God in their theories).
On the other hand i support the Christian position that a creator (God) is the guiding hand behind creation. This is based on ontological, teleological and cosmological arguments among others. It is also based on years of studying the Gospels and determining them to be reliable.
I spent years listening to and reading everything i could get my hands on. Atheists, Theologians, Scientists, Philosophers, you name it. I brought a library worth of books in the process. This is not to say i couldn't be wrong in my conclusions, but i am in a firm place with regards to my beliefs because they have been built on a solid foundation of research and learning.
I can guarantee everyone here that we are not going to solve the "God" question by arguing on a footy forum. But if people are actually serious about this question,
they should do as much reading, listening, and watching as possible from people on both sides of the argument, and make a determination based on an honest appraisal of the material. Try be open minded, and abandon your bias as hard as that might be at first. If you do, you will ultimately end up in a much better place than when you started.
Again just my view, but if God exists then what is at stake here for everyone is quite literally where you will spend eternity. That's a long time to gamble on, so just be sure you know why you believe what you do.
