Proving God--My Response

 Good morning.

After looking at the various attempts to prove the existence of God, I am left with the conclusion that they all point to the philosophical necessity of a god, not God.  For example, David Hume gave a refutation of the teleological argument.  He wrote that even if we accept the logic of it, that the complexity of the universe and its order shows an intelligence behind it, this does not prove that this intelligence is also the creator of the materials of the universe.  

The French mathematician, Blaise Pascal, knew that there is no proof for the existence of God.  At the same time, there is no proof for the non-existence of God, something that Spinoza tried to explain.  For Pascal, believing in God is like playing cards.  No one knows what cards are in the hands of your opponent.  Based on your own hand, you weight the pros and cons of wagering.  Unlike a card game, though, God never reveals the cards that are in God's hand.

So, if you gamble there is a God, and attempt to live a godly life, you win.  In his case, that means heaven.  If there is no God, you break even, because you tried to live a "good" life.  If you gamble there is no God, and live a life without the morality and ethics that God seems to demand, and there is a God, you lose.  In this case, Hell.  If there is not God, you do not break even, because an immoral life is not a good life.

I do not think his argument is enough to convince someone to believe in God, and to try to live a moral, God-fearing life.  There are too many assumptions.  One, the assumption of Heaven and Hell.  Two, the assumption of reward and punishment.  These are hard assumptions to prove.  Even if we accept the logic of the various attempts to prove God, proving the attributes of God is even more difficult.  Anselm tried, but as Kant pointed out, without accepting existence as an attribute, Anselm failed to prove that God has all the attributes of perfection.

As I stated earlier, I am reading a book by Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity.  I have somewhat of a prejudice against German philosophers.  They seem to work under the assumption that if the reader understands what is being written, then the reader is as smart as the writer.  In order to show their genius, they must write in a way that proves their genius by showing that only the writer knows what he is writing about.  

In spite of this, Feuerbach's contention, or at least as I am trying to understand it, points to God being a figment of our imagination.  We have created an antithesis for ourselves--we are finite, God is infinite, we are weak, God is strong, we are limited in our intelligence, God is omniscient, we are contingent, God is necessary.  This imaginary God has benefits.  It brings solice and comfort.  Hermann Cohen, a Jewish philosopher and an expert on Kant wrote that when we pray, we have no proof that God exists or that if God does exist, God is listening.  For him, it does not matter.  The fact that we believe God does, helps us relieve the burden of guilt.  

When I leave the synagogue on Yom Kippur, have my sins been expiated by God, or does my belief that they are frees me of them?  To enjoy movies, we must suspend our disbelief.  For psychological reasons, must we suspend our disbelief in God?  My favorite Broadway musical is "Man of LaMancha".  Cervantes claims that he is an idealist because "I do not have the courage to believe in nothing".  Atheism takes a great deal of courage.

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