Top Ten List

I keep a mental sequence of questions handy that I've asked myself over the years - questions that lead to the conclusion that the god of the bible is not real. The sequence goes:

• Does the supernatural exist?
  
• Is a supernatural creator of the universe required for the universe to exist?
  
• Does a supernatural entity intervene in the lives of people on this planet?
  
• Would a supernatural entity intervening in the lives of people on this planet be worthy of worship?
  
• Does the bible depict a supernatural entity embodying all of the above that is - as depicted - worthy of worship?

The answers - down the line - are always "No".

Along the same lines - Greta Christina provides her handy reference of ten main reasons she doesn't believe in God. This is bookmark-worthy ... maybe it should be framed!

Here's a snippet of her first reason:

When you look at the history of what we know about the world, you see a very noticeable pattern. Natural explanations of things have been replacing supernatural explanations of them. Like a steamroller.

Why the sun rises and sets. Where thunder and lightning come from. Why people get sick. Why people look like their parents. How the complexity of life came into being. I could go on and on.

All of these things were once explained by religion. But as we understood the world better, and learned to observe it more carefully, the religious explanations were replaced by physical cause and effect. Consistently. Thoroughly. Like a steamroller. The number of times that a supernatural or religious explanation of a phenomenon has been replaced by a natural explanation? Thousands upon thousands upon thousands.

Now. The number of times that a natural explanation of a phenomenon has been replaced by a supernatural or religious one? The number of times humankind has said, "We used to think (X) was caused by physical cause and effect, but now we understand that it's actually caused by God, or spirits, or demons, or the soul"?

Zero Exactly zero.