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In order for a theist to know that their deity is real, would they not have to be all knowing?

Update:

In response to:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20140...

For any believe to be certain that their deity is real and all others are false, how do they 100% know that their religion is not some trick being played by the true deity's nemesis? (like Loki, Set, Hades, etc.) Would they not have to be all knowing?

So when theists tell us that they know their <deity> is real - are they not just fooling themselves? Or lying?

Update 2:

So, all the Christians have just hand waved this away, without addressing the problem that a deity would be able to falsify any evidence, inner knowledge, etc. to trick them into believing in a false god.

they can not KNOW, as they claim that they do, that their deity is actually real.

But they refuse to even consider the possibility.

13 Answers

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  • 7 years ago
    Favourite answer

    Basically yes. As that kind of theist, you know you cannot be wrong, because a magic spirit is whispering the absolute truth to you. That's the same as saying you are infallible, no different. Even if it were true that you had something "in you" that wasn't yourself, you still have to interpret the message as a fallible human; otherwise that gets rid of free will.

    So in a way, you are projecting your ego onto the sum of reality.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    Non sequitur, no they would not have to be all knowing.

    Do I have to be all knowing to know my couch or coffee table is real?

    The question about knowing that there is no God can't be turned around to knowing there is a God, it simply doesn't work that way.

    "For any believe to be certain that their deity is real and all others are false,"

    - But now you're changing the argument. Before it was just "know God is real", now you added "AND that all others are false". Two different arguments. Pick one and stick with it.

    "without addressing the problem that a deity would be able to falsify any evidence, inner knowledge, etc. to trick them into believing in a false god"

    - Ok, that really makes no sense. Why would a god want us to believe in another god??

  • Wundt
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    We know gravity is real based on the evidence without being all knowing. We know this because we see the effects of gravity every day, we can measure those effect, predict them, etc. Is it possible we are wrong, and there is no gravity, sure... but given the mountain of evidence for gravity, denial of gravity is foolish.

    We can say the same thing about a God. If we can find consistent and verifiable evidence that the God was real, then we can be confident in that belief. For example, if every prayer was answered (the way that every pencil dropped proves gravity) that would be proof of God without my being all knowing.

    For myself, I don't see the evidence for God.

  • ?
    Lv 6
    7 years ago

    This is simple and missed by that simplicity by the many !!! One must be SPIRIT FILLED or that which JESUS said as BORN AGAIN !!! JESUS SAID I WILL SEND YOU THE COMFORTER AND HE WILL LEAD AND GUIDE YOU UNTO ALL TRUTH !!! I at this time i look through the glass darkly , but then face to face !!! soon I shall know even as I am known !!!! Trust not your own flesh and lean not unto your own understanding as THE BIBLE SAY'S !!!Why you might ask ??? Its a question of our Genetics and those which came from the caveman/serpent through its son Cain and his daughters !!!! Be-advised therefore in all the universe and beyond there are but two SPIRITS !!! ONE IS TRUTH the other is error !!!!

    JESUS BLESS YOU

    david stotler

  • ?
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    Not really. All they'd need is solid evidence of their god's existence.

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Have you ever shopped for?..a home, car, tablet? Maybe more a home? Have you ever said ...this is IT?

    Or, do you need to view every house in your city?

    Or, do you find the ONE? I sometimes do, you?

    And don't we KNOW? I do. God contacts us, and yes

    there's false. This is why repent, confess is needed.

    I read Islam..violent, Hindu...whoa!..too many gods, Buddhist...hopeless, Christianity? All the answers.

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Not necessarily. If their God revealed himself directly and physically to them, that would be sufficient. But nobody has ever been able to prove that that happened to anyone.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    Of course. No matter how strong their faith, they can never know for certain. When a theist says that they KNOW, what they mean is, they really believe really really hard

  • ?
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    Interesting question.

    If their god did not provide objective verifiable evidence then yes, they would otherwise have to be all-knowing.

    This is because "divine revelation" cannot possibly give one knowledge. If you cannot test and confirm that they are genuine and not hallucinations, and they do not conform to our usual experience of reality, then the chances are they are delusions.

    Hearing voices in your head is not evidence for God. It's evidence of schizophrenia.

  • 7 years ago

    The fact that they have a deity would suggest they never could be ...

    Source(s): Being omni-cognicent
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