Falsifying God? (Agnosticism)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Sunday, December 21, 2014, 15:58 (3407 days ago) @ dhw

Tony: (under "Horizontal Gene Transfer")Hrmm, but the concept of God, at least from my perspective, is falsifiable. Both by science, Archaeology, and Philosophy. I am not going to hijack this thread derailing into that statement, but yes, there is a means to falsify god, and ironically, God provides the means to falsify him.
> David: Please give us your approach. This is an instructional and learning website.
> 
> TONY: The Bible's claim is that it is 100% true. That gives three sets of predictions:
> The statements regarding science will be 100% accurate. 
> The Statements regarding history will be 100% accurate. 
> Neither one of those, in of itself prove anything divine, but they do build a record of reliability.
> The on the proves divine influence is prophecy. Since prophecy, particularly specific prophecies over large time scales have no rational explanation, a 100% accuracy rating is the test of falsifiability.
> 
> I have several problems with this line of argument. Firstly, although I can't argue with you about details of the prophecies, there are plenty of folk who can. I googled FALSE PROPHECIES BIBLE and found numerous websites. The most detailed was
> 
> 	http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Failed_biblical_prophecies
> -Well, just to start with the first one on that wiki page: -The City of Tyre -In 586 BC (confirmed by secular sources as the 11th year of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah), "Ezekiel" predicts the fall of mainland Tyre to the Babylonian armies of Nebuchadnezzar. 5 The text further describes the siege against the island fortress of Tyre (a half mile off the coast of mainland Tyre) hundreds of years later. Ezekiel's prophecy describes how the future invaders would tear down the ruins of mainland Tyre and throw them into the sea. They would "scrape her dust from her and leave her as the top of a rock". 6 "They will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water." "I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets." 7 -Secular history records that Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the great mainland city of Tyre about a year after Ezekiel's prophecy. The Encyclopedia Britannica says: "After a 13-year siege (585-573 BC) by Nebuchadnezzar II, Tyre made terms and acknowledged Babylonian suzerainty." 8 When Nebuchadnezzar broke through the city gates, he found it nearly empty. Most of the people had moved by ship to an island about a half mile off the coast and fortified a city there. The mainland city was destroyed in 573 BC (Ezekiel's first prediction), but the city of Tyre on the island remained a powerful city for several hundred years. -Secular history next records that "Alexander the Great" laid siege to the island fortress of Tyre in 332 BC. His army destroyed the remains of mainland Tyre and threw them into the Mediterranean Sea. As Alexander's army constructed a causeway to the island, they scraped even the dust from the mainland city, leaving only bare rock. Historian Phillip Myers in his history textbook, General History for Colleges and High Schools, writes, "Alexander the Great reduced Tyre to ruins in 332 BC. Tyre recovered in a measure from this blow, but never regained the place she had previously held in the world. The larger part of the site of the once great city is now as bare as the top of a rock -- a place where the fishermen that still frequent the spot spread their nets to dry." 9 -
I know you don't do a tremendous amount of research regarding biblical prophecy, but as you tell me not to search fringe sites for real scientific research, I would tell you the same regarding bible research. Ezekiel 26, when read from the beginning explicitly states that "many nations" would assault Tyre, not just Babylon.-> 
> Secondly, as we keep saying, the bible is a collection of books written by different authors. If a prophecy proves to be false, it will not falsify the concept of God. It will only falsify the claim of the particular author that God is speaking through him, and the claims of those who believe that the bible is the Word of God. So the concept of God can't be falsified in this way.-That is what YOU claim, not what the Bible claims. There is a difference. The Bible claims to be the divinely inspired word of god. It either proves that claim, or the whole gig through its 100% accuracy or it falls apart. -
> 
> Thirdly, although in my view God's existence can't be falsified by prophecies, it could certainly be proven beyond any doubt: for instance if, as the Bible prophesies, the seven seals really are opened, God's chosen 144,000 male virgins really conquer the “beast”, Satan is imprisoned for a thousand years, God defeats the kings of the Earth, passes his judgement, and the old world is replaced by a new heaven and earth. However, I doubt if I shall be around, even if it happens.-Yes, but you do realize that part and parcel to that is that if you do survive long enough to see that, which is not as far fetched as you might think, then the realization of God would be to your misery, not your delight.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.