Q&A: Proof Against the Existence of God
Proof Against the Existence of God
Question
Is there any proof such that, if someone showed it to you, you would stop believing in the existence of God?
Answer
I don’t know. Let’s wait and see.
Discussion on Answer
Either way: if you don’t accept the proof, then explain why not and people won’t throw off the yoke; and if you do accept it and prove from it that there is no God (which sounds a bit presumptuous—to think you have an argument no one in history ever thought of), then you should get as many people as possible to throw off the yoke, instead of doing endless unnecessary things for something that doesn’t exist. And it also doesn’t seem likely that, even if you do have an answer, you’re afraid young people will be harmed by throwing off the yoke because they’ll accept the question and not the answer.
You didn’t understand. I didn’t mean spiritual harm but psychological harm—like, for example, a young Chabad follower who believes with his entire being that his rebbe is the messiah, and then suddenly the rebbe passes away. By the way, in a reservoir very close to Michi, I exposed them to the proof, and they indeed took the expected step.
If you have proof of God’s non-existence, and you don’t present it out of concern that people will throw off the yoke, then you have a god after all… How would Rabbi Michi interpret this paradox?
You didn’t understand—the concern is psychological harm that could happen to a young person who sees his rabbi as a figure and object of admiration, not people throwing off the yoke.
Actually, I personally do have such a proof, but since it caused quite a few people to throw off the yoke, I’m afraid that if the Rabbi hears it and he too throws off the yoke, that could create psychological crises for quite a few young people.