Q&A: Belief in God
Belief in God
Question
Hello,
I watched the Rabbi’s debate on whether belief in God is rational,
and I wanted to ask whether the argument from testimony is less rational, or not rational at all, compared to the argument that a complex world points to a Creator.
What I mean to ask is whether Rabbi Judah Halevi, who emphasized the advantages of the argument from testimony over the argument that a thing does not make itself, as in Maimonides and Rabbeinu Bachya and others, was mistaken.
Answer
The argument from testimony is somewhat plausible, but it is very far from being able to stand on its own. In my opinion, what works is the combination of them, as I’ve explained more than once (especially in the fifth talk in The First Existent).
Discussion on Answer
For that you need to assume that we were created. That is a result of the other arguments.
I think this discussion is sterile. Measure the strength of each argument as you see it. It’s not possible to give scores here.
Thank you.
But I still want to ask whether the argument from testimony, together with the idea that if we were created then presumably we are supposed to act according to something specific, is less good than the argument that every creation has a creator.