David Hume's Argument Against The Existence Of God
David Hume, a noted historian and philosopher, was Scotland’s most famous member of the 18th Century Enlightenment. Like Isaac Newton, Hume embraced radical skepticism and the inductive experimental method of scientific inquiry. He believed that everything we know comes from our senses. Hume attended Edinburgh University when he was in his teens. He hoped to become a professor, but was accused of being an atheist and was unable to find a position. Instead he spent his life traveling, tutoring, and writing. In his An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), Hume attempted to define the principles of human knowledge, which he classified as either “impressions” from sensations or inner consciousness, or “ideas” derived by manipulating these
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Hume’s arguments against the existence of God are not logical or valid for three reasons: the reality and complexity of the universe is evidence for the existence of God; the nature of a miracle is that it interrupts the closed, natural world; and the fact of free will must allow for the existence of a choice that is in opposition to God, or what we call …show more content…
Hume argued that all supposed miracles have a natural, scientific cause, even though we may not yet understand the cause. He stated that there is more reason to believe that a person is lying or deluded than that an actual miracle took place. However, his argument is circular; the nature of a miracle is that it interrupts the closed, natural world. That’s why it’s a miracle! Miracles are God’s breath touching us; they are his voice whispering in our ear. The reality of just one miracle destroys Hume’s entire premise that the world is a self-contained, self-reliant, and closed system. The greatest miracle is Christ’s resurrection. The testimony of multiple witnesses disproves Hume’s assumption that people who witness miracles are lying or being lied to. The resurrection of Christ was not observed by one person or at one time, but by many people over a period of weeks. Also, skeptics and those who persecuted Christians, like Saul, were converted after God’s miraculous intervention. Saul was an educated, Hellenized Jew, who
Hume’s arguments against the existence of God are not logical or valid for three reasons: the reality and complexity of the universe is evidence for the existence of God; the nature of a miracle is that it interrupts the closed, natural world; and the fact of free will must allow for the existence of a choice that is in opposition to God, or what we call …show more content…
Hume argued that all supposed miracles have a natural, scientific cause, even though we may not yet understand the cause. He stated that there is more reason to believe that a person is lying or deluded than that an actual miracle took place. However, his argument is circular; the nature of a miracle is that it interrupts the closed, natural world. That’s why it’s a miracle! Miracles are God’s breath touching us; they are his voice whispering in our ear. The reality of just one miracle destroys Hume’s entire premise that the world is a self-contained, self-reliant, and closed system. The greatest miracle is Christ’s resurrection. The testimony of multiple witnesses disproves Hume’s assumption that people who witness miracles are lying or being lied to. The resurrection of Christ was not observed by one person or at one time, but by many people over a period of weeks. Also, skeptics and those who persecuted Christians, like Saul, were converted after God’s miraculous intervention. Saul was an educated, Hellenized Jew, who