Question for atheists

[evil twin]

You say tomayto, I say tomahto.

[bluesbassman]

[ QUOTE ]
If some form of the miracles similar to the ones listed in the Bible started frequently today, and you had to set a betting line, what odds would you make that the source of the miracles were Trickster Aliens vs Universe Creator?

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously, those two explanations aren't the only alternatives. So to assign meaningful probabilities when we don't know the set of all possible "reasonable" explanations is, to say the least, dubious.

Nevertheless, if I were forced to gamble, I would give the probabilities as follows:

tricky alien: 99.9999999%
universe creator: (100 - 99.9999999)%

The reason is, any observed phenomenon is almost certainly caused by something which is part of our universe. It is not clear what is meant by "creator of the universe" or whether that concept even makes sense.

[Nielsio]

[ QUOTE ]
If some form of the miracles similar to the ones listed in the Bible started frequently today, and you had to set a betting line, what odds would you make that the source of the miracles were Trickster Aliens vs Universe Creator?

[/ QUOTE ]


'Miracles' do not happen, because a 'miracle' is not a knowledge statement. It doesn't describe anything or explain anything.

[foal]

[ QUOTE ]
The answer is obvious: 50/50. I'll let others elaborate.

[/ QUOTE ]
Is that you Mason?

[Piers]

Yes as everyone said, definitions please. Whats a god and when is it not a trickster alien.

[tpir]

If supernatural events started taking place, I don't know that we would be in a position to assign probabilities to their source given our position here in the boring natural world.

[tpir]

Also, why are you only interested in atheist responses? A reasonable theist would probably come to the same conclusion that P(alien) = P(Creator) = ?!?. They might want to believe it was their Creator burning bushes to show off, but they would be unable to assign probabilities for the same reason.

More specifically, if God chose to reveal Himself to us, would it be possible to know it wasn't trickster aliens? Seems like any entity with supernatural** powers holds all the cards as far as our perception goes. Is there a perceivable difference for humans between God and god-like?

**Supernatural is probably not the best word since this entity could be using extra-dimensional abilities that are natural, but outside of our mental grasp.

[Arp220]

We couldn't tell. Or to put that another way, the 'trickster aliens' might as well *be* a 'creator' as far as we were concerned, if they could do 'miracles'.

[jogsxyz]

Probably neither. It'll be done by an illusionist.

[skindog]

I like toitles