Pharyngula: God's nonexistence is proof of his existence

Oh Jeez, I'm watching Joel Osteen this morning (he gives my blood pressure the jolt I need in the morning to get going for the day). He's all: 'if you stay in faith god will move people out of the way to find your divine destiny'. So, there you go: successful Christians (like Joel Osteen) are proof that god exists. If you believe but bad things happen to you - then you don't believe enough (buy more of Joel Osteen's books)! Failure if your fault, success is god's intervention.

#17

Posted by: pip | August 31, 2008 9:58 AM

whoops, that should be 'failure is your fault'. God was messing with my typing.

#18

Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | August 31, 2008 9:59 AM

Hmm, if you substitute FSM for God, the argument works just as well. Or Cthulhu for that matter. Does this prove polytheism?

#19

Posted by: Mercurious | August 31, 2008 10:03 AM

Even better. Pat Condell has another stunning commentary also.

#20

Posted by: shrimplate | August 31, 2008 10:06 AM

Does this prove polytheism?

And at the end of the movie the loud voice insists "Pay no attention to the pantheon behind the curtain!"

#21

Posted by: Woozle | August 31, 2008 10:07 AM

Sounds like parody to me... especially in view of some of the video commentary juxtaposed with the audio.

But... is nobody going to quote Douglas??

"I refuse to prove I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

"Oh, but what about the Babel Fish?" says Man. "That proves you exist, and therefore you don't! QED."

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that!" and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

"Oh, that was easy!" says Man -- and for an encore, goes on to prove that black is white, and gets himself killed at the next zebra crossing.

(Apologies to Douglas's lack-of-ghost for any transcription errors introduced by my brain, which hasn't actually listened to that bit for... um.... years, possibly?)

#22

Posted by: Dorothy | August 31, 2008 10:08 AM

He is really hilarious. I needed a good laugh

#23

Posted by: Spook | August 31, 2008 10:11 AM

Flawless logic. I can't refute any of this, so I'm off to church today and every Sunday from here on out. Praise Jesus, etc.

#24

Posted by: 386sx | August 31, 2008 10:18 AM

um....it could be satire. it'd be nice if it was, but, are you sure?

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's satire. Nobody would ever use God's nonexistence for proof of God's existence. That would be way too ridiculous.

#25

Posted by: Claudia | August 31, 2008 10:23 AM

This is definitely satire, people. I'd recommend his other vids as well, starting with this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urlTBBKTO68

#26

Posted by: Mike | August 31, 2008 10:26 AM

The regrow a leg through prayer and text messages from the dead bits are HILARIOUS!

#27

Posted by: LisaJ | August 31, 2008 10:28 AM

Hilarious. That guy's awesome. Thanks, I needed that.

#28

Posted by: Brett McCoy | August 31, 2008 10:29 AM

Damn, I was going to bring up the Babel Fish argument but someone beat me to it.

Oh, well, by similar logic, you can prove that Alexander the Great never existed and had an infinite number of legs.

#29

Posted by: Jason Dick | August 31, 2008 10:53 AM

For anybody who has any doubt as to whether or not this guy is serious, he has explicitly posted on many videos, "This is satire."

#30

Posted by: negentropyeater | August 31, 2008 11:04 AM

What do you mean no evidence ?

Isn't it obvious that the FSM is sending Gustav to coincide with the Republican National Convention because they hate homosexuals, women and deny AGW ?

It may not be objective evidence, but it's circumstancial evidence enough, and I have faith in the FSM !

#31

Posted by: Moses | August 31, 2008 11:10 AM

I've posted some of his video's in the past. The one where he dies because he drinks poison is great.

#32

Posted by: Leigh Shryock | August 31, 2008 11:26 AM

How did I know, before even clicking on it, that it'd be EdwardCurrent? I love his work, nice troll... he actually fools some fundies.

#33

Posted by: Lago | August 31, 2008 11:30 AM

I am going to have to say, "The Babel Fish" as well, to this one,,,

#34

Posted by: Etha Williams, OM | August 31, 2008 11:34 AM

Another good one:

People's Religion Should be Respected

#35

Posted by: Quidam | August 31, 2008 11:47 AM

Not bad Woozle (#21) if you were going by memory

The Babel fish is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it, It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. the practical upshot of this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any language.
Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance, that some thinkers have chosen to see as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God. The argument goes like this : "I refuse to prove that I exist", says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

"But", says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? it could not have evolved by chance. it proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."

"Oh dear", says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

"Oh that was easy" says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.

Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

#36

Posted by: --PatF in Madison | August 31, 2008 11:56 AM

Bertrand Russell was once asked, "What will be your first question to God if, after you die, you find he does exist?"

Russell answered, "I would ask him 'Why didn't you give us more evidence?'"

I have always liked that quote.

PS: On Meet the Press, Tom Brokaw just asked Tim Pawlenty about Evolution/ID. Pawlenty weasled around mumbling something about local schoolboard decisions. Brokaw however, finally, got him to say that he thought ID had a lot to say.

I thought that was interesting.

#37

Posted by: Benjamin Geiger | August 31, 2008 12:21 PM

More excellent satire from Mr. Current...

... But did he REALLY need to throw that harlequin baby picture in there? *wibble*

#38

Posted by: Jim Harrison | August 31, 2008 12:31 PM

It is no trick at all to gather eye-witness accounts of miracles so Current's satire is a little misleading about the purported absence evidence of divine activity. If a denomination chooses to encourage superstition, the Virgin Mary is guaranteed to keep on showing herself to various shepherds and shop keepers. On the other hand, most of the Protestants made it an article of faith that the age of wonders is over; and miracles pretty much dried up on their watch. Divine manifestation is under social control.

If you think of running a religion as a business proposition, you have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of these two approaches. You can promote all sorts of evidence of the divine, but the craziness that results is as likely to produce heretics as saints. Or you can opt for the sobriety of some of the Reformed churches and have people wondering why they should believe at all. The Catholic hierarchy has always finessed this dilemma by attempting to keep the essentially pagan religiosity of its lay members on a leash, albeit a fairly long leash, while remaining especially vigilant lest somebody who matters starts starts getting visits from angels and reports politically inconvenient visions.

#39

Posted by: Gunnar J Briem | August 31, 2008 1:06 PM

Life of Brian:

BRIAN:
I'm not the Messiah!
ARTHUR:
I say You are, Lord, and I should know. I've followed a few.
FOLLOWERS:
Hail Messiah!
BRIAN:
I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the Messiah, do you understand?! Honestly!
GIRL:
Only the true Messiah denies His divinity.
BRIAN:
What?! Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right! I am the Messiah!
FOLLOWERS:
He is! He is the Messiah!

#40

Posted by: Benjamin Geiger | August 31, 2008 1:09 PM

Heheheh. Life of Brian is right behind Blazing Saddles on the "Movies that, if remade today, would get the producers sued and/or shot" list.

#41

Posted by: robbrown | August 31, 2008 1:22 PM

Can I assume that those people who are questioning whether it is satire or not are themselves being satirical?

#42

Posted by: JohnnieCanuck, FCD | August 31, 2008 1:32 PM

I call Poe on robbrown. :-)

#43

Posted by: FlameDuck | August 31, 2008 1:52 PM

#32 Oh yeah. Because fooling a fundie is a real challenge. Right up there with color coordinating your socks.

Never the less, this is still pretty hilarious.

#44

Posted by: Ruben | August 31, 2008 2:53 PM

On a slightly off topic note, here you have a debate about God's existence, with a nice poll to round it up :) Go vote now, if you haven't.

http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/is-there-a-god

#45

Posted by: Jason | August 31, 2008 3:26 PM

Love this guy.

#46

Posted by: Monado | August 31, 2008 7:24 PM

Brett McCoy [@28], that's an infinite number of arms. Because forewarned is four-armed.

#47

Posted by: M | August 31, 2008 7:32 PM

I couldn't tell at first. Then "why doesn't God heal amputees?" and text messages from grandma brought me lightly to the side of satire. It's hard to tell after some of the Christian apologia we've seen.

#48

Posted by: Joshua BA | August 31, 2008 8:33 PM

Heheheh. Life of Brian is right behind Blazing Saddles on the "Movies that, if remade today, would get the producers sued and/or shot" list.

They DID get sued for Blazing Saddles. By Hedy Lamarr IIRC.

#49

Posted by: Kel | August 31, 2008 8:35 PM

Ahh, EdwardCurrent's videos are excellent. So excellent that people have taken it seriously.

#50

Posted by: Tony Sidaway | August 31, 2008 9:38 PM

He's very good when he parodies religious arguments. The answering machine glitch was also pretty funny.

#51

Posted by: Rob J | August 31, 2008 11:48 PM

"heaven is teh shit... wish u were here... LOL"

that was the best :)

#52

Posted by: Joshua | September 1, 2008 12:18 AM

Listen, I believe in God 100% and you sir are a bad person making fun of God! He is the ruler of heaven and earth and you dare to make fun of him. May the Lord forgive you.

#53

Posted by: Jparenti | September 1, 2008 12:55 AM

No, no, no. Edward has it all wrong. "God's Plan" is actually:
1. Create universe.
2.
3. Profit.
Check his MySpace if you need proof that this is satire. I subscribe to his blogs, and wow, are they hilarious! He also makes very excellent points, some of which I've used in arguments. Usually, they work, too. :)

#54

Posted by: Gary | September 1, 2008 1:05 AM

great vid. I like EC's videos. It's funny how many people actually think Edward is being serious. It states in his profile page that he is NOT CHRISTIAN, and mocks debate. Great vids.

His best so far was the "I've converted to every religion" basically re-defining pascal's wager.

#55

Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | September 1, 2008 8:18 AM

Wow, a YouTube video that I can actually watch! Woohoo!

-----------------

Joshua, we aren't making fun of God here. Is it possible to make fun of the tooth fairy?

We're making fun of those who believe they can prove God exists.

#56

Posted by: Holbach | September 1, 2008 8:53 AM

Sort of my saying "prove to me that your imaginary god does not exist!" Well, duh.

#57

Posted by: bezoar | September 1, 2008 8:18 PM

OF COURSE we're making fun of god. We're also maing fun of his/her followers. Kinda like driving a Yugo.

#58

Posted by: fatherdaddy | September 2, 2008 5:56 PM

At first I thought it was someone adding video to some guys speech. When I saw the length of the piece I knew that someone was stoned when they did it. Definately chuckle worthy.

#59

Posted by: Steve Denton | September 3, 2008 3:05 PM

I have to admit that the guy had me completely fooled, lol! I was not familiar with Current's work until now, and have seen and read so much insane, crackpot stuff from *real* Christians that is almost identical in form and content to this video that I actually thought he believed his own warped logic, and was quite horrified.

Of course, the really horrifying thing is that there are millions of devout Christians out there - including VP nominee, Sarah Palin - who will probably believe every word of it. It would be interesting to hear their excuses for their credulity once the joke is explained to them...

First Name:	Last Name:
Address:
City:	State:	Zip Code:
Email:

Pharyngula

Search this blog

Profile

Random Quote

Recent Posts

A Taste of Pharyngula

Recent Comments

Archives

Blogroll

Other Information

Subscribe via Email

God's nonexistence is proof of his existence

Comments

Post a Comment

Blogs in the Network

Top Five: Readers' Picks

Search All Blogs