Aquinas too had to contend with folks who didn’t think God’s existence could be demonstrated. Scholastic disputations on these questions make most of today’s ‘debates’ look like child’s play.
Well defined terms and propositions are how evidence is marshaled and presented.
If you are genuinely interested in learning how the existence of God can be demonstrated, then my honest recommendation is that you learn more: more logic and scientific methodology, more philosophy and especially metaphysics, and after that take a tour of one or two serious scholastic presentations of arguments for the existence of God. This would at least enable you to disagree en connaissance de cause.
Can I ask you something? What’s so wrong with having a neutral stance on this matter? And don’t worry about being called a fence sitter, that’s silly. An honest person of faith would know that they cannot completely prove the existence of God, and an honest Atheist would know that they cannot completely disprove the existence of God.
See, everyone thinks they have to be on one side or the other. Why not be on both sides? Or, if you don’t wish to take both sides, why not be neutral? See people think that people who take both sides or is neutral about this are fence sitters who can’t make up their mind. Well what if we don’t want our minds to be made up? Personally, even though I personally believe in a God, I would be ok if by tomorrow, or by this year, or 10 years from now if we find out that God never existed to begin with. It wouldn’t shatter my worldview, because my mind is open to all possibilities and not just 1. And really, if you think about it, what if God actually did exist? Would that really change anything? Well…it might change some things, but in our current reality we have people who believe in God and people who don’t. So what would it matter if our belief on a God changes? People are still divided over this issue, whether or not we change our stance or not.
The point I’m trying to make is, our life might slightly change, but I don’t think a lot of things will change. Cause you’ll still have people who believe and still have people who don’t believe. Just because you’re open-minded doesn’t mean you have to believe that God is real. It just means "To be honest, I don’t know, and might never know. But, I’m going to remain neutral (or remain open to being wrong). And till we have empirical proof that God is real (or not real) I’m gonna remain open to whatever answers come my way. If I never receive an answer, I’ll know when I die. If I’m wrong, great, if I’m right, even better, but at this point in time, I’m going to choose to remain open to both sides. I wouldn’t worry about people calling you fence sitters, that’s a term that’s very overrated. Just be open, and be honest. No one, not even God can blame you for being honest right?
I am new to this forum. I was originally baptized a Roman Catholic but over the last several decades I have been a charismatic Christian. I was an atheist existentialist for a considerable time. I also was intrigued by the occult and eastern mysticism and associated with people involved in the occult and Satanism. I have recently become very interested in Catholicism.
I have always been interested in whether Christianity could be empirically validated. I always had difficulty with accepting any theology on blind faith. I have had a few personal supernatural experiences that have convinced me of the reality of Christianity.
However there are books that I can recommend that provide substantial validation of Christianity.Two books by Craig Keener who has a PhD from Duke University would be foremost. Miracles, The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts in 2 volumes is academic and pricey but has hundreds of validated accounts of miracles and healings as well as philosophical justification of Christianity. Miracles Today also by Keener is moderately priced and very readable.
The spread of Christianity throughout history was in many cases a product of supernatural events that led to conversions. The Gospels and the Book of Acts are themselves replete with healings and miraculous phenomena that caused many to follow Christ and believe.
Perhaps what might be needed would be a personal experience with the Lord Jesus that would be so impactful that you will know that Jesus is real. Perhaps if you pray diligently it will happen. It may be miraculous with objective verification or subjective but real to you.