I do not reject Logical Empiricism/Positivism as the proper philosophical outlook for conducting scientific inquiries. I reject it as an appropriate philosophy for determining “truth” in all matters because of its insistence that only propositions that can be verified by facts or the logical relationship between concepts can have any meaning. In other words, to say that “God is love” is to make a meaningless statement. It cannot be verified by facts, so it makes no sense. Divine Command Theory is, likewise, a bundle of nonsensical statements, judged by Logical Empiricism. To say that “God gave moral commands in the Bible” is meaningless. I can verify that there is a book called the Bible. I can verify that it contains commands. Using facts alone, I can’t verify that God gave the commands. Therefore, the statement has no meaning. Wittgenstein, in my view, pretty soundly countered their arguments.
Actually, I would say that creation ex nihilo entails the idea that God alone is self-sufficient and self-sustaining. He is the Creator; all else is contingent. Aquinas did a pretty good job with this. The physical can stand on its own only for a short period of time before lapsing into decay and eventual disorder. (Any finite period of time, whether 10 years or 10 billion years, is “short” compared to eternity.) The question I have at this point is whether your argument is a logical exercise, or whether you actually believe it to be true. Christian tradition is pretty consistent in teaching the reality of the creation as something that truly “exists” outside of ourselves.
@cosmicscotus
I’m definitely a fan of Blaise Pascal when it comes to proofs of God’s existence. He says that the proofs of God from nature are usually weak and give unbelievers the impression that “the proofs of our religion are indeed feeble.” Essentially, Pascal argues that the evidence from nature is ambiguous – neither absolutely confirming nor denying the presence of a divine being. The hidden God is a constant theme for Pascal, which he ties to our unworthiness because of sin. “It was therefore not right that (God) should appear in a manner manifestly divine and capable of convincing all men … (W)ishing to appear openly to those who seek him with all their heart and hidden from those who shun him with all their heart, he has qualified our knowledge of him … There is enough light for those who desire only to see, and enough darkness for those of a contrary disposition.”