I agree with your logic, but not entirely with the conclusions. It's much easier to prove something exists than to prove it doesn't. Religions aren't the only group that relies on this. Urban legends and ghost hunters use the same logic. It's why it's so difficult to argue with them. Even if you can disprove some of their evidence, it's not enough.
I also agree that confirmation bias is a big problem when listening to eyewitness accounts. Instead of looking at the evidence and arriving at a conclusion, we decide what conclusion we want to reach and then twist the events to fit. I'd also argue that it can work both ways. We can want to assume something doesn't exist and thus ignore the possibility.
You say 'God'. Unless it's the translation, that seems more specific than the existence of a god in general. The Christian God is the most famous example, but we know a lot of religions worship different gods. Which is a contradiction in itself. I'll give you that we both know we're not talking about a Death God so I won't say their existence automatically means a god does exist and therefore they're right.
One common trait of a god is that he can see all. We practice Divination on a near-daily basis. He has the power to control the weather. He can heal the sick. Evocation. Storms on that level might be outside of our skill level, but like you've pointed out with the Shinigami being the apex predator, it doesn't mean there isn't someone more powerful above what we can do. Enchantment takes away free will, Abjuration could allow someone to walk through fire, Levitation could allow them to walk on water, and Necromancy can bring back the dead. I'm not an expert on religion but considering what I see here, it's become a lot harder to say the usual traits of a god can't exist.
Unfortunately for you, your argument is harder because I'm not going into the cult claiming to fully believe in their mission. I'm going after having seen enough to be open to the possibility. While it's hard enough to argue with the people who do believe, it's even harder to argue with the people who are just curious enough to listen.
no subject
I also agree that confirmation bias is a big problem when listening to eyewitness accounts. Instead of looking at the evidence and arriving at a conclusion, we decide what conclusion we want to reach and then twist the events to fit. I'd also argue that it can work both ways. We can want to assume something doesn't exist and thus ignore the possibility.
You say 'God'. Unless it's the translation, that seems more specific than the existence of a god in general. The Christian God is the most famous example, but we know a lot of religions worship different gods. Which is a contradiction in itself. I'll give you that we both know we're not talking about a Death God so I won't say their existence automatically means a god does exist and therefore they're right.
One common trait of a god is that he can see all. We practice Divination on a near-daily basis. He has the power to control the weather. He can heal the sick. Evocation. Storms on that level might be outside of our skill level, but like you've pointed out with the Shinigami being the apex predator, it doesn't mean there isn't someone more powerful above what we can do. Enchantment takes away free will, Abjuration could allow someone to walk through fire, Levitation could allow them to walk on water, and Necromancy can bring back the dead. I'm not an expert on religion but considering what I see here, it's become a lot harder to say the usual traits of a god can't exist.
Unfortunately for you, your argument is harder because I'm not going into the cult claiming to fully believe in their mission. I'm going after having seen enough to be open to the possibility. While it's hard enough to argue with the people who do believe, it's even harder to argue with the people who are just curious enough to listen.