It is true, it is written in a book

This piece of logic (?) came from a posting that I found on the Internet last night. From a Muslim. The book apparently is called the Koran and contains loads of scientific facts - like the water cycle, like the world is in the shape of a globe. Therefore as Mahomet was a bright guy capable of understanding these bits of scientific logic, everything that he had to say is true.

Sorry to disappoint you, my friend (and please don't start fretting and start threatening to blow me out of this existence), but it is not that easy.

Nobody (not even me!) gets it right 100% of the time. The fact that these facts were correct and they were written in a book does not prove that God exists because that is written in the same book. It would not be the first example of someone capable of reaching some correct scientific conclusion who was delusional where other matters were concerned. As here.

Move on.

It may surprise some of my readers to know that I had a classical education. As a working-class child living in a then industrial town in the North of England, it may seem arguable as to what use it might have been, but it is nonetheless the case. So at the age of 11 you start learning Latin. At 14 you get on to reading Plato (real fun stuff to try out with one of your uncles while he was lugging heavy weights round the dockside). And then you get on to an in-depth study of Greek and Roman mythology.

At the age of 17 (for my own amusement), I read, in translation, the two great works of the Greek writer, Homer - the Iliad (covering the events of the Trojan War) and the Odyssey (following the adventures of Odysseus on his way from that war). Get a good translation, recommended reading! 

Anyway since that time:

1. I have learned that archaeologists have uncovered many of the remains of the city of Troy.
2. I have learned that archaeologists have also indicated that findings thereabouts prove that a battle or protracted war took place.    
3. I have learned that Homer was actually trying to produce a historical account and not just a series of stories for entertainment.

Important in both the Iliad and the Odyssey is the role played by the the various members of the Greek Pantheon, Zeus, Athena usw. Hephaestus, god of the underworld provided the great warrior, Achilles, with his armour,  Athena was the patron of Odysseus usw.

Put this together. The Trojan War occurred, Homer wrote two books about this, as it was mentioned in the books it must be true that the Greek Pantheon exists. Absolutely the same logic as my Muslim friend above would have me believe about Mahomet!

Ah, but you cannot really believe what was written in the Iliad and the Odyssey? By the same token you cannot then claim that you can truly believe what is written in the Koran - either! Because something is written in a book DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE! Why is any book preferable to any other. One might suit your opinions and beliefs, but it does not serve as empirical truth!

In other words if you want to prove the existence of God, you better come up with something more substantial than one single work from one single source. There is no reason to believe that will be anyway preferable to other alternatives available out there!