God..........IS or ISN'T existing? Why? Why not? Support your analysis?
Gods do not exist because they are man made constructs/concepts to explain the natural world. Early humans had no concept of science and how the natural world came to be.
They could only conceive of "magic" or the "god of the gaps". If they didn't understand something, they just assumed that "god did it". They still assume these things to this day.
Imagine believing that gay sex causes tornadoes because a "god" is angry.
Imagine believing that a "god" would destroy his own creation because he was angry with his imperfect humans.
Imagine believing that a "god" created an evil counterpart just for the sheer purpose of torturing people.
Imagine believing that a "god" just poofed up the entire universe out of nothing, and then blaming scientists for saying that instead of themselves for imagining that.
Imagine a "god" that is supposed to be all good, yet he requires blood sacrifices in order to save his own creations.
Imagine a "god" that will not show himself, will not show proof of himself, will not prevent his own priests from molesting children, will not right his own errors.
I cannot imagine this "god".
Yes, humanity has always attempted to explain the natural world. Out of all the explanations that we've come up with, the single most ridiculous one is the one that says ‘Yeah, there’s this big, giant universe and we’re all just here, just because''
There is no "because" to it. It just is! You keep looking for a cause that isn't there. It's ridiculous to think there is some jealous being up in the sky watching your every move and thought.
It's ridiculous to think that we think and feel and look for meaning for no reason in an apathetic universe. That we're just a cosmic bubble that rose up, became aware of ourselves for an instant, then disappeared back into oblivion. For no reason.
It's not a bubble, it is infinite. No walls, no barriers, never ending. It is futile to look for a meaning in any other place except inside yourself. Whatever meaning you seek is yours to experience.
Infinite? It's finite in every way. And the desire for meaning makes no sense in this apathetic universe. Meaning can be nothing more than self delusion to appease a desire that it makes no sense that we have in the first place.
If it is finite, what is on the other side?
Don't know. Can't know. We just know there is an edge, therefore there must be something beyond it.
Where is the edge? Someone is telling you a false thing. There is no "edge". We are able to see light from billions of years ago. With better telescopes, we will see trillions of years. Physics predicts infinity.
Physics does not predict infinity. It demonstrates a beginning and an eventual end.
Nope, you need to catch up on the latest in quantum physics and the infinite universe model.
The only part in contention is if it all began as a singularity. There is no doubt, however, that the universe was much smaller and much hotter before, with no stars or planets. The universe began and will eventually run out of energy. Not infinite.
Jeremy - We are wired for linear processing of reality, which doesn't allow us to grasp infinity (except in math), and insists on causality, making us believe that everything had to have a "cause", or a "start".
The Singularity theory is just ONE possibility of the "bib bang", it is NOT the only possibility.. Quantum physics accounts for infinity matter AND energy AND space. So, no, don't think that the universe will ever run out of infinity,
What is not in contention is that the universe was once much smaller and hotter. The stars and planets still formed in much the same way. And because it all had a beginning point it will eventually run out of energy.
And how many times has the universe expanded and contracted? There is no way to know how many times this has happened. In an infinite amount of time, matter, space, the # of times this has happened is infinite.
And to us how many times is irrelevant. If we cure cancer and live the best lives possible, it still means nothing and all comes to a cataclysmic end for us. No matter what we do. It'll all still collapse back in on itself and our story is done.
Nor should you imagine God like that - what you have just described is a religion based on the bible which HAS been proven to be a man-manipulated text. But, does that really mean that a creator/god doesn't exist?
Again, no one can prove that gods do Not exist! But we should be able to prove that they do exist. There should be some measureable effect of a god, not just assumptions the the gods just poofed everything into existence.
Austin, think about this. God, as described, is the creator of the universe. The only thing we can determine anything about or in any way prove, is the matter/energy that is a product of it. God is not a product of it. God is not detectable/provable.
Jeremy - Science is not "ATTEMPTING" to explain the natural world, it's DOING it. That's why, when you get sick, you go to that 'MOST RIDICULOUS" doctor to fix you. And then you go to church to thank "god" for your health.
Yes, it is. It's also showing that there's limits to what can be known and determined through the physical sciences. There's more to existence beyond it's boundaries. And if God is real, then those boundaries exist right where you'd expect them to be
There are no limits! You are imposing imaginary constraints upon yourself and the universe. You keep talking about these boundaries. Where are they? Show me one of them!
We are here because nature evolves constantly. There clearly are intelligent processes at work involving all life forms with out the help of any gods ... your own mind space may unfold much better not being restricted by fictitious images of gods.
Austin, this explains the limits ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P … 0179B12F8D
h_ruz, explain what accounts for nature evolving constantly. What compels it to do so? You can't say no Gods required if you can't account for everything.
As you ask believers to prove the existence of god, they reverse the request and ask you to prove his nonexistence. There is only one problem there - it is impossible to prove nonexistence.
Suppose we prove this impossibility to them by saying how there are a bunch of ghosts laughing at them every time they are taking a bath - and then we challenge them to prove their nonexistence. By their own logic - if they can't prove it, then those ghost really are there, so they might as well hire an exorcist to "de-ghost" their bathrooms every time they are about to take a bath.
This is exactly the same logic they are trying to sell us as they state that there is god - since we can't provide an evidence to the contrary, he "must" exist.
I must admit, the whole farce of god-no-god debate has always given me a lot of fun. But even too much ice cream is not good , so from time to time I abstain from it for a while.
Now, randomly to something else. If those biblical prophets could see the future, then it's more than logical that their "seeing" was terribly selective. For, how could they miss seeing cars and televisions, but only saw greed, and lust, and bla-bla-bla? Really, how do you see into future by extracting only those details that you want to see, and stay blind to the rest? Imagine how much they would have benefitted by making camels obsolete and replacing torches with electricity. Those prophets didn't even know that the earth was a sphere. But then again, "knowing" was not the name of the game, believing was - and still is for some folks.
I don't hate believers, simply because hate is bad for digestion. I simply state my reasons why I don't believe in their god. While I may allow a possibility that there is something that science will discover some day, that "something" doesn't look one bit like any of gods on the religion-market.
Truer words were never spoken. You have made some excellent points here. One can never prove non-existence, but one CAN prove existence. It is either solid and exists or you cannot prove that it is there. But would be easy to prove if it were there.
No, existence can't be proven. If God is as described, then He is not a product of this universe, which is all that can be detected and confirmed to exist.
It is easy to demonstrate things that actually exist. You can see, taste, smell, hear, feel real things. You can also measure the effects of things like electricity or wind. But nothing about "gods" are measureable.
We cannot prove anything beyond this one observable universe exists because we can only observe/detect matter/energy that's a product of this one universe. Whether there's something beyond it is beyond our scope, which would include God.
Jeremy - If god "can't be proven" then he is only a matter of speculation and intellectual arrogance that insists on a certainty, even to the point of ascribing to him some human qualities, like "love", "anger", "punishing".
It's the only rational explanation. There's deliberate intent in this universe. The only thing that explains us as we are is through deliberate intent. It may be unprovable in any empirical way, but it is a certainty none the less.
When you say, "there is only one possible explanation", it means that your mind is closed to anything else than the explanation that you believe in. Enjoy your beliefs, they do not affect me.
Jeremy - I could play with an inexhaustible math equations converting into ideas converting into organized energy, converting into its material equivalent. Why not stretch the analogy of energy and matter being mutually convertible as per Einstein?
No truer words than this answer. I have been like Harold Campin - God is going to show up on this date, God is going to show up on that date. So far no God. How are we really going to know if He exists?
Angele,
In death, we will all know the truth. It is only a matter of time. We are all riding on a bus, all on the same journey so to speak. One by one each of us reaches our stop (death). As we step off the bus, we see the truth.
El - So you have to DIE to understand your god? What a self-defeating concept. Seriously? I guess we will never know then, because nothing is ever really dead.
If "nothing is ever really dead," then we r "spirit," as GOD! Human=body, soul, spirit! It's the "spirit" that worships GOD!
Val: "didn't no sphere?" Is 40:22; other "thgs" GOD not interested in materialism (Rm 8:8;Jn 21:25), only 1's "spirit!"
The church thought the Earth was the center of the universe. Science revealed the truth. The church believes in God. Science will reveal the truth.
The proof has to be done by the one that makes the claims that inspire certain actions and laws to the world. Don't think 'God' needs proof if you keep it to yourself and don't use it for a system, limiting action or laws etc.Same for forcing atheism
My grandfather doesn't exist. He died many years ago. Babylon doesn't exist. It was destroyed centuries ago. All space and time ceases to exist eventually. I'm not a theist, but atheists make a common mistake in claiming you can't prove a negative.
To answer your question, I'd like to address Austinstar's comment. God's creation was beings with free will. With their own minds and wills able to do whatever they wish.
Our ability to behave freely is the single best evidence, in my opinion, of a God. Science has shown us that all matter and energy in this universe conforms to natural law. If this is true of the mind as well, then we can only me deterministic mechanisms with no real freedom of will.
Without freedom of will we cannot be held accountable for what we do because it was not our choice to do it. It is simply how we're conditioned.
What believers do and how they behave has nothing to do with God. People have free will so they are the only thing in all the natural universe whose behaviors and actions are determined, not by natural law, but through will and intelligence.
God does not show Himself because this would influence our ability to act freely. If there were a giant God looming on the horizon you wouldn't feel free to just be you. Like the parable about how the staff behaves when the master is away. Same thing.
Yes, early cultures had some pretty simplistic concepts, but all science has really shown is that there's still elements that are not material and therefore are outside of the jurisdiction of science. There's another layer to account for that science cannot determine.
Austin, your conclusion that God is a construct/concept is a belief, just as baseless as anyone else's beliefs. It's easy to mock belief in God, or to poke holes in it, but the alternative no-God view that your suggesting also has to stand on its own. This, more than anything, is why atheism is not an acceptable alternative in my view. There's too much unaccounted for. It's tends to reduce humanity down to being mechanistic biological machines. It can't account for all the beauty that humanity is. Humanity is, by all accounts, an anomaly in this natural world.
Imagine choosing between being a worshipful slave to a god or going to hell - and those are the only 2 choices you have with your "free will". Imagine that I am not "mocking" god, but just questioning the concept.
There's natural order in this universe. Rules. Laws. But we're made capable of behaving free of that. Multiple free wills means there must be order. Rules. So an authority must be willfully acknowledged. It makes sense.
Why do you think this? We must behave and exist according to natural laws. We are physical humans, therefore we are subject to all the laws of physics. Everything in the universe is subject to the laws of physics. Try breaking them & see what ha
Because if that's true then we have no actual choice in what we do. We are merely passive observers in life, with no real say in what we do.
Jeremy - We are the sum total of our inherent and acquired potential - and we use it as reference in computing our "free" thoughts, feelings, and actions. It's only the awakened level of consciousness that makes us more spiritual - not religious.
Religion is nothing more than an attempt to understand the spiritual. It's a man-made concept to contemplate the immaterial nature of our beings. It's that immaterial nature that makes us able to behave free of natural law.
But we are not free to behave against the laws of nature. Like i said, try to walk through a door, for instance. Youu can imagine doing it, but you cannot physically do it. Your free will is all in your mind. It is imaginary.
Jeremy - It depends what we see as "material". On atomic level your body is 99.9..% empty space. Deeper down the rabbit hole, you are a bundle of highly orchestrated energy. Our thoughts and emotions are just a part of that soup, not "immaterial".
Vlad, that's an assumption. The mind that coordinates all we do exists as a non-material construct able to behave free of natural law. It's not complexity that accounts for all we are. It's something that transcends material limits.
Jeremy, can you give us an example of "transends material limits"?
Yes. Natural law dictates the behavior of all elements our brains are made of, yet we decide our actions through logic and intellect. It's not determined by the behavior of the elements according to natural law. It's determined by an immaterial will.
I would like to see you prove that. Logic and intellect follow natural rules. If they didn't , then brain dead individuals could make complex decisions, but they cannot. No electrical activity going on, no decision making ability at all.
Of course, for something to be materially realized it must actually happen. But which neurons fire when and what happens isn't determined solely by the behaviors of the elements involved. The brain is a mechanism but the will that drives it isn't.
So, the will of a brain dead person doesn't exist? Why can it not drive a brain without all physical elements present? A partial brain still cannot make decisions. Where is the transcendance?
Good question, and one of the oldest philosophical discussions. The "mind-body problem". But the physical brain has to be capable of enacting the desires of the will. The brain enables our non-physical selves to interact with the physical world.
I just explained to you that it does not. I give up and won't reply to your comments any longer. Enjoy your last word fetish.
Me? What did I say? What do you mean you just explained? Your previous post was three questions, which I addressed directly I thought. I'm confused.
Jeremy - Hypnosis is the proof that our "free" mental processes are locked into a realm of acquired beliefs. A hypnotized person rationalizes that "he" chose his suggested posthypnotic behavior. Each next "free" thought stems from a mindset.
Right, from a mindset. A nonphysical mental state. Thoughts trigger other thoughts, though thoughts are not physical. It's not the behavior of the elements that cause the thought, but the content of the thought itself, that determines what's done.
Jeremy - If thoughts are not physical, like you said, then why do you need brain to have them? You want to call all natural approach "an assumption", while something so abstract as god you call a "reality". Interesting.
The physical brain allows the immaterial mind to interact with the physical body. The mind has no characteristics that are remotely mechanistic. The pleasure center, what mechanism needs to be coaxed by the promise of pleasure?
Wow, you don't know much about sex and pleasure, do you?
Jeremy - Wonderful! So since mind is immaterial, and brain is only its connection with the body, then you can think with your "immaterial mind" during an anesthesia, when brain is put to sleep. Can you?
You still have a will, but no way to store new memories or act through the body in any way. The brain makes thinking possible. It stores/recalls material information that the mind uses.
A very flawed argument. You start with your beliefs and then you fit the world and what you see as proofs. Almost feels like scholastics proofs all over again.
JEREMY HAS IT!!!
Humans are body, soul, spirit with "free will" created by GOD!
Jeremy and other believers,
What is God's chemistry? What is he made out of? Please do not resort to the usual answers, "God has no matter, etc, etc."
Money, time/space, even the fundamental laws came into existence with the universe. Chemistry are elements that only came to be in this universe. What God is made of or when does He begin or end are only relevant to things that are 'of' this universe
Until you discover the art of creation and death of life, God exists
Until you discover the purpose of life on earth, God exists.
Until you discover how life was first created, God exists.
And then once you discover these things, god doesn't exist? Your poem makes no sense.
Seshagopalan - Are you saying that "until we know something - believing is a good substitute"? It's like saying - until you know someone better, it's O.K. to believe that he is stupid, or anything else for that matter.
It doesn't mean god doesn't exist. God is Belief. The Trust. I mean to say the belief will cease when we know them. Early man did not know how to make fire. For him only God can make fire. Later mankind discovered and belief ceased. Think deep
A story of the laughing monk comes to mind: a master told his audience of pupils to quiet themselves to meditate on the meaning of life. After a time, a student started laughing uncontrollably. The master was pleased because that student 'got it'.
Until you experience the intellectual freedom from ALL religious dead end constructs, you will remain emotionally limited by your irrational mind set of gods & other mystical fables of limited value. Advance your mind, see reality better without
f_hruz, don't you find it condescending to assume those who don't agree with you aren't as advanced psychologically as you are? There's a lot of really intelligent people that believe this to be true. Including fully capable scientists.
I am a fully capable scientist and I need real proof before I believe in 2,000 year old stories that make no logical sense. Seriously? How can a "perfect" god create imperfection? Logically impossible.
God didn't create imperfection. He created a free will. God's creation is working as designed. He gave us our own minds and wills. That's what makes us living creatures and not just passive participants. We have a say in what we do. We determine us.
There you go with that free will crap again. The "free will" concept is IMPERFECT. You can't give free will to one person without taking it away from another person - re: children don't CHOOSE to be raped, but their rapist DOES! Totally illogical.
Not at all illogical. The bigger/stronger one willfully chose to overpower the will of another. Pretty simple.
And God decreed that this should be the way to go with humans. Wow, he must really hate us.
Not at all. Seems to me He went through a lot of trouble to give us this. It's what makes life worth living. Choosing your own life and what to do with it and who with. Not forced to conform, but given the choice.
Nothing condescending - be religious for emotional reasons, just pretend you are because your job depends on it, or can't figure out where reality ends & illusion begins with a limited intellectual capacity, but why be irrational on purpose?
The belief in God is a war between Science& Religion. Science and Religion are complimentary.What is "God"? The BELIEF that someone can do what mankind cant do. If mankind with science discovers them, the requirement of the belief will cease to e
This is problematic, because this is the God we are driving into a corner every day we are biting bits and pieces away till nothing is left. Luckly Nothing, Emptiness and All and That springs from the same in Vedanta, Zen and Christian mysticism:)
Not at all. Science has done nothing to diminish God. We only have more clarity and understanding.
You have more understanding of what you know, not what you don't know. I like the more expanded unknowable concept from Christian mysticism, Vedanta, Zen. It is more or less outside systems, concepts and thought
There is no evidence, nature requires a god or has any use for one.
Humans are a product of nature. We have also learned how to manipulate nature for our own purpose, making some people think we are superior, when in fact our natural environment is our life support system we can hardly continue to exist without ... putting religious mythology behind us will take humanity a major step forward in our evolution as cosmic beings with a clear dependence on our natural environment.
The better we employ scientific thought for our never ending discoveries, the sooner we may grasp the implications of how we can guide the continuous natural change to improve our chances of a positive unfolding of our natural potential without letting humanity be misguided by antiquated religious ideas, political dogmatism or nationalistic fervor to end things in a major war or global disaster.
There are no requirements for any gods in the real world so why wast our time and energy to pray to one or maintain a belief system centered around some?
Here you're speaking of realizing our potential seemingly unaware of the contradiction that causes with your god-less existence model. How do we natural products develop this high-minded philosophy being born of a cold indifferent unintended process?
Because all natural creatures appear to have a will to live, to survive, to flourish and reproduce. This is NATURAL, not "god given". We have evolved to have these NATURAL traits. They did not come from a "god".
But saying this will to live just evolved along with everything else is the same thing. It's placing something we know to exist in the vernacular of evolution, whether we know it to be true or not. And we don't. We assume.
Only confused religious types keep asking "Who created all this?". Rational thought has no use for religion. Let's advance the natural sciences so we all can grasp that god is just a word with no real substance behind it compared to NATURE ...
Only confused atheists think the natural sciences have anything to say about whether or not a God exists.
Jeremy - there are obviously some blanks back there. What do you think is more honest - to wait until we KNOW more, or fill those blanks with a blind belief? Every epoch is displaying this intellectual arrogance of "having ultimate answers".
I think it's important to acknowledge there are some things that can't/won't be empirically known. So waiting on an answer that isn't going to come is pointless. But using modern knowledge to inform and determine the gaps brings better understanding.
Jeremy - The problem in reasoning arises when upon realization that we don't have an answer (YET) - we resort to imaginary answers. Science has explained many other things that used to be ascribed to "gods". So it's logical that it will continue.
"How do we natural products develop this high-minded philosophy being born of a cold indifferent unintended process?"
Your mind was not given to you by any gods! Your emotional trap keeps ascribing things to some non-existing gods of your fantasy!
Vlad, science has also revealed the bible accurate on many things science had wrong for a very long time. Besides, imagination, when informed by factual knowledge, can be very useful.
f_hruz, I can't accept your alternative view as feasible.
The bible is far more inacurate than accurate. You are cherry picking the parts you like and ignoring the parts that make no sense. As long as you keep doing that,we can never get you to see reality. It's all in your beliefs. Enjoy.
Austin..Not at all. Bible says oceans before land. Only learned that's true recently. Described the early Earth as covered in oceans and shrouded in darkness, which matches the Archaen eon. The more we learn, the more right it gets.
Why don't you actually READ the bible before you go off believing in it? God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day (Genesis 1:5) The sun was created on the 4th day! Highly inaccurate
Jeremy - Since I am not offering any "belief" here, I am exempt from the statement that it's fanaticism to keep defending something that some much more brilliant minds could not prove. Subjective experience doesn't pass as a proof, only evidence..
Austin, I've got a whole hub on creation if you'd like to check it out, but in short, the first day there's evening/morning and light. The sun already existed, being part of the 'heavens'. Day 4 is when the sun/moon/stars became visible.
I can prove that God does not exist. Proof by definition is an argument establishing or helping to establish a fact or the truth of a statement. Therefore, just as the story of Santa Claus is proof that Santa Claus does not exist - we all know that reindeer do not fly - the Bible is proof that God does not exist. We all know that an all powerful, loving father would not allow his children to suffer.
How do we, humans, treat a father who neglects his children? We put that father in jail. However, people go around praising this all powerful being who neglects his children every second of every day.
The reality is that the stories of God - just like the stories of Santa Claus - are proof that God does not exist. We all know that reindeer cannot fly just as well as we know that a loving father would not allow his children to suffer.
MM
The "god" depicted in the bible is truly one of the worst depictions of a god from any literature known to man. The god of the bible fails to create perfection, punishes EVERYONE for 1 mistake, drowns almost EVERYONE in anger, kills his "son"....
Your proof is that a God, if real, wouldn't allow His children to suffer? Do you not see the value in suffering? Which child is better prepare, the one who's allowed to make their own decisions and mistakes, or the child sheltered from any harm?
Jeremy, What is the value in a 4 year old girl getting raped? http://ewn.co.za/Topic/Four-year-old-ra … in-Brakpan
What is the value of any person getting raped?
Struggle strengthens us. Ever seen a tree grow where there's no wind? It just grows straight up and weak and flimsy. It's the wind that breaks and stresses it that gives a tree it's shape and strength. Adversity made humanity strong and resilient.
Jeremy, that is the most repulsive justification I have heard for a 4 year old getting raped. Religious people are sick and twisted and cannot accept reality. Christian logic is as bad as that of Muslim extremists.
Is he actually suggesting that being raped is GOOD for forming "shape and strength" in a person? Is that why so many priests rape little boys? To make them stronger??? That is DISGUSTING!
Nothing to do with religion. It's simply a fact. If there were no hardship or adversity we'd be pathetic lumps of biological matter. It's the dangers of life that made us strong and agile and able to do all we do. That made our minds so capable.
Wow! Unbelievable! Who is more sick? The rapist murderer or the religious idiot who justifies the rapist murderer's actions?
That is called, survival of the fittest, or the evolutionary process. Why do people refuse to acknowledge reality?
I am not justifying the actions of the rapist. I'm simply pointing out the value of danger and adversity. Survival of fittest would have been survival of everyone if there were no danger. Nothing would have been weeded out. We'd be weak and pathetic.
Jeremy, not only was the 4 year old girl raped, she was also murdered. You are nonsensically trying to justify nonsense.
Yeah, the world's a dangerous place. There's sharp teeth and claws and venom and pedofiles. Even 4 yr olds face these dangers. They're not immune. A safe childhood isn't a given. Otherwise you could just set your baby outside until they stop crying.
Yea, a lot of Christians just lock their kids in the closet and tell them to pray. or beat them for no reason.
What Christians have you been hanging out with?
Jeremy, why does your All Powerful God allow 4 year old kids to get raped?
My 'all powerful God' has no power over the free will chioces of people. To truly be free you have to be capable of anything. The same capability that gives you your own mind and will and choice is the same that makes that possible.
Jeremy, I love the way religious people go in circles when they cannot answer a question. DID THE 4 YEAR OLD CHOOSE TO BE RAPED??!?!?
MM - Right on. In the first place "love" is not a "divine" concept, but an emotion that's species-specific. Bring a dog home, and it will love you, and bring a crocodile home and it will eat you. Oh, yes, it "loves" you on its menu.
Money, your failure to understand my answer doesn't mean I'm going in circles. No, the child didn't choose to get raped. The rapist/murder chose his actions. God overriding such choices would undermine free will. Good or bad it was his choice to make
And her free will choices are just a speck of dust compared to the rapist's free will choices. Mental gymnastics anyone?
A four year old gets raped because of people like you who choose not to believe in God. People choose to act as if it's okay to do these things to cause suffering.
That is a very SICK thing to say! The guy doing the raping was a "Christian". But I know you will say he wasn't a "REAL" Christian. I recommend you get professional help for thoughts like that..
What's so hard to understand about the will of the stronger one overpowering the other? Happens all the time. The entirety of human history is that same story over and over again. The choices we make can hurt others. Free will is a big responsibility
I have reported his/her comment. It is against the TOS to accuse a class of people of being responsible for inciting a rape.
My intent was not to accuse you of anything. My intent was to say that God does not inflict suffering in these cases. It's people who inflict suffering - people who make poor decisions or just act out their emotions without thought.
I belief that GOD is existing. I think human brains are great but it has limitations. That is why we failed to travel to sun, and other mars. According to Physics, universe is expanding continuously. Human beings knows a very little fraction of knowledge about the universe. So there is a great force which controls the world and its functions.
What you are talking about is called, "god of the gaps". If man can't explain something, You believe that a "god" did it. Why? It is just something that we don't understand yet. Once upon a time we didn't understand fire and rain either.
Ya you are making valuable points here. If we believe so, we will become equal to the animals. I don not believe that human brain is greater than anything. My question is who is the creator of human brain.
Evolution is the creator of all our brains. We are all in the animal family of creatures. As you say, our brain is no better than the brains of other animals. The only difference is that we have learned to communicate better than most animals.
I think the greatest scientists were belied in God. You take Einstein, he said, if there is a table, there will be hand behind its creation. I think limited knowledge is our constraint to learn about the super natural power of the world.
Einstein was an agnostic/atheist. So, are you saying you agree with Einstein?
Einstein was agnostic, but disassociated with atheist. He believed in Spinoza's concept of God. He preferred "an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being".
No, No. Most of the greatest scientists were great believers. Because, most of the greatest minds in the world finally failed to find the truth behind the planet. So, I think, non-existence of God is the matter of those who lacking more knowledge.
I think you are confused or you are not expressing yourself clearly. Most of the great scientists were and are atheists.
Austin, that's not true at all. Most scientists, especially those who first instituted the scientific methods and practices, were believers. And most of which did their work through the church. In fact, a lot did so to better understand God.
Jeremy - In his own modesty, Einstein was not an ultimate authority in matters of creation - NOBODY was, so let's keep exchanging OUR OWN thoughts for the fun of it, not to feel smart in the shadow of some biggies..
That's fine. I'm all for it. My only intention was to correct some inaccurate statements. It's a common misconception to pit science and scientists against God, but it's wrong.
Survey of scientists who are members of the American Association for Advancement of Science, by the Pew Research Center in 2009, finds that members are, on the whole, less religious & are roughly half as likely as general public to believe in god
Yeah, these days scientists are more likely to come from non-religious households because of this whole misunderstanding of science/God. But the founders, Copernicus, Bacon, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Pascal, Newton, Boyle, Faraday, Mendel, Kelvin..
Irshad - Did you just say "That's why we failed to travel to sun"? Do you have any idea how HOT the sun is, and how ridiculous it would be for man to consider such travel? By your logic, if man has little knowledge, then there are invisible dragons.
GROW UP "Unbelievers!"
Human=Body (flesh), Soul ("will"),&Spirit (God;Adult)!
I Cor 13:11 "When I was a child (flesh), I spake as a child, I understood ("will") as a child, but when I became a man (spiritual thinking),I put away childish thing
In as much as I would like to believe that there is no God, logic just keeps pointing towards a higher force. I wouldn't call it God because clearly I cant comprehend what it is but I believe deep within my heart that the universe didn't come out of nothing. First and foremost, what sparked and directed the big bang process.If the values of the cosmological constant and gravity had deviated a little bit, the universe would not have existed as we see it today. Also I don't get how a primordial soup gave rise to the first life. Really, what are the odds of life coming out of a non-living matter. Zero I guess. And anyone who believes we evolved from a single cell organism really requires a huge faith. Think about it, what are the chances of an amoeba evolving into a complex organism like a human being. Anytime I look around and observe nature, I see the evidence of a higher force. How do birds know where to fly to without any navigation system. How do sperm know where to find the egg. Some of these questions and many more points to the existence of a higher force. By the way I am not a Christian. I would say I am agnostic.
Charles - I agree. Just adding, if universal intelligence exists, it must be completely outside our abilities to conceptualize. Look at quantum field with everything being so unpredictable and strange, unlike the Newtonian laws.
I agree. There are reasons to believe in a Creator, even if people don't value a religion - many do. I remember reading a while back - that some experiments have concluded that it IS possible to create life, but not without intelligent help.
Good points and good questions. I have another one for you. If there is a higher force, what created it? Did the higher force itself come out of nothing?
Charles
I have to disagree with your entire reasoning. Just because you don't understand doesn't have any weight in the truth. God as people that believe in God is more than a creator. God is their king. Now, in ancient times people believed that Gd
Right. You may not know how to create a truck, but you can study it because it does exist. There is no way to analyze a "god".
I'm not saying there is no overall "flow" in the universe. But just because you don't comprehend does not mean it is "God" in the classic sense. This would make "God" a flawed concept or definition.
Bradmaster, what has our understanding of stuffs really answered. If anything, it has rather helped us appreciate the grandness of our universe. We thought stars were gods and now we know they are all balls of fire in space. What has it answered.
I've never understood the argument "I believe deep within my heart". Can you comment on why "feeling" with your "heart" which is just another word for your emotions, should have any bearing on the truth of whether a higher power exists?
Rebecca, because "feeling" is the ONLY way to experience a god or gods! They do not have a physical presence. So, if you feel goosebumps or tingling when talking about god, it PROVES he/she/it exists! What's to understand? Just get the shivers.
Because it's spiritual. Within. There's no outward confirmation because outward is not the right way to be focusing. It's a willful choice. No proof. Nothing to take away or influence your choice. You have the freedom to accept or reject.
Rebecca, firstly I am not arguing with anyone. The truth is nobody really knows the TRUTH at the moment. If you read my comment carefully, i gave out some reasons after I made the " I believe deep within my heart" statement. It wasnt based on emotion
Rebecca, I certainly don't think it should just be discarded or trivialized. Your gut feeling. What your heart tells you. In evolutionary terms, it would seem it's there for a reason having served humanity well in some way.
Don't know why you say logic points... Everything you say seems more like your belief or feelings already point to what you want as rationalization. "Because I can't comprehend the odds 'God' exists is very flawed logic..." "Not understanding==God"
Val,
Just because something cannot be explained today, doesn't mean an explanation isn't forthcoming. Physicists just haven't found the correct formulas. Before Einstein, there was no E=MC^2 quantified.
Addendum to my previous comment. Not saying your beliefs are wrong just that it is difficult to fit into strict logic without strangling logic like the medieval scholastics. I would keep belief out of that formal sphere.
Of course God exists. Does love exist? Does peace exist? Does comfort exist? Does compassion exist? Does understanding exist? Do thoughts exist?
EL
ElShadai - What has god to do with love, peace, and thought. You are talking about states of mind, or even a physiological equilibrium. "Understanding love" is an illogical task, because emotions can't be "understood", only ideas can.
Love is a separate topic from this question. Your are free to post this question yourself in the Q&A section. But here, you need to stick to the topic.
Vladimir,
Love cannot be understood, as God cannot be understood. Love is experienced, as God is experienced. God and love cannot measured. Yet you believe in love, right? Even though you cannot understand it?
I'm going to get in trouble for this, but this is just a thought: If 'God is Love', the existence could be proven in that humans are capable of love and connecting. People would not be able to love without God - whether they 'believe' or not.
Well, go ahead and prove that love exists then. I would love to see that proof. What, exactly constitutes proof of a concept like love?
El Shaddai - You seem to have a problem with "existing". Existence of one thing does not automatically mean existence of something else. You lump those things that do exist together with god, as if that's a "proof" of his existence. No logic in it.
Austinstar, have you ever loved anybody? Vladimir, I am simply showing that there is a similarity between love, which cannot be seen in and of itself, and God, who cannot be seen. Rather, both are experienced.
Yes, I have loved and been loved. But I do not believe in loving an invisible "being" in the sky. There are reasons to love, there are no reasons to believe in "god". No proof of its existence. There is proof of humans to love.
Austinstar,
You asked me prove that love exists, yet you have already experienced it.
I have experienced what people call love. But i can't prove that love is something real. I also can't prove that love is a valid natural occurrence or something tangible. Love may feel real, but that doesn't make it a thing. It's chemistry, maybe?
Austinstar, the same is true about God. I have experienced God, but I cannot prove, in a tangible sense, that God is real. God feels real to me, just like love feels real to you. Love, like God is experienced.
ElShadai - Being able to "experience" god doesn't make him real. I can experience an imaginary half-man-half-goat, but that doesn't mean such creature exists. So, experience is a subjective phenomenon, not necessarily a reflection of something real.
Vladimir,
How does one experience an imaginary half-man half-goat?
The same way we experience love, or unicorns, or elation, or hatred, or anger, or happiness.
Austinstar,
By definition, you cannot experience a unicorn. A unicorn brings about a feeling, but the unicorn is not the feeling. The unicorn is not the experience. The feeling is the experience. Love and God are the experience.
These feelings exist only in your imagination. They are as real as unicorns and "love". Your gods are imaginary too.
Austinstar,
You are confusing an object (unicorn) with a feeling (love). Love is a feeling and an action. God is also a feeling and an action. A unicorn is neither a feeling nor an action. You cannot be unicornly. Godly and lovingly yes.
ElShadai - In terms of psychology, even dreams are experiences. And mechanism of loving is well understood by neuroscience. It's also identifiable in the spectrum of human emotions. Gods have no "suchness" to be identified except among abstractions.
Who says you can't be unicornly? Why not? Both unicorns and love are imaginary. That is my point. You can imagine anything you want. But these things do not have physical, natural substance! You can't measure them.
Just because something doesn't have physical/observable elements does not make it imaginary. Love is real. The pain you feel in your chest when you lose someone you love is very real. Your decisions and actions are impacted in a real way by love.
What makes you think nature requires a god to function?
Intelligence exists in all life forms based on their evolutionary demands as part of how natural forces apply themselves in the real world. Your imaginary gods are not part of reality, ever!
h_fruz, what force accounts for compelling life to constantly overcome the obstacles presented by this environment? We evolved legs and balance and agility and intelligence and all kinds of fantastical things to do so. So force/law accounts for that?
Austinstar - I don't want to feed you my religion. If you don't truly believe a higher power beyond our own, how can He make Himself known to you when the first thing you feel is doubt, and maybe, have a ridiculous view to it. But I respectyourbelief
You don't need to respect my belief. I don't respect yours, nor am i required to do so. Your beliefs belong to you. Respect yourself. If you want to answer the question, i will read your answer. Where is this god?
How can you 'see' Him when youre already hell bent He doesn't exist?
Austinstar,
Do you believe that life happened by chance, and that all of the life you see around you evolved from a single cell organism? Even evolution cannot explain why there is a need for so much variety in the same location.
God exists.
Just look around you. Where can this all come from? Science has proven how exceptional humans, animals and trees and so on are based on what they are made of. So many questions have been answered. Vaccines to these, reasons for that. Science explaining phenomena and yet, cannot answer why plate tectonics move? How the galaxy came to be? Who or what created all these? But with answered questions spawns millions of question, right? Believe me, I have questioned myself these also, but no matter how exceptional humans are, we cannot have an answer to everything. Not everything can be explained by our very own science. Why do we feel love? or happy? or sad? Yes, science would say hormones are the reason behind these tgings, But have you ever really asked why do we feel this way? it is not vital to 'living'. We can still breathe even if we're in despair, our organs function even if we're hurt. We are 'living'. Again, why do we feel these? how can we live in this beautiful world, and yet just be beings made up of cells, with no purpose beyond what we understand. Look how vast the world is, maybe our world, not using our 'reality' is different. Because we can only comprehend things to a certain degree. Besides, what is more beautiful, believing that we have a purpose even after death than to just cease to exist after the minutes of our body decomposing?
Annalaris- Just because we can't explain (YET) the complexity of human emoting, it's not an invitation to divine speculations. If you blindly choose to ascribe ALL to god, go ahead, but science has explained many things that used to be "god's work".
We are a product of nature. Let's learn to live in greater harmony wit & take care of our life support system.
There are no gods. Don't be fooled! Let's carry on instead developing our minds to more fully enjoy our cosmic presents here on earth
you said, "why plate tectonics move?" Yes, we can easily explain that, it's because the plates are sitting on a molten core and are bumping into each other. And I believe that none of us die. We are the universe and it is infinite.
Austinstar - I am asking beyond the literal question, what is the purpose behind why they move?
Vladimir - That's it then, once we have answers more questions follow. Why can't people see that we can NEVER truly understand life itself?
There is no purpose other than kinetic energy and friction. Plate tectonics do not need an esoteric "purpose" for us to understand the mechanics. Why limit yourself to ending the search for answers? We can search for eternity if we want. We r gods.
Annalarissa- Personally, I love the mystery of everything and there is no urgency to have ALL answers. I formed a world view that allows me to be a creator of my happiness, health, and peace of mind. No deity is missing there.
Austin - woah, what a statement! Gods!? Can you live long enough to answer every single thing in this world? Why do we have to answer everything? For bragging puroposes? Anyway, you're entitled to your opinion, as I am. Respect.
You were the one asking about purpose. We don't need a purpose to study our world, to be born, to live, to die. We already do all those things. Why do you think plate tectonics needs a purpose?
It's apparent there is purpose. From plate techtonics to the water cycle and everything else, it all renews and maintains an environment that we can live in. And if we're ever going to find truth, we must recognize it's all purposefully intended.
Ok, what is it? What is this purpose? What is the big plan for the universe?
Personally, I think the purpose is free will. I think God created this whole place to let free will lose and play out. So we can willfully exist and willfully acknowledge that He is the authority. The only way it can work for an eternity.
Ok so, the purpose of a 4 y.o. little girl is to choose to be raped and murdered because of her "free will". That free will B.S. is all you got? Sucks to be religious is all i can say.
I agree with Anna. From a non-religious approach, let's ponder some of the very complicated mechanisms that exist in the world today. Evolution is a weak argument when explaining why there is a need for so much variety in the same location.
Then if you do not need a purpose in your life, why are you still living right now? For what is your life for? Just a being walking on this Earth and doing nothing? What makes you wake up everyday and continue on living after a trying times?
El - Evolution is a proven science. Anna, I do not need a purpose in my life. I was born, I live, and I will die. Same as any other thing in the universe. Again, What is this purpose? What is the big plan for the universe? (Hint - There isn't one)
Austinstar,
Nothing in science is absolute. In fact, all theories, from the theory of relativity to the big bang theory to evolution all are lacking.
Theories do not "lack", they are experiments. They do not become scientific "law" until they are proven and are independently verified and re-verified with facts/figures/experiments/conclusions. What is "lacking" is your understanding of science.
Austinstar,
Do you have a degree in evolutionary biology?
Austin... No, it's the free will choice of the rapist. Our choices and actions have real consequences in this place. Free will is a powerful thing. We're creators. We add things to this universe that are not 'of God'. It's a big responsibility.
But I am asking about the free will of the girl? Does she not have a choice in the matter? What kind of free will is it when it means nothing to everyone? And you only have 2 crappy choices anyway? Obey or go to hell?
As is the case many times, the free will of one is used to override the will of another. Free will means everything. It makes you you. No hell. Either conform to the necessary hierarchy or cease to exist. Fair deal.
So does the 4 y.o. girl go to hell because she could not override the free will of her murderer/rapist?
Why would you think the child would go to hell? It wasn't her choice. It was the choice of the rapist. There isn't a hell. There's only continuing to exist in eternity or ceasing to exist. "Shall not perish". Burning eternally isn't perishing.
Are you deaf? Where is the 'FREE WILL OF THE GIRL'? Or do you think it's only important for rapists to have free will???
I "hear" you just fine. I'm not sure what you don't get. The situation was determined by the choice of the rapist. The child has a choice, but is smaller and weaker and was overpowered by the will of another. He chose to take her choice away.
I believe in God and have learned there are beautiful things in the world that I can't comprehend = God. I have learned the concept of purpose and meaning and now I have to find it.. I can't stand the fact that things ARE and I don't know. Why?
I BELIVE THAT GOD IS EXISTING BECAUSE ANY THING DONT MOVE WITH OUT HELP OTHER OS WORLD MOVE THE HELP OF GOD
Try using better English along with your indoor voice so we can understand what you are trying to say.
God Austin! Stop!
If "intelligence" does that to one, another reason it's undesirable!
If ALL would leave "their thinking" & "try" & think "spiritually," they may be able to understand!
The BBT is a scientific cop out because science doesn't know that much about the universe. So they start at a singularity, and so far that doesn't help them understand why a universe that should be shrinking is still expanding.
None of this, even if it were true leads to any existence of a God. Just because people don't understand something, it doesn't mean that it has to be the result of a God.
The primitive people that first inhabited the Earth believed that anything that they didn't understand must be a God. But as we gained knowledge we found out that they were wrong. Even the Catholic Church and the Bibles didn't give them the truth about the Earth and the Sun. Surely, a bible allegedly written by the direction of God would have known the truth. Yet, the bible and especially Genesis was vague, and ambiguous because there wasn't any divine inspiration, only the limited knowledge of man. The bibles were not written contemporaneous with the events they were writing about. So over 2000 years ago what was the knowledge of the universe, and even our solar system? Nothing more than what we see in the bibles.
God of the bibles hasn't really been the all seeing, all knowing, creator. Even by the words in the bible, God is more human than an almighty deity. He couldn't control the angels, he allowed his garden to be infested with a cherubim, he didn't know what was going on at the Tree. The list goes on and on. He couldn't even direct Moses to find the promised land in forty years. Moses never did get there.
God of the first bible, FAILED. Jesus of the second bible, FAILED. The people of the Earth have not changed for the better since recorded history.
We know more about Space Aliens than we know about God. God has never been seen, not even by Adam, Eve, or even Moses. Thousands of people have claimed to have not only seeing a ET, many have claimed to have been abducted by them.
Genesis talks about the creation of Earth as the center point of the universe, but it is not even the center of our solar system. In fact, the universe is useless to us on Earth. Much of it is hostile to our lifeform, and much of the universe is destructive. The Earth is one space object away from total destruction. We are continually barraged by a band of space junk. So much for a Creator that is perfect.
Science today pretty much explains the Earth and its life form a lucky accident. The bible knows nothing of dinosaurs.
Correctamundo! You really spelled it out. Only one addition, the BBT is not the only scientifict theory about the "beginning" of the universe. Ther are a few others.
I understand that there are over a billion stars and planets in the universe and there is a slight probability that life might have evolved on just one planet. However, i still think the odds are stuck against life forming, without an interference.
Austinstar
Yes, thanks for reminding me, the BBT is only the most popular one At the Moment.
At this point there are numerous theories and that is what theories are about. As we learn, we develop new theories.
Charles, you only think that because you have been told that all your life. There is no evidence of an external force that was needed to create life. It is just the god of the gaps theory. We are getting close to explaining how life really evolved.
Austin star,if I told you one day that I found a mobile phone on the beach and that it happen to be just there. Would you believe me? By the way the simplest life form is more complex than the most technologically advanced phone you can ever think of
Oh wow, just keep repeating all those silly notions of "proof" of god, and maybe someday you will believe it yourself. No, i would investigate why you found a phone on the beach. & ur other statement is false btw. Amoebas ring a bell? Single cell
Wow, you think there is a mobile phone out there that is complex than an amoeba. You clearly don't understand how complex life is. By the way I've read the Bible several times and find it greatly flawed.So there is no way I will believe in that God
How did God fail all those times??? Jesus has known all along that he would be betrayed by judas, that he would be tempted, that he would be scourged on the pillar and ultimately died on the cross. He has known all along what will happen for a purpos
People have not changed from Evil since the beginning of recorded history. That is proof God, if there is one failed.
I gave my other reasons in my original comment.
Charles, I am a Medical Lab Scientist, I studied life for 40 years. Yes, a single celled amoeba is less complicated than a phone. Analyze all of the components and you will see it for yourself. People tend to believe "life" is immensely complicated.
Austin star, for your information amoebas are still more intelligent than our most powerful computers. Also, a single celled amoeba has the complexity of the city of London and reproduces that complexity in only 20 minutes. Please think about that.
Charles
And how smart is an Amoeba? They do one thing, and that impresses you.
How many phone calls can you make with an Amoeba? Cell phones today are state of the art computers. And they can do numerous things other than calls. ??
computers are tools. VERY COMPLICATED tools. An amoeba is a SINGLE CELL organism composed of very limited parts and very limited intelligence. The phone (tool) is not designed to be intelligent, it is a TOOL! and it has more complex pathways than it.
@Bradmaster. How many phone calls can you make with an amoeba?Really! You are being very subjective. I can also say that can a phone move to a source of electricity and charge itself cus amoebas move to look for food when they are hungry.
That is not what a phone is designed to do, silly. An amoeba is evolved enough to move and search for food. A phone is not evolving, so save that question.
Austin star, I dont need to be a medical lab scientist to figure out how complex any form of life is as compared to our most powerful computers. Do you know how intelligent you should be to evolve to changes. A phone cant evolve cus it isnt as smart.
Why are humans the only "animals" to all look different? Why don't we all look the same, like every other life form on this planet. Alligators all look the same. Gold fish. Monkeys all look the same. Why not humans? Explain that evolutionists.
El Shaddai - Animals look "the same" only to us. A bird will recognize its chick among hundred others. And look how Orientals look almost "the same" to people of other races, and vice versa. Nothing is uniform on this planet.
Vladimir,
A little black ant looks exactly the same as every other little black ant. A garter snake looks exactly like every other garter snake. Yet even among different races, one person does not look like the next person. Why?
"Explain that evolutionists" - You will need to take some courses in evolutionary science to understand evolution. But even then, I suspect you would stubbornly keep your "beliefs" over the scientific method. So, just keep repeating ur false notions.
Austinstar,
Why do you continue to assume that I am not educated? You do not know me. Even doctors of medicine still believe in God. Would you like to tell all doctors to take a class?
Classes in evolution, yes. I never said you weren't educated, but you do lack education in evolutionary science or else you would not be asking these questions.
Charles. What is your point?
Al Shaddai All monkeys don't look alike neither do many other creatures.
And either of you, how does this relate to the existence of God?
God didn't create or invent computers, or electronics. build hi rises, bridges
Austinstar,
Did you know that even Darwin thought it was absurd to think that the eye could evolve through natural selection? As the eye is a very complicated mechanism that requires all of its components in order to work correctly?
Austinstar,
My point is that the theory of evolution is lacking. It is not the end all be all.
El Shaddai - It's human DNA that makes us unfold into a much more complex beings than ants. We also have our fingerprints and our biological and mental individuality which make us unique. But you can ascribe EVERYTHING to a god if you wish..
ValKras,
Yet you would have us believe that random occurrences created all of the amazing mechanisms we see around us?
Evolution is a proven science. Even the Pope agrees that your god could have used evolution to "create" things. Evolutionary science does not "prove" or disprove your gods exist. Get a life.
Austinstar,
How did you "evolve" into a being who feels the need to insult people? Are your insults a result of millions of years of natural selection? I find it hard to believe that anybody would want to propagate unpleasant humans.
@Bradmaster, so you see a computer and know immediately somebody invented it. However, you see a brain which is more complex than the most advanced computer ever built and you are like, "Hmm,this probably evolved from non-living matter by accident "
Austinstar,
You told one guy that he knows nothing about sex and pleasure. You told me more than once to get an education, and you told me to get a life.
Those are not insults. Maybe you should consult a dictionary on the meaning of the word, insult.
Austinstar,
"Insult: to treat or speak with disrespect." Is it respectful to tell somebody to get a life?
Respect must be earned. Until it is, one cannot be "disrespected". And since I do not respect your comments, please stop harassing me. (no, I do not expect you to "respect" me. I simply do not care.)
Science, evolution, computer (made by man), NOTHING will ever "catch up to" or "surpass" THE CREATOR! Don't let your "pride, ego, education, own understanding" deceive you!
U know"in your heart" there's a CREATOR-GOD&who can {"Withstand HIM?"}
Man made evolution? So man made her/himself into being?
Many of you here are very confident that there is no God. Yet Darwin stated, "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge". ;-)
On Facebook I have seen math problems that go something like this:-
2+3 =5
3+3= 9
4+3 =15
6+3 = ?
I keep wondering why use + why not use another symbol, like !.
Good question. I actually thought about writing a hub about this very question. However, when I tried to come up with the words to discuss my thoughts about the subject, I found my thoughts were just as hard to explain as this question is going to be to answer.
It could be quite simple. I was raised to believe in God, and surrender myself to his purpose for my life, and I have, for the most part, done that. Even so, my logical side of always wanting answers to deceptions and tragedies that happen to this world still exists, and keeps me asking the very question you are asking today.
If there is a God, then I must accept that he/she has filled my 44 years, so far, with more sad and hard times, rather than happy and content ones. Maybe it's because I made the wrong choices along the way. I do believe, if God exists, he allows us to choose the paths he sets in front of us, and it depends on which we choose to follow that determines our fates. I believe there are path choices all along the way through our lives, and whichever ones we follow is pre-planned for us.
Can we make a bad path choice into something positive though? I think so. I think that if we truly allow ourselves to believe in a God, then we must believe that his test when we pick the bad paths are to see if we can pull out something positive or good instead of staying stuck in pity.
I have to say, I have made some poor choices, but I think I have grown in just the right ways. I've allowed myself to take pain and hurt and see beauty because of it, to acquire wisdom from my wrongs. Unfortunately, some do not learn from their bad choices, but instead, go deeper into despair and anger. I would say they start to blame a God for that. As I have learned to appreciate the trials and tribulations into making me a stronger person.
If there is a God, and he has a particular plan for us all. I think his plan is actually more like a test that I just described, to see if we can survive with the ability to live here without blaming any other person but ourselves for our own poor choices.
I think it comes down to how you view the world you live in and the life you lead if you believe in a God or not. You can either choose to believe in the God you were taught to know of as a child. The God that will love and forgive you, and died for your sins, or you can believe in "The Big-Bang Theory."
Quite frankly, the answer just comes down to another choice doesn't it?
No, it's not as simple - if you like to create more clarity in your mind, you have to apply a greater mental effort & learn how to grasp REALITY a bit better so you can start to develop more intellect & the ability to think critically for you
f_hruz. My God created nature.that included you that needs everything in nature to survive. But nature did not give you the breath of life that came from the power source of our Heavenly Father. Rejecting him is rejecting you and nature.
My God will probably cast me into the underworld to again fight my enemies for the glory of Greece. Oh my dear Achilles I look forward to the day we can do battle! (sorry) Is nature part of God or is God outside of it?
Is nature in God or is God outside nature? As in seperate entity?
@Missy smith the BBT can't exist in a Godly universe? BBT doesn't fit doctrine maybe, but God? I don't see why that should be the choice?
Verified Near Death Experiences (NDEs) prove the existence of a spirit/soul which can live outside the body. People who experience NDEs also refer to a being(s) of light. The concept of God is irrelevant until we first show the existence of a spirit/soul. We may then learn from the being of light/God. See website IANDS.
From Reflections on Life after Life 1977 by Raymond A. Moody, Jr. M.D. Moody studied hundreds of near death cases for over a year to compile his book.
Most of the individuals interviewed did Not experience any reward/punishment crisis, the traditional model of being reviewed.
It is interesting to note that the judgment in the cases I studied came not from the being of light, who seemed to love and accept these people anyway, but rather from within the individual being judged.
See Hub, "Near Death Experiences and what they mean."
"did not exp any reward/punishment crisis.." & why they're called "Near Death" exp! GOD knew NDE! Heb 9:27 "after" death (not "near" death), "the judgment!" Don't be deceived!
John The Revelator wrote in vain?
Norine Willians, study NDEs. Some patients were clinically dead, revived and reported events later verified to be true. Have you studied the subject?
http://science.howstuffworks.com/scienc … rience.htm Interesting to read more women and religious people see it. Also the relation to mountain climbers and high CO2 levels in the brain which trigger white lights
The proof I am going to give is out of the ordinary, but it is an attempt to answer the question:
God...............IS or IS'NT existing? Why? Why not?
Support your analysis?
In the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, I went to give a friend some money. As I got off the elevator, the bomb went off. In the Easter of that same year, I had an out of body experience, where I spoke to God, and was taken on what I would describe as a super-natural tour of earth and heaven.
I am taking this bold stand, because I had to hit my head, and sit down to analyze the situation I was in, then finally come to the realization that a God does exist.(Obviously, there had to be a WOW factor)!!
What I saw is not totally backed by the bible, however, I believed what I saw because God was African. At the end of the experience God gave me the books of 1st Peter and Galatians, and thus I will quote Galatians 6 verse 7:
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7, KJV).
He said a group of non-Africans were sold to Him as slaves. However, these people refused to take orders, so He established a separate territory for them. These special people found themselves back in slavery many times.
He said the laws of Moses were originally given, because the people He took out of Egypt did not know his ways and practiced the ways they learned in Egypt. They were taken to the desert before entering the promised land, and given the laws, so they could turn away from the ways learned in Egypt . The rulers of Israel (in the time of Jesus) used the laws to subdue the people. He said that the Sabbath is His (God) day of rest, and the day Satan is most active. Thus, Christ had to die on the cross to break the curse of the law by becoming Lord of the Sabbath.
After Christ's death, there were preachers of His name and message. Not everyone in those days accepted the message. Similarly, today, not everybody believes in the existence of the God of the bible - but He exists; because I had to hit my head to prove that I was not dreaming. This was 23 years ago, and counting.
It is getting a little frustrating waiting for some proof of this experience to manifest, especially since I am not working, and living with my mother. I have received financial help, and ways to solve my financial problems many times since the revelation. However, I am still waiting on that special Revelation from God to prove to my mother that He exists and it is He who I really saw. Just a little proof.
Thanks for sharing your story, but it's time you faced the fact, it was just a mental thing of yours totally divorced from reality and no proof of anything, so don't wait for any miracles my dear. Causality imposes its limits, learn to be a realist
Fhruz When I comment I do not seek approval , rather you agree or not will not change truth. So your analysis of my examples would not mean anything to you , you are not the first the last. So peace.
Angele: The "proof" is within! It's called "Belief" w/o doubt! Don't "mock" GOD!
Read Hebrews 3:7-19!
GOD told me to tell you this!
I feel that I see creation in every snowflake that is different. Every human being is unique, every fingerprint, every DNA. Add to that how every animal is distinct by their pattern and behavior. Every animal every leaf on a tree is distinct for what they were created for.
As someone before said, God gave each of us free will. He didn't create a bunch of robots to worship Him. That is up to each person to deny or accept His Diety. Jesus death and resurrection is a historical event. They had guards at the tomb. It is not because they didn't try. Why didn't they find a body?"
Jesus repeatedly stated that He was God, that the two were one.
In the words of C.S.Lewis professor at Cambridge University, "You must not say Jesus was a great moral teacher. A man who was merely a man and said the things that Jesus said would not be a moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." It is up to each of us to decide what we believe.
Ref. "More Than A Carpenter by Josh McDowell"
You are free to have wishful thoughts, but why follow irrational religious ideas?,They may make you feel better, but do you engage enough critical intellect? Often your emotions will direct your thinking in absurd ways without more analysis ...
As I said it's up to each of us. Thank you for your input
Are you sure about the free will? Or do you mean the freedom to think about having or not having a free will as being free will? And are you free to think or just repeating and mixing ? Are you emotionally attached to being free willed?
Without free will there'd be no point to living life. We could only be passive observers, and not willful participants, unable to control anything we do. It would all be determined by the elements of our mind and how they react to our experiences.
What do you control?
What do you mean with elements of our mind reacting to experiences? What is your mind doing now but creating ideas and constructs from input (experience) and mixing with the knowledge and language you had?
Choices and actions. Without free will we'd have no more control over what we do than a river has in choosing its path through an environment. We'd simply be passive participants only able to observe, but not act willingly.
Obviously we have the will to make decisions. It's part of our evolutionary survival instincts (fight or flight).. What makes you think our decision making ability is from some mythical skydaddy?
Because that's the only way its possible. Without God, without a non-physical element of the self, we can only be determined. The choices we think we're making are actually choices the brain is considering. It only seems we had control of the choice.
I always wonder how much of the will is before and after the fact? How much our actions are guided by past experience, biology, language and schooling. Since all those things are more or less given I just question how free willed we are...
Well if we're not then that's sad. That means all humanity has done, good or bad, wasn't anyone's choice. It was just brains reacting to their environments. We are forced to observe something we can't control. We lose all we hold most dear as humans.
Jeremy, you said, "It only seems we had control of the choice." So now you are saying we DON'T have free will? Make up your mind.
I'm not going for a value statement here. Just that it isn't always as clearcut I think. I'm all for "free will" especially opposed to fatalistic views such as "in sha allah". Most strong ideas are imprinted when we can't survive by ourselves.(child)
Austin, what I'm saying is what the reality of not having free will would mean if we did not have it.
@Austinstar he was replying to my questions and that such a world with limited or no free will would be sad. It was not his position, not even mine per se, just questions and talk.
God does exist; we just haven't seen him. As human beings, numerous cannot fathom a greater existence than themselves. How perfectly earth has been orchestrated and formed emphasizes the existence of a high power. Even animals have a sense of hierarchy, and we are given a brain. It isn't by chance that we are in the present. It isn't by chance you're reading this.
NATURE is remarkable! It lets the universe unfold itself without any gods being involved. It gives us an environment we can live in & learn about. Causality exists but no miracles & no gods have anything to do with it at all. NATURE is all th
Yes, it is remarkable. And that should be an indication to you. Yet you inexplicably determine what's remarkable as being brought about by pure chance and without design or intent. Broken logic is all that is. Shows a clear sign of a personal bias.
Jeremy - It's a game of words, Nature can be intelligent and creative, when you stop seeing it as the "product" of your god's intelligence. Besides, why not wait until science KNOWS, rather than replace "knowing" with a myth and abstraction?
It's a highly emotional issue with Jeremy. He has so much invested in his mental construct of his god being the creator of nature. He is intellectually handy-capt to grasp that nature has no use for any gods dreamed up by religious types like him
Not emotional. It's the only answer that makes logical sense. I'm not waiting on science to answer a question it cannot. DNA for example is coded data. That's not just by chance. Natural, yes, but clearly deliberate. To serve a specific purpose.
Your god only serves you own self satisfaction. Nature provides enough reasons to be studied & researched. Your gods don't do any good so why are you so hung up on it? Why is nature not enough for you as the supreme reality? Gods are irrational
Nature demands explanation. And no, it didn't just happen all by itself. DNA didn't just self-organize on its own. That's not an explanation. It's apparent that it's deliberate. If we're to understand anything, this must be first.
I'm sorry you do not believe in God. However, he exists. He is the master of the entire known and unknown universe. Whether you believe or not, it doesn't nullify God.
Science is nullifying God, slowly but surely.
Chance is a human concept, just as 'God'. What we can know or not know or understand is still something else than leaping to certain concepts that are often very narrowly defined. Since 'God' is flawed you say 'High Power', what is it?The unknowable?
Chance is a human concept because humanity acting deliberately is the only exception to chance. Everything else is 'natural'. If we determine all that reality is was deliberate then we can take from that who/what this God is by what He has created.
SamS.God is not flawed we are when we believe that. We can not control not one thing in the universe, nor can we restore human life. Look at our planet earth which man has dominated it reflects the flaw of humans . Polluting, violence, hate,
I'm talking about the concept we use 'God'. Since it is polluted by historical views, massive opinion and often very narrow views like 'God' of the Bible. That is why people are using other words like All, High Power... Many avoid the concept...
This is an intriguing question. I 've pondered this often and read the stories of enlightened beings. What I know out of this is that God is not an entity like beings or things. The faithfuls who claim to experience God cannot convince others about it in a coherent vocabulary. What they talk about is a mere dream or a vision. The religious texts contain contradictory content, and therefore one cannot assume these as truth about God.
Till scientific progress was not achieved, people followed everything blindly, but now people seek out truth about everything scientifically. What I gather is that the guys who have perfected their thinking and ushered in wisdom can only fathom what God is all about. One cannot see God like a being or thing, as atheists believe us to follow. To me, being a believer in God, God exists beyond beings and things. An human can only experience God but cannot ever see Him/Her/IT/ ? .
What are the artifacts of your believe in a God? Throughout the course of human existence, God has been attributed to anything that humans cannot explain. Anything from animals to the clouds and objects in the sky, but science explained them, not God
Unbelievers have the need for materialistic "proof" that 1 can see, touch & feel. GOD IS A SPIRIT! Science gives desired "proof" to 1 w/"materialistic" needs! Human=Body (flesh;baby) soul (free "will;" goal=control) spirit (GOD; to thk as=Adult
God DEFINITELY exists! Or else, where did life come from? And don't say Evolution, because that is an impossibility for which there is no REAL evidence.
A god may exist in your confused head because you have not bothered to think very clearly about the religious pollution which is creating this fog in your mind, or you would see NATURE as being supreme without ANY requirements for ANY man made gods!
Of course God exsists. I think some people here are ONLY waiting for science to prove that God exists. Otherwise, they can't believe on HIM. If people can just open their eyes and hearts they would see God's creatures in many many many things in this life, being stubborn and arguing not always good values. God has put a system for this universe. HE is the big Boss and the master of this universe. In conclusion: HE deserves to be sincerely worshipped
You only have to wait for your own brain to tell you that all religious BS is man made & NATURE has no use for any of that BS ... or how much longer do you want to be an irrational Religionoid with an underdeveloped intellect?
I wonder the same about you, f_hruz. How long it's going to take your brain to realize that your alternative 'no god' view falls well short of being a feasible explanation. How long is it going to take your underdeveloped intellect to catch up?
Your question is obviously silly & your claim to know what a scientific thought consist of doesn't hold up. Your desire to put some god in charge of NATURE is a clear expression of your intellectual inability to grasp the limits of REALITY
It's not a desire. It's a realization. There's obviously purposeful intent in what exists. Intelligence is a natural occurrence, so why not a valid explanation? It's more to do with a personal bias you hold and nothing to do with scientific thought.
Thanks Grace wonderful question. This question
Really depends personally on you.
Example I had the honor of a friends request of a famous celebrity. First I thought how nice , but then I started to doubt it was the person because
They asked me for a favor. It was a contribution
to a cause. What do you think. Was they the real deal ? Well I was not worried about what I already
do in contributions to the worlds needs
I felt this was a challenge. Was this person real.
Well I stated I already contribute and gave them the source. They drop the conversation. Cut me off sorta speak.
Later they posted pictures of distinguish buisness men who was part of helping his cause
Was he legit? Now I would say yes.
But the point is I already was doing what he was starting. My inn heart and love for others is not based on fame or what others do.
The God of the heavens is nothing like us and he hears and sees everything. A fact he can see all at one time. When we can only see in front of us.
He can decide who he will appear to ,who he will
Show his strength to, but for those who want to believe he does not exist he lets you believe that.
Because you want it that way.(Hidden agenda)
But lets look at this when the time comes and it is soon it will be no doubt of truth. Those who went to far in disrepect have made a record for themselfs. Will he change his view of you because you know the truth now . No . because you speak from the heart.
God as an entity does not exist. What does exist is the notion that God is and abounds everywhere one turns his/her head. God is and has been since the first human came to exist. We, as humans can not deny that God exist because in doing so, we are denying ourselves. God is one and we, all humanity, is one in him.
This is a religious notion not based on nature being our ultimate reality. We are a product of nature. We advance ourselves as thinking beings by using our intellect, not by following outdated irrational religious ideas ...
"We are a product of nature." How? From what source? Water, matter?
How matter/energy behaves in this environment created by the laws of nature produce stars/planets/us. It didn't just all fall into place like this. It was clearly deliberate. It's foolish to think it all happened this way by pure chance. Illogical.
Not an outdated religious idea, but the basic from which all redundant religious ideas, have sprung from.
It is an irrefutable fact; water, minerals, and varied elements......
God does exist, and is seen in everything by those who believe in His existence. For those who do not believe in God, there is scientific reasoning to explain it away - everything from natural selection to evolution. But if you know anything about this God, as believers believe they do, you know that this God wants human beings to choose to believe in Him, and so being in this mind set, He has created both sides of the argument so that we are not forced to believe, but to make a choice and exercise our free will.
Penny,
Some people believe that we were created by lizards and see lizards in everything.
Free will is limited by constrains imposed by reality & the natural world. This makes the religious imagination to want to see some god behind all nature is & does totally irrational. This imaginary god is an impotent human construct in compa
Money Man your humor is disheartening at best, for you represent the godless world with a flimsy argument that is so simple that it must be dismissed. A father who makes people suffer? Really? When was the last time you suffered? Did you pray?
wow i like this comment i have honestly never ever heard it explained this way...so you say those who try and live by his law are under him that is how you will come to know and see...awesome,,,this is addressed to PENNYFORYOURTHOTS
If you are talking about god and supernature in general, I would agree, there is something out there, which we human interpret as "gods". There are a lot of things past science cannot explain, but modern science can explain, there are certain thing modern science cannot explain that future science can. Sometime, we human explain it with supernature supersticious. For example, hundred of years ago, Chinese say by looking a person face you can see their personality and categorize variosu facial charactristic = certain personality, this today, have recieve validation of modern science, finding direct link between DNA that determine facial charactristic and a person's default personality, at birth, the ancient Chinese didn't know about DNA, they just notice these people of certain facial charactristic, would have certain personality by birth, through long observational experience, but they can't explain why.
Modern science still can't explain the concept of spirit, but there are more evidence to support a theory that, what we traditionally think of as soul, is the electric energy use by our brain and nerve system. For those who don't know human brain and nerve system, run on electricity, just like your house hold appliance. But energy cannot be created or destroy, but only transform from one form to another, thus the energy use by our body, come from external and when we die it would leave our body, until one day, it enter a new host. This is currently believe to what people in the ancient world interpret as reincarnation or ghost and every ancient culture speak of reincarnation and ghosts. Prior to Christianity, all pagan religion in the west, also, believe in reincarnation, including the Romans.
As for Christian god, I believe the old testimate, began as a way how early Jews, make sense of the world around them and interpret it as the work of god. And as a result, there was many, disturbing teaching. for example it teach, if a woman is not a virgin you should kill her. This might be due to, a wide spread of sexual transmitted disease, at some stage, causing ancient jews to believe lust must be dirty and god is angry at them, thus punish them.
Later new testimate there are many evidence that support it was written during the 5th century, by the Catholic church during that era where they come into power, thus they wrote it, to use religion as a tool to help keep them in power and many bible passage, do reflect that, if you read it carefully.
Scientifically, God doesn't exist. Okay! i think my answer is too direct, so let me elaborate it. It is said that God is the creator of universe and He controls all the activities on it, and many other concept but, there isn't any scientific proof or evidence of any of His activity. With the concept of God many other concepts like soul, heaven, hell, etc. comes together. And none of the concept is clearly being explained, i mean soul exists in our body?! then what is the work of tissues and organs.
If you believe in science and think logically then you will find the answer by yourself. Concept of God is implemented in ancient world by many genius men so as to stop the crimes, fights and other wrong activity that kills the human society, and by the fear and respect of The Almighty that was being controlled and minimised. It(praying) also give hope to many people and courage to struggle and do hard work, either be it right or wrong but the Concept of God was implemented to help the people. So don't dig on this controversial topic just follow what your heart and of course brain wants to follow.
the thing is that God can reveal himself to who he wishes. Through the brain and heart
Example . you can say he does not exist to you because he has not made himself work with your mind or heart.
Does not mean he will not.
I truly respect your faith, Kiss. Don't get me wrong but that's what i thought and i believe to trust and support them who are in need and whom i can see. I don't know whether God exist or not,if you guide me to a right path, i will thankful to you
Fahad I like your perspective. I too believed your understanding a time ago but it came a time of self examination your heart will let him know when he will reveal his self. But the beginning starts with his letters he does the rest. Its the door
The guidance you may be seeking will only come to you from an objective reflection of nature & reality onto your capacity to reason accurately about your present state of intellect, & where you like to go from here. No gods can/will do that
Except for the still unaccounted for gap in knowledge where it comes to what life and the conscious mind are. We've come no closer to understanding these things because they are non-physical/material elements outside of the jurisdiction of science.
It's not outside the realm of research & discovery. Your ability to reason clearly for yourself is obviously greatly limited by assigning big parts of reality & the natural world into this irrational god idea. That's what so greatly limits yo
No, you insisting all that reality is can only be things detectable by our five measly senses is what's limiting. There are things that are demonstrably immaterial and outside of that box, which your view doesn't allow for.
God is a belief of our life.There's god or not that nobody knows but still there's a believe that there is someone with us who is there with us always to help us when all doors are closed and we have to believe that he's always there for us without any greed of getting something.But in today's scientific world whtevr is seen is accepted as truth and not what is nt seen is nt accepted as truth but still it's a belief of every individual about god. But then how we people came?tht's all a big que.we believe that devil's are there so we have to also believe that to destroy that devil's angels as god also exists.Because as there is truth there is false too then as there humans there is god too.
If you are really interested to know that there is an Omnipotent Being one of the many requirements are bow down and be humble then stop being materialistic because if you always consider money as everything in our lives then you will never understand God....this is the most unpopular perception or mind set. What could I say then forget about God and do your thing and when the dying times will come start wondering perhaps you will only have a few minutes of Realizations when one whole lifetime may not be even enough for it.
Logical Proof of The Existence of God
http://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy … nce-of-god
Throughout the centuries; man has searched, questioned, and found numerous answers to: Is God Real. Some still deny, even with the evidence presented as facts; others believe and know for sure.
What is the difference? How do you know for sure? The simple answer is when you feel His presence, and see His omnipotence in everything living; you will know.
The magnitude of this wonderful universe, we humans, plants, little animals and species did not just come into existence from an explosion. With the master plan of God, the greatness of the human body, mind and soul is that of a miracle.
Without His inspiration; this book would not have been written.
The skeptics sometimes referred to as scientist; give their scientific explanations of why God isn’t real? They have sized it all up as a cosmic explosion where everything that is on this Earth became the living species.
It is simply difficult to believe that such extraordinary brilliance came from a mixture of energy and light. Pop, we are here, walking on the face of this beautiful Earth.
This magic of cosmic explosion begat humans, animals and plants, little crawling creatures, little fishes in the sea, dry land, oceans, horizons, the stars, the moon, the plants and created male and female; with each their own specifications for living.
Think about this with in-depth study. The human body’s physical, mental, and spiritual existence alone can help you understand the magnitude of God, life, and your existence.
So, with that I am going to give you something else worth thinking about that sounds far more reasonable than The Big Bank Theory.
The Proof Is In the Word
Annually, there are more than 100 million copies sold, and often referred to; as the Greatest Books on Earth.
When the Books were established: The Bible, the Word of God came into existence in the fifth century of the Christian era. The word Bible is used as the title of the Old and New Testaments. The name is derived from the Greek word for book (biblos).
These Books came into use in the following manner: In the synagogues there were priests who were in charge of the manuscripts and later in the churches and they referred to them as “the Books.” Later in this history; the word book, or biblos, included the entire collection of books.
There are many historians and archaeologists who have acknowledged studies cannot prove that the Bible is God’s written word, but they can and do substantiate the Bible’s to be cont
These reflections are offered in response to a question posed by hubber Grace Marguerite Williams. read more
First of all how do we se God as, it all depends. Well i see God as Life And life is a Process of creation,so i see God as a process from the tiniest particles to the gigantic universe,and the process for me is neither any person , place,or thing.it's just a process and this process is a being, being where? Everywhere,and since it's everywhere we know that process is free,coz it dont have boundries,so we can call it Freedom,and where there's freedom there's pure love,where there's pure love there's joy wisdom,beauty,and this is the place where the ultimate truth resides.you can change the name God with Life with freedom with Love but nomatter what the process is all-ways there, in all of life.so call it God,Allah,Jah or Johny it wont affect to any tiniest part of it.
by Obscure_Treasures 13 years ago
In this advanced era Science has been able to invent new things....bt a above mentioned question still remains on back of my mind...
by Joseph Attard 9 years ago
Does the Big Bang exclude God or does it prove His existence even more?The universe began with the Big Bang. This is essentially conclusive and may stand as the most profound discovery of all time.
by Mahaveer Sanglikar 4 years ago
Many believers like to say that Atheists should prove that there is no God. Believers should know that existence has to be proved, not the non-existence. If a thing exists, it is possible to prove its existence. So believers should prove the existence of God if he exists. But if they want to do it,...
by Andrew0208 13 years ago
Do you agree with me that believing is a choice likewise not believing is a choice? Coming to argue about if God exists or not could be arguing if air exists or not. Many do not believe the Scriptures...But does it really matter? Even in the next 200 years to come, many in that time to come may...
by Andrew Petrou 8 years ago
Is science now starting to prove God's existence?(CNSNews.com) -- Dr. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist at the City College of New York (CUNY) and co-founder of String Field Theory, says theoretical particles known as “primitive semi-radius tachyons” are physical evidence that the universe was...
by paarsurrey 14 years ago
I am very thankful to our friend ediggity to write the following post in a thread elsewhere here. The point he has mentioned needs to be discussed in detail, so I start the thread.ediggity wrote:“Yes, my religion has faith. That is a main focus of my religion. I deal with reality every...
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