if you believe in God...then please post why?

Page 8 of 8 [ 121 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1 ... 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

RadiantAspie
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 Oct 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 373
Location: Surfing the Net

06 Oct 2007, 1:23 pm

Sand wrote:
I'm sorry, but the universe has not been proven to always exist. That is why other possibilities must be considered. Falling is a very local phenomenon which occurs only near a planetary body.


You should have just said that earlier, instead of making rather baseless accusations.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyways, I stand by my belief that there is no God. Omnipotence yields quite a few paradoxes and contradictions, it doesn't really answer any questions since "He works in mysterious ways", it has no predictive power, it can't be observed, experimented on, or verified in any possible way, there are differing opinions about the nature of God, and quite frankly you can come up to any conclusion you want simply because an omnipotent being can't be brought down to srutiny in any meaningful way.

Plus, the universe behaves as if there is no God, so why introduce unnecessary variables.


_________________
Philosophy: A good way to demonstrate our ability to make stuff up.

Religion: A good way to demonstrate our ability to believe things that just aren't so.


Sand
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Age: 100
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,484
Location: Finland

06 Oct 2007, 1:40 pm

I assumed I was clear.



Yellowriting
Hummingbird
Hummingbird

User avatar

Joined: 2 Oct 2007
Age: 61
Gender: Female
Posts: 23

06 Oct 2007, 3:01 pm

Sand wrote:
When you assert that something is there because it always has been there you are claiming something you do not and cannot know and you have stopped thinking.


I said God is there AND has always existed

But I do not and did not say that God is there BECAUSE He has always existed.

When I said I believed in God I gave my personal observations and reasoning.
When I proposed that God has always existed, I offered it as a viable theory for your own enquiry. Because it matters whether God exists or not, but all the rest is intellectual sparring and no use to anyone even if they could work it out.



Sand
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Age: 100
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,484
Location: Finland

06 Oct 2007, 3:11 pm

It does not matter to me if you think God exists. I see no way of proving it either way and it is very important to me that I can discover how the universe works. So far, people I trust have investigated the universe and it seems to respond to the laws they have discovered.If a God exists that can cause things to happen that are not comprehensible, that destroys all of known science and humanity is totally in the dark. That is not something I find desirable.



Yellowriting
Hummingbird
Hummingbird

User avatar

Joined: 2 Oct 2007
Age: 61
Gender: Female
Posts: 23

06 Oct 2007, 3:13 pm

RadiantAspie wrote:
Once you postulate something that is omnipotent, or anything that is in principle beyond logic, reason, or any of the laws of nature, you can come to any conclusion you want. It still has no validity.


The concept of God is well within the bounds of logic and reason, and so is the concept that God would not be bound by the laws of nature which He Himself brought into being.



Yellowriting
Hummingbird
Hummingbird

User avatar

Joined: 2 Oct 2007
Age: 61
Gender: Female
Posts: 23

06 Oct 2007, 3:42 pm

Sand wrote:
It does not matter to me if you think God exists.


I know, I don't expect it to.

Quote:
I see no way of proving it either way


I think you do actually, it just doesn't interest you to try.

Quote:
and it is very important to me that I can discover how the universe works.


This is actually a thread about belief in God. But it does surprise me that you find the mechanics of the universe more important.

Quote:
So far, people I trust have investigated the universe and it seems to respond to the laws they have discovered. If a God exists that can cause things to happen that are not comprehensible, that destroys all of known science and humanity is totally in the dark. That is not something I find desirable.


Well, yes, in theory God could make the world disobey the laws of nature, but doesn't; He makes it uphold those laws, and leaves them in place for our trusty scientists to discover. Incomprehensible things....I'm sorry, now I look at that sentence closer I don't think I understand: how exactly can God's existence cause incomprehensible things to happen and the destruction of science? And what do you mean desirable? Do you only believe in what suits you and makes you comfortable, or do you accept the proven truth however unpalatable?



RadiantAspie
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 Oct 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 373
Location: Surfing the Net

06 Oct 2007, 4:54 pm

Yellowriting wrote:
The concept of God is well within the bounds of logic and reason, and so is the concept that God would not be bound by the laws of nature which He Himself brought into being.


Unless there is a definition of God that I am not aware of, I don't see how an omnipotent being can be within the bounds of logic, or any bounds for that matter. At least, I don't see a way that you can apply logic to Him. Also, there are paradoxes regarding omnipotence (e.g. the heavy stone scenario) that really can't be resolved.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sand wrote:
So far, people I trust have investigated the universe and it seems to respond to the laws they have discovered.If a God exists that can cause things to happen that are not comprehensible, that destroys all of known science and humanity is totally in the dark. That is not something I find desirable.


But science cannot be used to determine God's existence! In fact, it really cannot be used for anything other then the study of the physical universe. It has no say whatsoever about religious or theist claims.

Second, why does something has to be comprehensible to be correct. Science, for example, is anything but intuitive and at the higher levels not very comprehensible. Try studying quantum theory some time, that's something that involves concepts that are totally unrelated to everyday life.

And if I remember correctly, many great contributions to science came directly from religious scholars and monks (The Big Bang theory, for example, was first proposed by a Vatican bishop), so your claim about belief in God leads to "destroying science and humanity" is quite unfounded and just plain wrong. How ironic it is that many of the people you trust are the same people who *gasp* believe in God!


_________________
Philosophy: A good way to demonstrate our ability to make stuff up.

Religion: A good way to demonstrate our ability to believe things that just aren't so.


Sand
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Age: 100
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,484
Location: Finland

06 Oct 2007, 5:13 pm

Whatever the source of scientific theory, if a God that has unbounded powers exists and exerts those powers then all scientific laws become null and void as those Godly actions make the universe totally undecipherable. That is just obvious logic and basic good sense. If God does not exert those powers then He might as well not exist and He can be ignored.



Kilroy
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,549
Location: Beyond the Void

06 Oct 2007, 5:46 pm

I beleive in A God :P
Image
:)
(I am serious...I am a Wiccan and...well thats one of the Wiccan Gods)
:) why-because the whole concept of them speak to me-they aren't all high and mighty they are like friends from another world and that brings me a feeling of having faith-they don't claim to be all powerful and lord over me...
And don't say I will burn in a pit of fire if I don't praise they're name :roll: