Life Created from Scratch

by bboyneko 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  ThiChi

  funkyderek:

  Good observations/ questions: and of course, beyond my ability to answer. Thats why I keep an open mind with the hope that this existence will have some form of moral worth. However, it is my current viewpoint that no one person has the answer to our existence "all wrapped up in a nice little box."

  You did, however, leave out one explanation: God in relation to infinity and the Implications thereof, which can really be a part two to your first question.

  Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 14:10:7

  Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 14:11:56

  Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 14:13:11

  Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 14:13:46
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  funkyderek

  You did, however, leave out one explanation: God in relation to infinity and the Implications thereof, which can really be a part two to your first question.

  I'm not really sure what you mean by this. Care to expand?
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  ThiChi

  Well, The "God has always existed" reply is very problematic, at least in our reality of experience. However, you can use this "test" of existence with any object of any substance, not just "God." At what point in time has anything ever existed forever? Take God out of it and the same question remains, "How did it all ultimately come into existence?" An explanation of existence is reasonable, not just for a God.

  Modern Physics have pointed to a space time relationship that can produce many interesting possibilities, affecting our linear concepts of what "always existed" means in relationship to our frame of reference. This thought has fascinated me and the possibilities are endless for our explanations of existence (or a God!).

  Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 15:5:55
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  funkyderek

  Take God out of it and the same question remains, "How did it all ultimately come into existence?" An explanation of existence is reasonable, not just for a God.

  Exactly! That was my point. The "it's always been there" argument works equally well for the universe as it does for a god. Applying Occam's razor, it's pointless to postulate an extra entity, especially one which is more complicated, when none is needed.
  
  If there's no need for a god, why complicate things unnecessarily by inventing one?

  Edited by - funkyderek on 12 July 2002 15:8:59
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  ThiChi

  The idea does not exclude a God, but, may include one. In fact, there is more room for a God than you think.

  Let me refer to a very interesting letter, recorded by Helen Dukas, which Einstein wrote to a child who asked him whether scientists prayed.

  "I have tried to respond to your question as simply as I could. Here is my answer. Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the actions of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a supernatural Being. However, it must be admitted that our actual knowledge of these laws is only imperfect and fragmentary, so that, actually the belief in the existence of basic all-embracing laws in nature also rests on a sort of faith. All the same this faith has been largely justified so far by the success of scientific research. But, on the other hand, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive."

  Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 18:20:37

  Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 18:21:16

  Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 18:26:11
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  bboyneko

  <P>Einstein was not religious:</P> <P>
  Einstein Autobiographical Notes (1949, pp. 3-5): "Thus I came--despite the fact I was the son of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents--to a deep religiosity, which, however, found an abrupt ending at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived...Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude...hich has never left me..." 
  </P> <P>Not to mention in the Summer of 1945, just before the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Einstein wrote a short letter stating his position as an atheist.</P> <P>
   "I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.... I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our being." ;
   ;</P> <P>Einsitein's quotes about god, like God does not play dice, are mostly romantic and are not reffering to some sort of personal religious conviction of his.</P>
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  ThiChi

  From your own quote BBoy:

  "You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist "

  I stand by my quotes on the matter!
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  ThiChi

  PS: I let the quotes talk for themselves without any commentary on my part......
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  ThiChi

  I am not "religious." However, I do believe in a "spirit" that brings order to the universe. There can be room for a God.