Ok, the whole God thing
Ok, well I promised you some controversy. Sorry, it's late in coming. I'm going to do some posts here and there about theological aspects from a secular standpoint. Why? Because it's pretty darn well difficult to completely nullify either theory: big bang, evolution, etc. and the world in 7 days as proposed (and I'm admitting bias here) us Christians. Yup, I said it. I'm going to come at it from the stand point of 'Hmph, I didn't think of that.' Things DO evolve, but 'Someone made the universe' seems easier to believe than 'It just happened for no particular reason from nothing'. Structure and relative order imply design. Stuff happening for no reason on the other hand also refutes the scientific principle of cause and effect.
I'm LEANING toward the pro-God side, as I must, because that happens to be my faith, but again, I hope to present the material in an 'Oh, I hadn't thought of that.' way. Apologies for misuse of Douglas Adams' babelfish material. (Read the bit at the bottom, funny stuff.)
Let's just jump right in and tackle the biggie:
"If there is a God, give me a SIGN!"
For one thing, it isn't very likely. The Bible timeline varies, but for argument's sake, let's say it covers 2000 years. I know it's a short time, but if we want to argue that you're not going to get a sign of biblical proportions we'll use it. (Which is what you want isn't it? Not something ordinary like a self reproducing consciousness based on chemical reactions.)
How many miracles were in the Bible? Let's say it's 100. I know, it's high, but let's go with it.
So, roughly one miracle every 20 years. And since a lot of them were done by Jesus (resurrection, water to wine, healing of people well known to have a long term or serious affliction, like, they were dead) then that leaves less in the remaining 1966 or so years.
Oh, and consider all the people in existence during that time. Very few people saw or experienced one relatively speaking. Hitting the powerball is more likely, and do you actually know anyone who has won a large prize of any sort? I don't.
So, you're not going to see one or know anyone who has (even if they'll admit to it in this day and age.)
If you're waiting for God to give you a sign to believe in him, I'd say the odds are against it if you're looking for the burning bush type thing.
If you don't believe in miracles, then you're just a happy accident of chemistry. (Or unhappy, as the reaction eventually is going to decrease along the increase in entropy: THE END.) The accident that happened a LONG time after the formation of the universe. Apparently at great odds since it took so long. There's not a whole lot of middle ground here.
Still looking for that sign?
Discuss.
I'm LEANING toward the pro-God side, as I must, because that happens to be my faith, but again, I hope to present the material in an 'Oh, I hadn't thought of that.' way. Apologies for misuse of Douglas Adams' babelfish material. (Read the bit at the bottom, funny stuff.)
Let's just jump right in and tackle the biggie:
"If there is a God, give me a SIGN!"
For one thing, it isn't very likely. The Bible timeline varies, but for argument's sake, let's say it covers 2000 years. I know it's a short time, but if we want to argue that you're not going to get a sign of biblical proportions we'll use it. (Which is what you want isn't it? Not something ordinary like a self reproducing consciousness based on chemical reactions.)
How many miracles were in the Bible? Let's say it's 100. I know, it's high, but let's go with it.
So, roughly one miracle every 20 years. And since a lot of them were done by Jesus (resurrection, water to wine, healing of people well known to have a long term or serious affliction, like, they were dead) then that leaves less in the remaining 1966 or so years.
Oh, and consider all the people in existence during that time. Very few people saw or experienced one relatively speaking. Hitting the powerball is more likely, and do you actually know anyone who has won a large prize of any sort? I don't.
So, you're not going to see one or know anyone who has (even if they'll admit to it in this day and age.)
If you're waiting for God to give you a sign to believe in him, I'd say the odds are against it if you're looking for the burning bush type thing.
If you don't believe in miracles, then you're just a happy accident of chemistry. (Or unhappy, as the reaction eventually is going to decrease along the increase in entropy: THE END.) The accident that happened a LONG time after the formation of the universe. Apparently at great odds since it took so long. There's not a whole lot of middle ground here.
Still looking for that sign?
Discuss.
Comments
The questions I'd ask the pro-pure evolution side is:
What makes man the higher life form? Define 'better'. Monkeys don't start large scale wars, pollute the environment, set off thermonuclear devices in the earth's atmosphere, etc. etc. They live in harmony with nature. They get eaten by tigers a lot more, but that's probably the price you pay. We've self-defined ourselves as 'higher evolved'. Why do we have any special standing on the biological stage? Knowledge of right and wrong (to a degree)? Dominion over the earth (to a degree)?
Those sound like near biblical quotes and ideals to me.