by Nellie 31 Replies latest jw friends
I cannot wrap my mind around the idea that the earth and everything on it is a by-product of an accident.
Not being personal Nellie - but for me this statement falls somewhere between argument by laziness (you haven't checked out available resources) and appeal to complexity (because you can't understand it nobody else does either)
http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html#complexity
Since the only evidence ever established of an existence of a god /spirit was derived out of human ignorance.
Yes that includes the ancient god of the Israelites.
Since most faiths structure themselves off of ancient stories of old and some faiths even exploit and manipulate those stories
to propagate and sell literature ( no names mentioned )
Since mankind's knowledge of the world we live has expanded enormously over the centuries,
the gods have erroneously disappeared one by one.
There is plenty of evidence of human ignorance throughout history to explain the purpose and reason the gods were an
important part of those ancient cultures.
There is an on going evolution of human knowledge that will continue on even beyond are life time, gods were
just a starting point of that very knowledge.
I'm not sure what happened to my first response, but it's not here - hmm. Anyway, since then there have been more responses, so here goes:
BTS said:
"I am neither atheist nor agnostic"
Well duh. Usually agnostics and atheists do not quote St Thomas Aquinas and imply it is their own.
The road that stretches before the feet of a man is a challenge to his heart long before it tests the strength of his legs. Our destiny is to run to the edge of the world and beyond, off into the darkness: sure for all our blindness, secure for all our helplessness, strong for all our weakness, gaily in love for all the pressure on our hearts.
— St. Thomas Aquinas, opening paragraph of My Way of Life
Rent a Movie called "What the "Bleep" do we know?" (2004)
Director(s): William Arntz, Mark Vicente, Betsy Chasse
It is more a documentary than a movie, it revolves around quantum physics. But it is very interesting and there is a segment that offers a very unique perspective on what "God" is. I think you would enjoy it.
CandleS
But how do you discount a creator?
How do you discount Zeus, Allah, the flying spagheti mosnter, the loch ness monster, Santa Claus, or the easter bunny?
Besty - I accept wholeheartedly that I haven't researched the subject; but I wasn't making an argument, I was stating a belief. Funny thing about beliefs, they aren't always subject to facts.
No problem with that - everyone has to start somewhere - reading up on the subject will help you at least get a sense of what you don't know. At the moment it sounds like you are in the same boat I was a few years back - I just didn't know what I didn't know. I had lazily accepted the Creation book as the end of the matter. Maybe start with The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond.
Sidepoint - beliefs are NEVER subject to facts. Facts are that which is indisputably true. If a belief was dependent on fact it wouldn't be a belief, it would be ...erm....fact. On the other hand you can believe what you want with or without basis. Believing Jerusalem was destroyed in 607BCE is fine by me, just don't confuse that with the fact that it was actually destroyed in 586/7. Get it?
Given my lifetime of beliefs concerning the origins of man and the universe, I have decided to give beliefs a rest for a while and stick with the facts. <or such as are comprehensible to the layperson>
George Carlin said (or there abouts as it's been a while since I saw this show) if I had to choose a religion, I would be a sun worshipper.
I know when it's gonna come up in the morning, I feel it's warmth. I see it give life and I know when it goes down at night that it will come up again in the morning. Now that's proof of its existance!
It all boils down to how I feel about the earth and all of the inhabitants thereon. I cannot wrap my mind around the idea that the earth and everything on it is a by-product of an accident. There's just too much "vastness" - the universe is too big
I see it another way. Perhaps the chance of intelligent live devloping is astronomically small, but the universe is astronomically big.
