Charles Darwin was not an Atheist

by LAWHFol 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • LAWHFol
    LAWHFol

    Personally I have the same viewpoint of Darwin, when he said : " The safest conclusion seems to me to be that the whole subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect"

    I'm not trying to convince anyone about the existence or non existence of God.. Rather, I encourage everyone to keep seeking. Keep searching for the Truth that makes the most sense to them.

    Darwin is the Grand Father of evolution, and his findings and life work, did not make of him an Atheist.

    A few quotes below taken from - From - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Charles_Darwin

    "With respect to the theological view of the question; this is always painful to me.— I am bewildered.– I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see, as plainly as others do, & as I [should] wish to do, evidence of design & beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent & omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidæ with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. Not believing this, I see no necessity in the belief that the eye was expressly designed. On the other hand I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe & especially the nature of man, & to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton.— Let each man hope & believe what he can."

    From Origin of Species :

    "Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist."

    One more quote :

    "I may say that the impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God; but whether this is an argument of real value, I have never been able to decide. I am aware that if we admit a first cause, the mind still craves to know whence it came from and how it arose. Nor can I overlook the difficulty from the immense amount of suffering through the world. I am, also, induced to defer to a certain extent to the judgment of many able men who have fully believed in God; but here again I see how poor an argument this is. The safest conclusion seems to me to be that the whole subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect; but man can do his duty."


  • cofty
    cofty

    Evolution makes god redundant it does not make her impossible.

    My personal reasons for rejecting god are theological not scientific.

    If 99.9999% of people who have ever lived believed in god it would not make a jot of difference. Don't confuse popularity with veracity.

    Don't forget that Darwin did not have the advantage of the last 150 years of learning. Cosmic origins and abiogenesis are no longer good arguments for god.

  • Clambake
    Clambake

    Is there any way we could just start a new forum that couldn’t be accessed without a second membership to just deal with Evolution, Darwin, Dawkins etc etc.

  • LAWHFol
    LAWHFol

    Interesting Cofty, thanks for the response.

    I'll take your comment a step further and say, if 99.9999% of people who have ever lived, did not believe in God. It would make a lot of Difference, for the better. (Wars,Stupid Laws,Prejudice,Cults)

    Belief in God in a personal way, and belief in God in a religious way, make a big difference.

  • LAWHFol
    LAWHFol

    That's not a bad idea clambake. Kind of like the StackExchange sites layout.

  • Landy
    Landy
    You have to take his comments in the context of both the time he was active and the deep religious beliefs of his family. The reason that's often stated for him sitting on his work for so long without publishing it was that he didn't want to offend his family and his peers.
  • LAWHFol
    LAWHFol

    That makes sense as well Landy. Similar to what many JW's do.. Continue to keep the peace for the sake of family.

    What I like about the above quotes, is that he didn't really take a Dogmatic stance either way.

  • freemindfade
    freemindfade
    I'm not trying to convince anyone about the existence or non existence of God.. Rather, I encourage everyone to keep seeking. Keep searching for the Truth that makes the most sense to them.

    That's what its all about. The ability to say "I don't know" and keep searching. That's what leads us to understanding, and away from superstition.

  • LAWHFol
    LAWHFol

    Thank You freemind.

    This lesson has been a humbling one for me to learn.

    When I first came out of JWorg I was concerned with Deciding on the Truth, and finding the Truth. However now I turn the search internally, and do all that I can to strip away Un-Truth. I hope to do this, until I have No Beliefs left.

  • Landy
    Landy

    That's what its all about. The ability to say "I don't know" and keep searching. That's what leads us to understanding, and away from superstition.

    Exactly, but a lot of people use it as a means to introduce the god of the gaps

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