Reply to Why don't you believe in God?

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Why don't you believe in God?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]We consider the universe.  The universe is everything.  If you imagine that there is something called a "god" which created the universe, but somehow isn't otherwise part of everything, and not subject to the normal rules that govern everything (including, apparently, the need to be created), then how is it possible for such a thing to be comparable to everything?  Why or how could such a comparison to be made?

The point I am trying to bring out is the assumptions that you have to make in order to say "god created the universe".  We humans tend to evaluate things in terms of intent.  There are people every day who honestly believe that their computer is deliberately trying to make their life miserable, for example.  Of course, we know that such intent is impossible, but the mental habit persists widely among humans.  They persist because they provide a useful shortcut in making survival decisions.  If you hear a deep, foreboding growl in the woods, it is useful to immediately conclude that something wants to eat you.  The bigger the event, object, etc. being evaluated, the bigger and more powerful the intender must necessarily be.  A pile of rocks does not inspire the same level of awe that the pyramids do, because we have some idea of the scale of intent behind the pyramids.

Those same humans might then look at the universe, and see intent the same way we see intent in the behavior of a computer.  And, of course, that intent must necessarily be REALLY big, because wow, the universe sure is big.

Isn't that a terribly convenient leap?  Doesn't it strike you that it might be just as misguided as the thought that your computer is out to get you, or that your red pair of shoes is lucky, etc?

We haven't even gotten into what god might be if he or it did create the universe.  Is he like the Force?  Did he start the universe and walk away?  Is he Thor, Mithras, Brahma, Allah, etc.?  How can so many details of what people imagine might be behind everything differ so much if there really was something behind everything?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics