Creationism

[Jumper_Dad]

Only if you have faith.

that has nothing to do with faith. It's just if the big bang started everything that doesn't rule God out.

 

Big bang isn't necessarily exclusive of God.

[theguru]

Not sure what you are looking for... if all you want is scientific Proof...it doesn't exist to 100% certainty... you disregard any response that includes God or intelligent design. Not sure what your looking for.

 

Are you agnostic or atheist or something else.

 

Agnostic

[theguru]

that has nothing to do with faith. It's just if the big bang started everything that doesn't rule God out.

 

Big bang isn't necessarily exclusive of God.

 

I don't totally disagree, but it still takes faith.

[Jumper_Dad]

I don't totally disagree, but it still takes faith.

a lot of things take faith. The kid that jumps off of the side if the pool to their dad had faith that their dad will catch them.

 

You had faith that if you needed help that backup was on the way.

 

As an agnostic I would think you would be open to both sides of the discussion as agnostics readily admit they aren't sure if God does or doesn't exist.

 

But I don't think anyone can make a post and convince you God exist, that is a personal decision that you will or will not come to on your own. That said I will be praying that you get the answer you need, my friend.

[nkypete]

Main point is that God exists out of time and does not need further explanation.

 

God is infinite or not limited.

1. God is omnipresent - God is not limited to a certain space.

2. God is eternal - God is not limited by time. He has always been here and He always will be here.

3. God is all knowing - Because God knows everything, we can trust that God knows what is good for us.

4. God is omnipotent - God is all powerful. God can do whatever God wants to do.

5. God does not change - God's nature and His purpose will always be the same.

 

Now I'm going to have some fun and contrast God and Guru using content from my previous post.

 

Guru is finite and limited.

1. Guru is not omnipresent - Guru is limited to a certain space (at his keyboard or smartphone, usually)!

2. Guru is not eternal - Guru is limited by time. Guru was born and he will die someday.

3. Guru is not all knowing - Guru does not know everything since he is asking questions about the origins of God, but he sure knows a lot about a lot of topics (for example, the NFL). We can trust that Guru knows what is good for BGP and all of us regarding our experience on here. But this is not true for everything (for example, how I choose to lead my family).

4. Guru is not omnipotent - Guru is pretty powerful. Guru could put me on suspension or kick me off this site if he wanted to do so. But his power and influence does not extend enough to solve all of the world's problems.

5. Guru does change - Guru nature and purpose has probably changed a lot over the years as his has gotten older and wiser.

 

So what is the point of this comparision and contrast? I'm not 100% sure about the contents of the "God" list or the "Guru" list. But I believe them to be true (mostly because a large group of diverse people with no vested interest in each other have come together to believe both)!!!! It so happens that the "God" believers have been growing over centuries and the "Guru" believers over years. Both lists are documented to be true (the "God" list by the Bible and the "Guru" list by the BGP threads and those who know him as family and friend). That's why faith has to be part of the discussion. Even with so much evidence and with so many people believing something to be true, how can we believe it ourselves? Each person has to go through this process about God for themselves (nobody can do it for them). It is sort of like the juror in a courtroom using "reasonable doubt" to find someone guilty or not guilty. To my understanding, an agnostic, by definition, does not want to go through this process (chooses to neither believe or disbelieve). An athiest, by definition, does go through the process and chooses not to believe in God. I am a Christian. I have gone through the process and I choose to believe in a God who created Heaven and Earth, who loves me enough to have sent His only Son to die on a Cross for me so that I can spend eternity with Him.

[Getslow]

You are wrong on your first point, I was asking a honest question.

 

I didn't mean for that to come off as an attack. It's just that this discussion always ends up that way. One person says, I need more than faith. Somebody says, well accepting evolution is a type of faith and then we're off to the races.

 

And if Creationism always boils down to "faith in scriptural revelations and religious tradition" then I have my answer.

 

I don't see how it couldn't. "Creation" requires a "creator". So in that sense, you're either accepting a premise that stems from a religion (whether it's the account in Genesis or Marduk ripping the corpse of Tiamat in two to create the Earth and the sky) or you're just plugging in "God" to every place science doesn't have an answer for, which is a process I don't have a lot of patience with.

[BigVMan23]

Matthew 17:20..."He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." This is Jesus speaking on the power of faith. Our faith is/will be rewarded. It ultimately boils down to this, regardless of how the debate/argument is framed, there is no getting around it.

[PP1]

This is strictly faith based and doesn't help me any.

 

Any other hypothesis to the origin of existence is equally with based in my opinion.

[CincySportsFan]

I am not trying to be demeaning but if that is anyone's test there is no sense in "that person" and I ever discussing anything.

 

Well, sorry. I just have a hard time rationalizing the fact that we are the result a gazillion-billion random possibilities all happening in just the right way, at just the right time, to form life as we know it today from just two atoms colliding. The example that was shared to me was meant to show the fact that if even if you know you have all the right parts, you still have to have some idea of how to put them together in order to get a "working" object.

 

So, do you believe that we are all here today just because the all the dominoes lined up and fell in just the right way?

[nkypete]

Well, sorry. I just have a hard time rationalizing the fact that we are the result a gazillion-billion random possibilities all happening in just the right way, at just the right time, to form life as we know it today from just two atoms colliding. The example that was shared to me was meant to show the fact that if even if you know you have all the right parts, you still have to have some idea of how to put them together in order to get a "working" object.

 

So, do you believe that we are all here today just because the all the dominoes lined up and fell in just the right way?

 

I'm the double nine; my dad was the double eight!

[Getslow]

So, do you believe that we are all here today just because the all the dominoes lined up and fell in just the right way?

 

I've never understood that premise. Even as a man of faith, it strikes me that threshold for believing that an invisible creator -- somewhere off in the realms of ethereal planes we cannot see or comprehend -- moving all, seeing all and influencing all by force of his will is quite a bit higher than coming to the conclusion that it just happened as a result of natural occurrences, especially given the huge amount of scientific knowledge we have about all the various mechanisms required for the origins of life and its evolution.

[kygirl]

Mostly a faith based response other than the Earth being just the right distance from the sun with just the right ingredients. However, scientifically speaking there are probably millions of "Earths" just in the Milky Way and many billions/trillions in the entire Universe. In other words, Earth really isn't all that unique when you look at the big picture.

 

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Earth where we live is unique. The Earth as a planet consists mostly of oxygen, iron, sulfur, silicon, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, hydrogen, and nickel (total: 98%), with the other two percent consisting of about a hundred other elements. Like no other planet, ours is covered with green vegetation, enormous blue-green oceans containing over a million islands, hundreds of thousands of streams and rivers, huge land masses called continents, mountains, ice caps, and deserts that produce a spectacular variety of color and texture. Except for occasional violent catastrophes, all other known planets are covered with lifeless soil or gas that varies only according to slight movements made by wind or mild air currents. Completely barren, the surface of most planets is totally in contrast to the Earth's lively colors--its bright greens, blues, and whites--whereas the surface of all other known rockey planets are rather dull gray and brown often covered with a thick atmosphere.

 

The Earth is the only known planet with huge bodies of water--70% of its surface area consists of oceans, lakes, and seas surrounding huge bodies of land. The few planets that have water contain only moisture floating as vapor on their surface or small amounts of ice or liquid water on the planet itself, not large bodies of liquid water as on Earth.

 

If there are are any other Earth's in the universe, it is unlikely that any of them could have life due to the extremely rigid conditions required for life to exist.

 

Yes, I agree that a lot of my answer was Faith based. I choose to believe that our brain was created by God, that prompts me to use my brain to understand His purpose for His creation(me). This was, after all, the conclusion of no less than Isaac Newton, a creationist, and, arguably, the greatest of all scientists, who declared that we had been created "to think God's thoughts after Him."

[PurplePride92]

If it isn't humanly possible to get to the end of our universe then there could be a universe similar to this one couldn't it?

 

If the sun is a star then isn't possible that all stars have an earth-like planet with life orbiting it?

 

 

 

I'm intrigued by this discussion and I have always been afraid to have it because when you are a person of faith these questions can be considered to be questioning God which is a no-no in most religions.

[BigVMan23]

If it isn't humanly possible to get to the end of our universe then there could be a universe similar to this one couldn't it?

 

If the sun is a star then isn't possible that all stars have an earth-like planet with life orbiting it?

 

 

 

I'm intrigued by this discussion and I have always been afraid to have it because when you are a person of faith these questions can be considered to be questioning God which is a no-no in most religions.

 

So you are asking...is there life on other planets? As a man of faith, I say...why would there not be? Surprised by that answer?

 

I, like you, am sometimes afraid to get into that kind of discussion with people, especially with some at church who just unequivocally belief there is no other life beside us. Why is that I ask? if one believes this, are they saying it's impossible for God to have put life on another planet? And if so, isn't one then putting God into a box and defining his power?

 

Why should we be so earthly ethnocentric as to think God wouldn't want life somewhere other than just earth? And just because the bible has nothing to say on the matter doesn't make it a false premise. The bible was written to speak to us, not to life on KXR 9.

 

I say there is other life out there. And I also say I believe that it's...how do I put this...kind of silly to think that there isn't. My opinion, and I'm sure some will completely disagree.

[doubledeuce]

Why do other planets need water or oxygen for there to be life?