Most religions believe God exists; so, where did God come from? Did He come from nothingness?
Most religions believe God exists; so, where did God come from? Did He come from nothingness?
Greetings H2H,
As humans we want to know the answer to every question, but when it comes to God there are just some things we cannot know. He gives us proof of His existance by His creation, it is obvious everything has a purpose.
It is scientifically impossible for nothing to create everything. If nothing created everything, then the "nothing" isn’t nothing. It is something, because it had the amazing ability to create everything. Only an unscientific ignoramus would hold to the thought that nothing created everything. We have the dilemma of having everything, so we therefore have to come to the conclusion that something made it. Whatever it was, it had to be non-material (unseen), eternal (without beginning or end), and it had to be omnipotent (have the amazing ability to create everything from nothing). If the professing atheist concedes to such basic logic (which he must or he reveals that he is unscientific and unintelligent), then he’s not an atheist. He is in truth an agnostic ("One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism."). He is someone who believes that there was a creative force that brought everything into existence, but for some reason he denies that it was God. I think athiests are really hoping there is no God more than really believing that God does not exist. When we wish to realte to God we must realize that there are things about Him we will never understand so some things must be taken on faith. He tells us in the Scriptures that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen". It is not wrong to have questions about God's existance but our inability to understand all His ways sometimes causes us to stumble.
"Whatever it was, it had to be non-material (unseen), eternal (without beginning or end), and it had to be omnipotent (have the amazing ability to create everything from nothing). If the professing atheist concedes to such basic logic (which he must or he reveals that he is unscientific and unintelligent), then he’s not an atheist. He is in truth an agnostic"
I have to disagree with you there. Wherever it is we came from it doesn't "have" to be anything. For all intents and purposes, I am an atheist, and I the fact I don't agree with you does not me I am unscientific or unintelligent. You making that claim is what show those two traits. There is nothing logical about what you said. It is nothing more than speculation. For all we know, we spontaneously appeared out of nowhere. The word created implies that there was intent. The fact of the matter is there is no evidence that supports that theory. Agnostics, well they are nothing but a bunc of pansy fence sitters who are too scared, or dumb, to make a decision either way. Pathetic.
Greetings IR, good to hear from you."Whatever it was, it had to be non-material (unseen), eternal (without beginning or end), and it had to be omnipotent (have the amazing ability to create everything from nothing). If the professing atheist concedes to such basic logic (which he must or he reveals that he is unscientific and unintelligent), then he’s not an atheist. He is in truth an agnostic"
I have to disagree with you there. Wherever it is we came from it doesn't "have" to be anything. For all intents and purposes, I am an atheist, and I the fact I don't agree with you does not me I am unscientific or unintelligent. You making that claim is what show those two traits. There is nothing logical about what you said. It is nothing more than speculation. For all we know, we spontaneously appeared out of nowhere. The word created implies that there was intent. The fact of the matter is there is no evidence that supports that theory. Agnostics, well they are nothing but a bunc of pansy fence sitters who are too scared, or dumb, to make a decision either way. Pathetic.
Of course there was intent and all you need to do is look around and you will see evidence, do you see anything that does not have a purpose? When you look at a building your intelligence tells you that there must have been a builder, the building did not spontaneously appear out of nowhere. There is more evidence to support creation, in the world around us than there is to support spontaneous appearing. Of course you do not have to agree with me but that does not make my statement illogical. Is it logical to think that everything came from nothing, that requires much more faith than belief in a Creator.
This is a great question.
Neither the religion or the science are able to answer this question with a full cer***ude. For now, believers and scientists, they are agreeing that there was a beginning (big bang theory).
It is difficult to understand that all causalities did not have an original cause. Believers and scientists are searching for this original cause. For the believers the research is intuitive and for the scientists the research is rational.
Trinity
Last edited by Trinity; 01-19-2009 at 12:27 PM.
I have been running into some humanist/atheist hypocrisy lately. In my arguments with them, some of the physcists will say theists are "special pleading" when they claim God has always existed. They will also call "special pleading" when the theist claims God exists outside of the universe, and the universe was created by God from the outside.This is a great question.
Neither the religion or the science are able to answer this question with a full cer***ude. For now, believers and scientists, they are agreeing that there was a beginning (big bang theory).
It is difficult to understand that all causalities did not have an original cause. Believers and scientists are searching for this original cause. For the believers the research is intuitive and for the scientists the research is rational.
Yet these same people will claim the universe (in one form or another) has always existed; the Big Bang just being a transformation. They will also sometimes claim that forces beyond our known universe may have had influence or causation for our universe. Isn't this the same "special pleading" they accuse theists of making? That God exists outside the universe and had causation for our universe?
Trinity,This is a great question.
Neither the religion or the science are able to answer this question with a full cer***ude. For now, believers and scientists, they are agreeing that there was a beginning (big bang theory).
It is difficult to understand that all causalities did not have an original cause. Believers and scientists are searching for this original cause. For the believers the research is intuitive and for the scientists the research is rational.
Trinity
To which cause do you refer? The cause of the big bang or the cause of the m*** that exploded giving us the big bang?
If the latter is the case, do we not have in effect two casues as a body at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an equal or greater force?
Blessings,
MacG
Last edited by MacG; 02-04-2009 at 03:34 PM. Reason: psell chekcer
The cause of the big bang. The cause of all causes.Trinity,
To which cause do you refer? The cause of the big bang or the cause of the m*** that exploded giving us the big bang?
If the latter is the case, do we not have in effect two casues as a body at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an equal or greater force?
Blessings,
MacG
Trinity
Yes. The theory was originated by a French Catholic priest. A man of God.
Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître
"The Big Bang is the cosmological model of the universe that is best supported by all lines of scientific evidence and observation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
Trinity
Why would I want to believe a priest who is fallible to what the Bible says which is infallible? I have often wondered where God came from. But, I don't think God came from the Big Bang theory. I will have to believe God always existed since the beginning of time.Yes. The theory was originated by a French Catholic priest. A man of God.
The Big Bang is the cosmological model of the universe that is best supported by all lines of scientific evidence and observation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
Trinity
I never thought or said that God has come from the Big Bang.
For me he was the initiator of this Big Bang.
The Bible states that the Univers had a beginning. The scientifical priest is saying the same thing, though he proved it with the maths.
Trinity
In the book of Genesis, God displays the stages of His creation per day. If the Big Bang occurred, it would happen in an instant combustion not in progression.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The first chapter of Genesis mention that God created the Universe ex nihilo, or "out of nothing". Creatio ex nihilo, meaning "creation out of nothing".
2 Maccabees 7:28
Son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them: and consider that God made them out of nothing.
The Hebraic verb "bara" used in the text has this meaning of creating without raw material. The three verbs, Bara (to create), Ya*** (to do) and Tsar (to structure), must be compared in the six days story.
Trinity
God is eternal.
Or in other words, the kind of being God is has always been.
There was never a first God, and there never will be a last.
Contrary to the opinion of some people in this world, life doesn't begin at conception, because life doesn't begin. Life goes on as each "kind" of being reproduces itself in the manner in which that kind of being reproduces.
It is only because of the "fall" of Adam and Eve that we are now mortal.
The whole purpose of the atonement of Jesus Christ is to restore us to the condition Adam and Eve once enjoyed in the garden of Eden while we retain our knowledge of good and evil and our ability/desire to produce children and the ability to eat food and our dominion over a planet just as Adam and Eve had dominion over this planet before they "fell" and couldn't get up by themselves.
We will all live forever, in some way or another, and the big question now is "How will we live once we die our mortal death" ?
If by "He" you are referring to our Father in heaven, he came from those who reproduced him from their own eternal essence, with there never being a "first" God who created the "first" one, because there is no "first" one among all of those who are God.Did He come from nothingness?
Hi H2H,
This forum looks like it needs a little livening up. This is my first post so, instead of starting a new thread right off the bat, I decided to resurrect () one or more of the old ones. Yours is the first. Hope you don't mind. ***uming you're talking about the Christian God, I'm afraid I have to disagree. According to this, Christians represent only about 33% of the world's religious population and that's only if you include Catholics. Some Christians I've spoken to have said that Catholics aren't really Christians (this doesn't make sense to me, btw). If Catholics are removed, that means Christians are reduced to about 17% of the world's religious population.
Being an atheist (ex-Christian), obviously, my answer is that it's very unlikely any god exists. Personally, I think gods were invented by supers***ious humans, in ancient times, as a way to explain the things they didn't understand and everything snowballed from there.
Barbara
Hello disciple,
I agree that humans have a natural desire to know as much as possible about ourselves and our surroundings. What I don't understand is why so many 21st century people still feel a need to attribute anything at all to a superbeing. I see no proof of "His" existence anywhere. Nor is it obvious that everything has a given purpose.
In all honesty, have you ever heard anyone actually claim that "nothing created everything"? I've heard many Christians claim that that's what atheists believe. However, to my knowledge, no atheist has ever said such a thing.It is scientifically impossible for nothing to create everything. If nothing created everything, then the "nothing" isn’t nothing. It is something, because it had the amazing ability to create everything. Only an unscientific ignoramus would hold to the thought that nothing created everything.
Why do we "have to" come to that conclusion? Why does the universe "have to" have been made by an intelligent, purpose-driven deity? Isn't it more likely that whatever brought about the universe was a natural and unguided occurrence? The truth is, no one knows yet, with certainty, how this universe came into existence. Science is getting very close to finding the answer but, as of yet, we just don't know.We have the dilemma of having everything, so we therefore have to come to the conclusion that something made it. Whatever it was, it had to be non-material (unseen), eternal (without beginning or end), and it had to be omnipotent (have the amazing ability to create everything from nothing).
I think you're confused about these definitions. Let me see if I can simplify it for you.If the professing atheist concedes to such basic logic (which he must or he reveals that he is unscientific and unintelligent), then he’s not an atheist. He is in truth an agnostic ("One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism."). He is someone who believes that there was a creative force that brought everything into existence, but for some reason he denies that it was God.
theist: believes a god or gods exist.For theists and atheists, it's a question of belief (i.e.; convinced or not convinced).
agnostic: believes that it's impossible to know if a god or gods exist.
atheist: does not believe any god or gods exist.
For the agnostic, it's a question of knowledge.
Well, you're mistaken, but I am curious to know why you think this.
Isn't it all about faith? I mean, what do you really understand about God other than what fallible human beings wrote about him in stories?
In my opinion, the only thing you can get from scripture is the thoughts of long-dead men who lived in a time and place when magic and mysticism were commonly used to explain the things they didn't understand.
Barbara
Yes, buildings require a builder. People build buildings with a specific purpose in mind. There's no dispute over the existence of people. The thing is, you see the Earth as a place that was "designed" for the purpose of supporting life. The truth is, you have it backwards. Our environment doesn't adapt and conform to our needs. It is we who adapt and conform to our environment.Greetings IR, good to hear from you.
Of course there was intent and all you need to do is look around and you will see evidence, do you see anything that does not have a purpose? When you look at a building your intelligence tells you that there must have been a builder, the building did not spontaneously appear out of nowhere.
Actually, there's zero evidence to support creation.
Spontaneous appearing? Really? Who says that? I can't help laughing a little when I hear a theist talk this way considering what so many of them believe about how the universe came to be. They have no problem recognizing how ridiculous such a thing sounds if it comes from a nontheist. But, they're profoundly deaf to how ridiculous it sounds when Christians say, "The Earth, sun, moon, etc. were spoken into existence".
Not knowing exactly how the universe began, if it needed a beginning at all, does not mean anyone believes everything came from nothing. In light of all we do know about the universe, to postulate a magical deity as an explanation for anything seems just plain silly to me.
Barbara
Last edited by God-free; 09-06-2009 at 01:17 AM.
Thank dogness you are here! Now we can give this subject the attention it deserves. Welcome!
When you exempt God from needing an explanation simply because he's God, that's special pleading. The theories that science puts forth about the universe are backed by observation and other evidence that is available to everyone. Not so with God.I have been running into some humanist/atheist hypocrisy lately. In my arguments with them, some of the physcists will say theists are "special pleading" when they claim God has always existed. They will also call "special pleading" when the theist claims God exists outside of the universe, and the universe was created by God from the outside.
Yet these same people will claim the universe (in one form or another) has always existed; the Big Bang just being a transformation. They will also sometimes claim that forces beyond our known universe may have had influence or causation for our universe. Isn't this the same "special pleading" they accuse theists of making? That God exists outside the universe and had causation for our universe?
Barbara
Evidence?
Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston 1943
"Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?"
Barbara
(bolding mine)
The Bible isn't infallible. Have you read it?
Barbara
You are right. In my sentence, 'believer', has a more restricted sense. I was referring to the Christendom. And, yes we do not need to be a christian for believing into a deity or deities. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Trinity