Why do/don't you believe in a higher power? (Any HP)

[Page]

No we have not found it because we have not explored far enough. News flash were not special and neither is our planet. It is likely that other life exist somewhere in the universe. And we have found planets were life could be possible.

What other planets other than earth are perfect for life? They can't possibly appear randomly, since it's so specific.

No planets are perfect for life. The Earth is habitable, but not perfect. We don't know how many other planets out there could support life, the universe is a big place and our ability to assess extrasolar planets is extremely similar. But the Earth is quite hostile toward life. There have been several extinction events, there are supervolcanoes that could render half of all species extinct if they erupted, the Earth is vulnerable to asteroid strikes, there are blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, and just one gamma ray burst in our solar neighborhood could literally wipe out every life form.

[Andsed]

How about 24 strongly worded books?

Most people can't be bothered to read a trilogy...

Just come down one afternoon, hand an article off to the Times of London. Send an angel if you can't be bothered. This isn't that hard.

Or hell just smite hitler and all of his friends along with anyone who tries to replace him. I think people would pick up on it.

[Menassa]

But our interactions with Biblical exegesis have given me all the evidence I need. My intent wasn't to 'put you down' but rather to get you to reexamine your methods which I think is for your benefit.

Because I forgot about one specific quote? I doubt it. And my methods are just fine tbh; it is only you, a person whose opinion runs counter to mine, who has any problem. So I'll take what you think is for my "benefit" with a hefty pinch of salt. Sorry.

Just because we haven't interacted in the from of quote to quote doesn't mean I cannot read your interactions with others. I don't have a problem with your methods, I'm sure they are great, but if you're trying to grow or ascertain truth they'll hardly suit you. I thought I'd let you know rather than leave you in the dark.

And it still doesn't give an argument against what I said. Cool.

[/quote]
Your point is that omniscience is a way to avoid criticism. That is certainly a feature, from people like us, who aren't omniscience. But you mustn't mistake a feature for the purpose.

[Galloism]

What other planets other than earth are perfect for life? They can't possibly appear randomly, since it's so specific.

No planets are perfect for life. The Earth is habitable, but not perfect. We don't know how many other planets out there could support life, the universe is a big place and our ability to assess extrasolar planets is extremely similar. But the Earth is quite hostile toward life. There have been several extinction events, there are supervolcanoes that could render half of all species extinct if they erupted, the Earth is vulnerable to asteroid strikes, there are blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, and just one gamma ray burst in our solar neighborhood could literally wipe out every life form.

It's worth note on the asteroid angle that Jupiter is our shield, and has been doing a damn good job.

[The New California Republic]

How about 24 strongly worded books?

Most people can't be bothered to read a trilogy...

Just come down one afternoon, hand an article off to the Times of London. Send an angel if you can't be bothered. This isn't that hard.

It'd probably be one of the only reasons that I'd ever read The Times, if there was a bona fide letter from a deity in it.

[Zandovia]

Most people can't be bothered to read a trilogy...

Just come down one afternoon, hand an article off to the Times of London. Send an angel if you can't be bothered. This isn't that hard.

Or hell just smite hitler and all of his friends along with anyone who tries to replace him. I think people would pick up on it.

In my belief, god has a plan.

Don’t go ‘his plan is sh*t’ because I know there’s stuff that’s hard to believe but that’s not stopping me.

[Dogmeat]

Really? Millions of people had to die because "the spice must flow?"

Anyway, they didn't. That already existed. It had fallen into relative disuse because of the dangers involved, but the Mongols liked trade because they could tax it, so they made sure it was secure. This had the effect of reducing Indian Ocean trade, strangling several trade kingdoms in Southeast Asia and India. Leading to their collapse.

As I said, I don't know. You forgot that part

I didn't forget. You seem to "know" a lot when it's convenient for you. But anytime anything inconvenient gets brought up suddenly everything is a mystery.

[Page]

Or hell just smite hitler and all of his friends along with anyone who tries to replace him. I think people would pick up on it.

In my belief, god has a plan.

Don’t go ‘his plan is sh*t’ because I know there’s stuff that’s hard to believe but that’s not stopping me.

Why does the plan involve so much suffering and horror when there need not be any at all?

[Metamen]

In my belief, god has a plan.

Don’t go ‘his plan is sh*t’ because I know there’s stuff that’s hard to believe but that’s not stopping me.

[/quote]
I'm not going to say his plan is sh*t. But I am going to say his plan includes a massive body count of innocent and guilty alike.

[Celritannia]

snip

1: Well no, but the first common ancestors of apes and humans started using sticks, stones and tools, showing deceptiveness to the surroundings and thus beginning the ability to evolve to Humans today.
It is a misconception to say Humans come from Apes, they both come from the same ancestor.

2: Are you an engineer, a biologist, a anthropologist, an archaeologist, or some other form of scientist?

3: Because we can see the work first hand with updates from all the scientists working on the subject.

4: YAWEH is still the original name of what people call God:

YahwehDictionary result for Yahweh
/ˈjɑːweɪ/Submit
noun
a form of the Hebrew name of God used in the Bible. The name came to be regarded by Jews ( c. 300 BC) as too sacred to be spoken, and the vowel sounds are uncertain.

No I do not believe it it, but perhaps you should look into Abiogenesis instead:

Abiogenesis, or informally the origin of life,[3][4][5][note 1] is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds.

5: Adapting to the environment is evolution.

[Australian rePublic]

Yes, we know. If not Hitler, someone else would have taken over

The Nazis had "God is with us" written on their belt buckles. All it would have taken God to sort this out is one strongly worded letter.

Firstly, Hitler was an atheist. Secondly, one strongly worded letter? The entire NT was about love and loving eachother. If Christians ignored the majority of the NT, why would they listen to a stupid, bloody letter?

[Page]

Don't know if any of you posting in this thread played Red Dead Redemption 2, but all this talk about God having a plan reminds me of Dutch.

https://i.redd.it/77aj9nf9twx11.jpg

[Zandovia]

Put a rock in a bag of water and pass it down for 50 generations and see if something happens.


evolution

[Australian rePublic]

Not if god after dealing with them came down told people to not be like that. I think god himself could convince pepole to not be nazis.


Yeah because they thought was Jesus telling lies or crazy. If god had come down himself I think a lot more people would have listened.

Jesus was God coming down himself. The people who thought he was lying would say that about God now if he came down again, because he's the same person.

This

[The New California Republic]

And it still doesn't give an argument against what I said. Cool.

Your point is that omniscience is a way to avoid criticism. That is certainly a feature, from people like us, who aren't omniscience. But you mustn't mistake a feature for the purpose.

Supposed omniscience is a way for people of faith to avoid addressing criticism of their God. "God knows more than you because he is omniscient, so even stuff that God does that appears shitty isn't actually shitty at all, because reasons that we don't understand". A big difference there. It's used as a blank cheque by those of faith to dismiss criticism.

[Andsed]

Put a rock in a bag of water and pass it down for 50 generations and see if something happens.


evolution

Yeah I don't think you understand anything about evolution.

[Celritannia]

snip

1: Well no, but the first common ancestors of apes and humans started using sticks, stones and tools, showing deceptiveness to the surroundings and thus beginning the ability to evolve to Humans today.
It is a misconception to say Humans come from Apes, they both come from the same ancestor.

2: Are you an engineer, a biologist, a anthropologist, an archaeologist, or some other form of scientist?

3: Because we can see the work first hand with updates from all the scientists working on the subject.

4: YAWEH is still the original name of what people call God:

YahwehDictionary result for Yahweh
/ˈjɑːweɪ/Submit
noun
a form of the Hebrew name of God used in the Bible. The name came to be regarded by Jews ( c. 300 BC) as too sacred to be spoken, and the vowel sounds are uncertain.

No I do not believe it it, but perhaps you should look into Abiogenesis instead:

Abiogenesis, or informally the origin of life,[3][4][5][note 1] is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds.

5: Adapting to the environment is evolution.

6. the point I missed, no, we cannot predict the future that's impossible. But there is a subject called History, where we can study facts. And there is no world wide creation ethos which is presented in the Bible. History through archaeology and science shows us this.

[Menassa]

snip

4: YAWEH is still the original name of what people call God:

No, it is not.

With the Temple destroyed and the prohibition on pronouncing The Name outside of the Temple, pronunciation of the Name fell into disuse. Scholars passed down knowledge of the correct pronunciation of YHVH for many generations, but eventually the correct pronunciation was lost, and we no longer know it with any certainty. We do not know what vowels were used, or even whether the Vav in the Name was a vowel or a consonant. See Hebrew Alphabet for more information about the difficulties in pronouncing Hebrew. Some religious scholars suggest that the Name was pronounced "Yahweh," but others do not find this pronunciation particularly persuasive. Historian Flavius Josephus, who was born a kohein at a time when the pronunciation of the Name was still known, said that the name was four vowels (War of the Jews, Book V, Chapter 5), probably referring to the fact that each of the four consonants in the name can serve in Hebrew as a vowel or vowel marker. See Hebrew Alphabet.

Some people render the four-letter Name as "Jehovah," but this pronunciation is particularly unlikely. The word "Jehovah" comes from the fact that ancient Jewish texts used to put the vowels of the Name "Adonai" (the usual substitute for YHVH) under the consonants of YHVH to remind people not to pronounce YHVH as written. A sixteenth century German Christian scribe, while transliterating the Bible into Latin for the Pope, wrote the Name out as it appeared in his texts, with the consonants of YHVH and the vowels of Adonai, and came up with the word JeHoVaH ("J" is pronounced "Y" in German), and the name stuck.

[Metamen]

Not if god after dealing with them came down told people to not be like that. I think god himself could convince pepole to not be nazis.


Yeah because they thought was Jesus telling lies or crazy. If god had come down himself I think a lot more people would have listened.

Jesus was God coming down himself. The people who thought he was lying would say that about God now if he came down again, because he's the same person.

The last time God came down unto earth according to the Bible, the people of Israel were thrown into disarray as they beheld loud noises and stuff.

If God could come down as a mortal as Jesus why did he not do so before? what were the point of the Tabernacle and Clouds and stuff?

[Dogmeat]

The Nazis had "God is with us" written on their belt buckles. All it would have taken God to sort this out is one strongly worded letter.

Firstly, Hitler was an atheist.

Well his followers certainly weren't. Even if this were true.

Secondly, one strongly worded letter? The entire NT was about love and loving eachother. If Christians ignored the majority of the NT, why would they listen to a stupid, bloody letter?

Because a letter is easier to read then a bunch of books written in another language. You keep going on and on about how hard the Bible is to read and understand, you'd think you'd understand how a short letter written directly by God, in German, might be an easier sell.

[Page]

The Nazis had "God is with us" written on their belt buckles. All it would have taken God to sort this out is one strongly worded letter.

Firstly, Hitler was an atheist. Secondly, one strongly worded letter? The entire NT was about love and loving eachother. If Christians ignored the majority of the NT, why would they listen to a stupid, bloody letter?

Hitler was not an atheist. He referred to Providence as a conscious, divine force which actively shaped the universe. Perhaps he was not a Christian but he did not reject belief in a supernatural deity, he embraced it.

[Menassa]

Your point is that omniscience is a way to avoid criticism. That is certainly a feature, from people like us, who aren't omniscience. But you mustn't mistake a feature for the purpose.

Supposed omniscience is a way for people of faith to avoid addressing criticism of their God. "God knows more than you because he is omniscient, so even stuff that God does that appears shitty isn't actually shitty at all, because reasons that we don't understand". A big difference there. It's used as a blank cheque by those of faith to dismiss criticism.

Yes, except omniscience doesn't come until much later in the ontology so it can be used a defense of criticism from those who don't have a fully developed structure for what this 'God' is.

[The New California Republic]

Put a rock in a bag of water and pass it down for 50 generations and see if something happens.


evolution

Want to give us any more statements and a bolded word after it that have nothing in common with each other? Perhaps I'll get you started:

---

I went to the shops today and bought some milk.

Geology.

---

[Dogmeat]

Put a rock in a bag of water and pass it down for 50 generations and see if something happens.


evolution

Not for nothing, but I've never met a Creationist who could actually tell me, in their own words, the real definition of evolution. It's as though they deliberately go out of their way not to understand it.

[Page]

Not if god after dealing with them came down told people to not be like that. I think god himself could convince pepole to not be nazis.


Yeah because they thought was Jesus telling lies or crazy. If god had come down himself I think a lot more people would have listened.

Jesus was God coming down himself. The people who thought he was lying would say that about God now if he came down again, because he's the same person.

If you have divine powers, you can prove that you aren't lying by demonstrating that power.