Anonymous

Do YOU believe that there are gods out there as in great spirits or something unknown in the world? Or do you believe we just developed as a living thing from the big bang theory? If neither, what do YOU believe in why we are here?

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Yo Kass Profile
Yo Kass answered

The big bang theory and the theory of evolution seem to have a lot of bases covered.

I'm sure science hasn't got it 100% correct, but this seems like the most feasible reason we're here in this universe.

I'm very interested in hearing about religion, and stories about the genesis of mankind...

But I really struggle to put my faith in a theory that purports to be the word of an all-knowing being, telling us about the creation and history of our world, and yet only has this to say for the 4.54 billion years Earth existed without us:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

And then focuses on the relatively small 200,000 years we've been on the planet (focusing specifically on the past 3000 or so...)

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Charles Davis
Charles Davis commented
Ann, the bible does not state that God created a planet or the cosmos, it states he created the "firmament" in which the stars moon and sun are attached, and "dry land" (earth). The writers had no concept of a planet and a cosmos. Heck the Sun was not even the source of light, it was just an indicator of day and night.
Didge Doo
Didge Doo commented
Kass, if you haven't read it, download a copy of Isaac Asimov's short story "The Final Question". I think you'd be delighted at the way he wraps it up.
Didge Doo
Didge Doo commented
Sorry, that's "The Last Question"
Sheldon  Cooper Profile
Sheldon Cooper answered

There is no magic man in the sky

We evolved of millions of years and continue to do so

John McCann Profile
John McCann answered

No evidence for gods or spirits, plenty of evidence for the Big Bang theory and the evolutionary processes that lead to humans.

Didge Doo Profile
Didge Doo answered

The Biblical account almost got it right but, unfortunately, the guy who transcribed the message was dyslexic. Had it been written in the manner it was given to him, Genesis 1:27 would have read, "Man created God in his own image."

In the world that existed before education, we invented the gods to explain the mysteries we were ill-equipped to understand. And we empowered them to some extent, made them real.

I actually worked through this idea in my novel. Had I named the chapters (instead of just numbering them) that chapter could have been called "God Creation for Dummies".

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Yo Kass
Yo Kass commented
Novel? Tell me more! :)
CalTex - Doug Morgan
Well said, Didgeri. When I think of what it must have been like for those pre-fire humans who were completely blind on overcast nights, not knowing what predator or poisonous critter was lurking near until the sun came up, I would have been more than happy to worship a sun god, and come up with something, anything, that might help me be considered worthy of protection by that sun god.
Didge Doo
Didge Doo commented
@Kass: "The Mistress of Dimmiga Berg" is an urban fantasy about a couple of Norse gods who try their luck in 21st century Australia. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JSCS73S

@Cal: Thanks. There were too many unanswered questions. Attributing everything we didn't understand to spirits and gods was an easy way to make sense of them ... even if it doesn't make sense in the light of modern knowledge.
Arthur Wright Profile
Arthur Wright , Florida Paralegal with a BS degree in Social-Psychology, answered

Who really cares how we got here as there isn't anything we can do about it. The challenge is that while we are here, we all need to try and make the earth a better place for those behind us before we leave the earth. This is more important as we can do something about this than worrying about something that happened millions of years ago and this is why we are here

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CalTex - Doug Morgan
Exactly. It doesn't mean we should stop searching for answers to our origins since those answers can be useful in our future decision making, but what we do with the time we have in this universe, such as it is, should be our prime directive.
Allo Vera Profile
Allo Vera answered

I tend to be impartial to both, and scrutinize all.  The Big Bang singularity arises directly and unavoidably from the mathematics of general relativity. Some scientists see it as problematic because the math can explain only what happened immediately after—not at or before—the singularity. The Big Bang singularity is the most serious problem of general relativity because the laws of physics appear to break down there. Many of the great scientists were believers in some kind of creator, including Darwin. Evolution is not synonymous with atheism.

Quantum physics says we are energy and vibration, in that sense don't worry about God not existing because in terms of matter we don't either.

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CalTex - Doug Morgan
@Allo: Vey well said. Personally, I have no problem with the breakdown of physics at the point of the Big Bang if we consider that the Big Bang was the birth of natural laws and the attending realities of time and space. What would have existed prior to that, if anything, was necessarily preternatural and devoid of the time, space, and natural laws we have come to know and love. That there would have been a transition between these states of preternatural and natural seems a given to me. And since science is the study of the natural laws governing time and space, it is beyond the purview of science to explain that which is preternatural. But that doesn't mean a god or gods is necessarily the answer to questions which science has not answered, and may never answer.
Matt Radiance Profile
Matt Radiance answered

I would not speak or judge other's beliefs but everything is "Energy" & (Evolution) I'm saying this in one aspect, that  God & energy or the same your mentioned phrase (Bing bang) are the same. Science says evolution, Religion says god which created evolution, And god is energy by itself, Something or someone who can't be seen, touched & also talked for real, So it's energy, Only names that people learnt to call it is different. Religion created by smarter mens compared with others long long years ago.  

For example Islam, Saudi Arabia that used bury females alive, or never had personal hygiene, or crimes being easy to commit. Someone found it necessary to put a creator on the line  (in answer to what's around) & someone with high power,to make them fear of that power, the power that can see your crimes, & hear your prayers, Cause if they would say it themselves nobody would listen, but  a high power that can't be seen  (cause it's creator of rivers,land & everything & so big) also can't be seen so nobody can't criticize it like piece of stone or cow, sun ect . .So by that they used to guide people to better behaves & have better health & living. However some rules as (man edited) today. But god & energy works the same. Just concepts became different.

That's how I believe it.

CalTex - Doug Morgan Profile

There is evidence of the Big Bang  abiogenesis, and evolution -- sketchy as some of it might be -- but there is no evidence of gods.  So why would I entertain the thought of the existence of gods when there is a more plausible answer?  Not saying there aren't gods, but I would need evidence, not to mention verifiable evidence.

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CalTex - Doug Morgan
@Sash: Thanks for the thanks. The vast majority of us atheists fall into a category of atheism called "agnostic atheism", "practical atheism" or "implicit atheism" (the converse of each is "gnostic atheism", "theoretical atheism" and "explicit atheism"). They are all different terms for the same concept in that they all hold that one cannot prove a negative, meaning one cannot prove the nonexistence of a thing. It is simply due to lack of material and testable evidence that we are atheists. We may sometimes sound like we are absolutely sure that there are no gods, but that is only due to the overwhelming lack of evidence to support the existence of deities. We live our lives as if gods do not exist because we have no reason to live them otherwise.

If someday material proof is provided that a god exists, then we will become theists. But we will never become theists through faith. We will only become theists through knowing.
Hope This Helps
Hope This Helps commented
I didn't realize there were so many categories of atheism, that is interesting, Cal.

It's also interesting you you mention 'faith', because was thinking about that, the other day. And, personally, I agree with your statement. In fact, 'faith' can be very distasteful and misleading.

I encounter the religious promotion of 'faith', frequently, and it seems to obscure realities.

If that sounds odd, coming from me, it is because I view 'faith' as something that is cultivated or developed, following a decision that is based on a subjective reality or serious possibility.

Thus, a person cannot expect another, to have faith in what he is not convinced of through some means of reasonable observation -the impact of which, may vary, from person to person.

Actually, my understanding is that the Bible teaches that truth starts with "love" (or: "loyal love"), not "faith".

However, "love" is not just an emotion. (which can be deceiving.) And I don't think that is referring to 'objective realities' of the world we live in.

But returning to the world that surrounds us, there certainly needs to be realities that can be demonstrated. My use of terms such as 'subjective' and 'pending', are precisely linked to that.
CalTex - Doug Morgan
@Dash: There really aren't many types of atheism. There are just two: implicit (not absolute disbelief) and explicit (absolute disbelief). All those different terms I mentioned all refer to the same thing -- just like "car" and "automobile" can be used interchangeably. Certainly there are many subsets within those two types of atheism (like secular humanism, Satanism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc.), but the subsets do not define atheism -- just as there are many subsets of theism, but none of those subsets define theism.

I believe we agree on some significant issues. I, too, see love/altruism as the primary motivating force behind our success as a species. And it can be argued that the existence of love has its foundation in our evolutionary journey. However, some theists may disagree on that secular foundation for love.
Hope This Helps Profile
Hope This Helps answered

Our habitat, certainly did not appear overnight, or in a few 24-hour days.

Plant and animal life may have been flourishing for a very long time, but it did not record history, or accomplish events.

Human history, however, travels back about 6000 years. 

Christendom- which attempts to explain its own gentile view of the Bible- stretches back to around the 4th-century.

Christianity- not to be confused with the above- stretches back to the first century A.D. (not taking into account messianic prophecies that led up to it.) 

And beyond that, there is a division between gentile religions- who all shared basic concepts, polytheisms and spiritisms- and Judaic/Hebrew attitudes, which expressed loyalty toward one, creative power and divine person:

“Lift up your eyes to heaven and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who brings out their army by number; he calls them all by name. Because of his vast dynamic energy and his awe-inspiring power, not one of them is missing.”- Isaiah 40:26

"Of course, every house is constructed by someone, but the one who constructed all things is God.”- Hebrews 3:4

“May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.”- Psalm 83:18

“I am Jehovah. That is my name"- Isaiah 42:8

“Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.”- Romans 10:13 

According to these ancient texts, 'Why are we here?'

"No bush of the field was yet on the earth and no vegetation of the field had begun sprouting, because Jehovah God had not made it rain on the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground."- Genesis 2:5

"Further, God blessed them, and God said to them: “Be fruitful, and become many, fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving on the earth.”- Genesis 1:28

"Jehovah God took the man and settled him in the garden of E′den to cultivate it and to take care of it."- Genesis 2:15

"The wolf will reside...with the lamb, and the young goat, with the leopard...and the calf and the lion...and a little boy will lead them. The cow and the bear will feed together, and...The lion will eat straw like the bull.  The...child will play over the lair of a cobra, and...will put his hand over the den of a poisonous snake (and not be harmed), ...because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah."- Isaiah 11:6-9

Human purpose?  To "cultivate it and to take care" of the Earth.  And enjoy it!

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