As I understand it, the best physics we have today says that the universe began with a "Big Bang" some ten to twelve billion years ago. The origin of the universe was not only the beginning in space and time, it was the origin of space and time. The space-time continuum says that these things didn't exist prior to the origin of the universe. If you accept that every physical event that we know and understand has a cause, then the origin of the universe had some causative agent outside of our material universe. I was trying to answer a theological question you raised about the existence of evil. Theological questions beget theological answers. You talk as though "knowledge" is a finite and complete thing. At one point in history, knowledge said that the sun revolved around the earth. Newtonian physics were accepted as true knowledge until Einstein brought us his theory of relativity. If either of us had the inclination and the time, we could get off on a philosophical discussion of the limitations of knowledge imposed by the fact that what we "know" of reality is filtered through the lens of our own perceptions. No, I do not believe that is the case. There are some Christians who choose to read Genesis very literally, but there are many others who believe that it is the central description of God's creation of the universe, our world, and man, as well as the fall from grace through the introduction of sin, that is the central point of that scripture. Although it is often depicted that science and Christianity are in some perpetual war, that is not the case. The Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations accept that the universe is very old and that a process of evolution has occured.
i don't agree that god has to step in there, in fact god stepping in there takes away free will. if he chose to give free will, him stepping in any time some "evil" occurs takes that away. yes, the child is punished for nothing. that's what makes it evil. i'm not sure what needs to be explained. with free will, bad things will happen because we certainly aren't perfect.
Yak, I wish that it worked that way. That God would choose to intercede to protect the innocent, that he would protect the good from harm's way, that he'd be much more genie-like in general. Unfortunately, a consequence of a fallen world is that we all deal with the impacts of the actions of ourselves and others. Somebody chooses to drink and drive, and we know the all-too-frequent results. Bottom line, Christianity says that God has created a heaven...and this ain't it.
This also begs what created the outer existence and so forth. But by the laws of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed. Yet theology is limited because it banks on certain assumptions Hence why I put such emphasis on how science is self correcting. As the evidence keeps coming in, so do the ideas and possibilities. We make hypothesises and later theories based on what is provided. A theory must also account for other findings. God is only at the hypothesis stage. I never said the two cannot co-exist, but rather only one of them is more dependent for truth and knowledge, while the other is very much resilient to changes, especially when they debunk certain beliefs within the construct. And again, I mentioned the different sects of Christianity are reliant on different interpretations. Obviously, the Catholic Church and Protestants in these regards have proved to be the more open sects. But all of them are still dependent on a claim which in higher and better standards of evidence, does not hold up. They made the hypothesis but jump the gun and shoot it as a law. [video=youtube;8N8zi-mUvt4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N8zi-mUvt4[/video]
The underlying cause being? Also, teaching creation and evolution in the science classroom is a horrible idea until intelligent design actually holds up to the standards of evidence. Making the claim both should be taught in science now is as stupid as teaching flat earth and round earth in science.
But that's the person's free will, not the child's. The child's free will is to be happy, to play, to live, to not suffer abuse. There is a conflict of free wills here. God could step in and prevent "free will" when it affects others "free will", could he not? If his morality is absolute then wouldn't he be bound to do that? e - I get what you're saying. I certainly don't think Earth is heaven (please let me be right about this), I just think that perhaps there are some interpretations that are "guided" by our ancestors based upon cultural norms or beliefs. For example, the all-powerful God...what if he isn't? Can a person still have faith that THE God exists when that belief is altered?
I like to think, but do not believe, the Bible was some kind of handbook from a previously superior civilization.
What would prevent a God who changes his mind from being both omniscient and all-powerful? It doesn't violate the theory. I never said it should be taught in the classroom - I'm not sure where you are getting that. But I also think that if we were to hold everything to that bar that many things wouldn't be taught in class. The theory of gravity and theory of relativity are just that, theories. Yet we teach them in class because there holds SOME evidence that they do exist. But I don't want to go down this path anyways as this was covered ad nauseum in another thread.
I do not believe we are living in a bad episode of Greatest American Hero. [video=youtube;e9Q3orQhEcA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Q3orQhEcA[/video]
What if heaven really means utopia? What if we were meant to be good to one another, and that if we do, eventually our society would be a utopia?
There actually is some basis in this with the Mayans...I believe, where 2012 would be the dawn of a new age of humanity with increased enlightenment, compassion, etc. It's late or I'd look it up - it's all from "those" websites, you know. I have a hard time believing this is the best a God (or no God) could come up with. If this really is it and that's all there is, I want my money back.
I take the bible literally. I think the earth is about 6013 years old, depending on the hebrew translations you go by.
Those sites are so full of crap. "And the world will be directly aligned with the sun on Dec. 21st 2012." It does that on the 21st of every year dumbasses! (They neglect to tell you that)
what does that mean "directly aligned with the sun" ? Aligned to what else? Two points can make any line...
