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Why do you believe or not believe in a "Creator"?

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posted on Jan, 5 2015 @ 08:25 AM
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originally posted by: moebius
a reply to: EviLCHiMP

A "creator" is a lazy answer to very hard questions, effectively used to calm simple minds fear of the unknown, and occasionally to supress critical thinking.

Because god did it!


And then there is the issue of who created the creator.



I remember some years ago coming to the aid of a friend who had invited Jehovah's Witnesses in to his home and he couldn't get rid of them. When I asked them questions all they would say was "The answer is in this book (the Bible) and if you read it you will find the answer to everything". I then quoted the Bible regarding the size of Noah's Ark and said that it would be impossible to fit two of every animal (that were known in those days) into such dimensions. To which he replied "Hah! But you have to remember that Hippopotamuses were only 6 inches long in those days"!
My friend stood up and said he thought it was time for them to leave and never come back.

Who created the creator? There HAD to be a beginning sometime and somewhere. A "Big Bang" - of what? The answers to those questions are way, way beyond our understandings at this stage in our history. What we know, compared to what there is, is the equivalent of a pinprick on the surface of the Moon.

We have a long way to go yet.



posted on Jan, 5 2015 @ 09:03 AM
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What do you personally believe you have to gain by believing in a God?
Eventually oneness with all creation, perfection and knowledge of everthing, every mystery will be revealed.

What do you personally believe you have to lose by believing in a God?
That life has no purpose, and you die without knowing the secrets of the universe.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
edit on 093131p://bMonday2015 by Stormdancer777 because: (no reason given)



posted on Jan, 5 2015 @ 11:12 AM
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We have a creator or a team of programmers because the design of DNA could not happen by accident or a bolt of lightning hitting a bubble on a lake unless you think a bolt of lightning could hit a lump of metal ore and created something like a VW camper van.

Some things just won't ever happen no matter how many times you throw the dice Mr Darwin



posted on Jan, 5 2015 @ 01:04 PM
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a reply to: VirusGuard

Actually the universal constant provides enough of a probability for life to have emerged all by itself not only on our own world but throughout our universe. Its just highly improbable but not in fact impossible as our existence clearly demonstrates. I'm not suggesting ruling out the possibility of a creator or creator force, just that it does not necessarily have to exist for life to emerge.

Sentient life however that possesses the ability to reason, empathise with others of there own kind, build and use tools to change there environment to suit there own ends. That's another kettle of fish i imagine. Those are traits require the intervention of some kind of higher power other than just mother nature.

Maybe that's how it works Mother nature, Father God(Or insert equivalent semi omnipotent entity). Is God a farmer?


en.wikipedia.org...
edit on 5-1-2015 by andy06shake because: (no reason given)



posted on Jan, 6 2015 @ 03:58 AM
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Improbable, but not impossible. Yet, so many unbelievers hang their hat on that sliver of a possibility, as improbable as it is.

I read the result of a statistical study, looking at this probability. His/her conclusion was the odds were, like 1
chance in 10 to the 156th power. (from my memory, don't remember exact figure).

There were better odds of a tornado traversing a scrap yard, picking up all the various pieces, and a 747 airliner being constructed with those pieces as they swirled around. Yep, I suppose it IS possible.

Or? The Ol' Occam's Razor. What's more reasonable?

a reply to: andy06shake



posted on Jan, 6 2015 @ 06:16 AM
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a reply to: Ignatian

What's more reasonable is to realise that given enough time anything that can happen will happen. Including the emergence of life. Improbability does not equate to impossibility a concept that is rather hard for us to realise given the fact that we are around for so short a span of time regarding the grand scheme of things.



posted on Jan, 6 2015 @ 06:51 AM
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a reply to: andy06shake

Just for the sake of speculation.
How would humanity destroy "god(s)"?
It implies we're more powerful than we are.
Most the of the time it seems we're just stumbling around in the dark.



posted on Jan, 6 2015 @ 06:58 AM
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a reply to: HarbingerOfShadows

Same way we achieve anything. Guile, imagination, ingenuity, downright underhandedness and luck. After all we utilise the tools at our disposal rather well(Apart from luck, thats just chance at play or improbability).

Consider the notion the the current iteration of Humanity may not be the first, or even the most advanced both from a technological and spiritual standpoint.

Possibly we as a race in the far distant past had a measure of semi omnipotence ourselves and have somewhat devolved to our present condition?
edit on 6-1-2015 by andy06shake because: (no reason given)



posted on Jan, 6 2015 @ 07:02 AM
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a reply to: Ignatian

There's a problem with statistics.
Even while they are invaluable in a number of ways.
I highly recommend you take a look at these two bits of information:

While statistics are extremely valuable, they are also notorious for being a means that people use to make false and misleading arguments.

Responsible Thinking: Misleading Statistics

There are, of course, problems with using statistics as evidence. Let me remind you of a famous saying: "There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics." What you must do is ask yourself some questions: who did the study that came up with the statistics, what exactly are the statistics measuring, who was asked, how were they asked, and compared with what? If one believes in the truth of statistics (and there are many such), then how does one explain that the same Presidential candidate can be 20 points ahead and 5 points behind his opponent in the polls at the same time? After all, both polls are "statistics". What you must be examine, if you wish to use statistics as evidence, are the above questions.

The Problem with [email protected]

But, I find it highly doubious that anyone could come up with an unbiased and accurate statistic for this particular question.



edit on 6-1-2015 by HarbingerOfShadows because: (no reason given)



posted on Jan, 6 2015 @ 07:06 AM
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a reply to: andy06shake

Well, you'd have to prove that what was the case.
Not sure how you could.
But I am, after all, just one man.

My view is that if a creator or god does exist.
For whatever reason, it doesn't care to make it's existence an undeniable fact.




edit on 6-1-2015 by HarbingerOfShadows because: (no reason given)



posted on Jan, 6 2015 @ 07:10 AM
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a reply to: HarbingerOfShadows

Seems to me proof of anything regarding God or Gods seems to be beyond our present capability's. There's that 3 dimensional perspective once again retarding or perception of reality.

edit on 6-1-2015 by andy06shake because: (no reason given)



posted on Jan, 6 2015 @ 07:14 AM
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a reply to: andy06shake

"The only wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing."
-Socrates



I think the above is quite true.
And problems start arising we start to forget it.



posted on Jan, 7 2015 @ 09:25 AM
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Thank you all so much for sharing yourselves with myself and everyone. I'll be posting my experiences as well but since I am constrained on time at the moment It'll have to wait till later. I really appreciate all of you being respectful to one another and not turning this thread into a flame war. Again thank you all.



posted on Jan, 7 2015 @ 11:03 AM
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a reply to: EviLCHiMP


What do you personally believe you have to gain by believing in a God?


perpetuation by assimilation.


What do you personally believe you have to lose by believing in a God?


self control, self enablement, self worth.


What do you personally believe you have to gain by not believing in a God?


self control, self enablement, self worth.


What do you personally believe you have to lose by not believing in a God?


perpetuation by assimilation.
edit on 7-1-2015 by TzarChasm because: (no reason given)



posted on Jan, 8 2015 @ 09:30 AM
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i also found this while browsing and thought it was worth sharing.


To take one example, studies by Andrew Meltzoff and M. Keith Moore show that newborns—less than 24 hours old—can already pick out human faces in their environment and imitate facial expressions. Human minds have evolved in such a way as to render this task automatic and easy for newborns, perhaps because of how important it is for a hyper-social species such as ours to “read” each other’s attention, intentions, desires, and feelings from each others’ faces. Face detection, recognition, and imitation is only one example of the many subsystems of the human mind that appear to develop as a normal part of human maturation—what philosopher Robert McCauley has termed ‘maturationally natural’ cognition. Because these maturationally natural subsystems are a product of biological predispositions and environmental regularities, these systems are largely constant within and across cultures. These subsystems structure human interactions with their environment and subsequent learning and conceptual development. Consequently, they serve to inform and constrain cultural expression, including religious beliefs.

These maturationally natural cognitive subsystems encourage belief in at least one God, by creating a conceptual space that is most readily filled by such a God concept. That is, rather than the idea of a God being hard-wired into our cognitive systems, we are naturally inclined to reason about the world in such a way that a God concept fits like a key in a lock: God sits well with many of our natural intuitions such that belief in a God makes sense of how we conceive of the world and many events in our lives. I do not mean that we reflectively, rationally consider aspects of the world (such as its mere existence, apparent design or purposefulness, apparent coherence, etc.) and conclude that the existence of a God best accounts for these observations, though some people do. Rather, our naturally developing, untutored, conceptual equipment leads us to find the existence of at least one God intuitively attractive even absent any argumentation on the matter.

The primary culprits for our natural receptivity to believe in God appear to be the cognitive subsystems that we use to understand intentional agents, minds, and features of the natural world. From the first few months of life babies distinguish between those objects that move themselves in goal directed ways from all other objects. Before long they begin attributing rudimentary mental states such as goals and desires. On this foundation they build sophisticated understandings of how percepts inform beliefs, which guide the agent to act on desires leading to positive or negative emotional states. These ‘mindreading’ abilities are unparalleled by any other species. Importantly, the system that picks out intentional agents from other objects and things does not require a human body or even a three-dimensional form to be activated. Indeed, even three- and four-year-olds commonly have invisible companions with which they interact and converse, a demonstration of how facile humans are with agent and mind-based reasoning even without the aid of physical bodies, facial expressions, and other material data from which to work. Gods, then, pose no special problems.


theres more to read at the source.

www.bigquestionsonline.com...



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