Board index ‹ God

[Newbie]

Everyone, even the most decorated scientists, reach a point where we lack understanding in something. Today, that point happens before the big bang and inside black holes. Human beings simply do not know what's going on beyond those points. Science, however, will admit they do not know and continue the search for answers. Christians (and other religious people I suppose) simply say God did it, and stop searching for knowledge. To them, the problem is solved. At one point even Galileo assigned something unexplained to God and stopped searching. That particular problem was later solved by science. (if you have netflix, the specifics of that example is on Inexplicable Universe with NdGT). So on a grander scale, does being a Christian make you dumber over time because it stops one seeking knowledge by assigning the unknown to God?

[jimwalton]

I would have to answer your question with "no". I feel strongly that my belief in God "opens the roof," so to speak, and motivates me to pursue deeper and bigger and further. Galileo said (and I agree) God wrote two books: nature and Scripture. I want to know as much about my world as I possibly can. Everything I learn from science deepens my knowledge of God, and everything I learn about God deepens my understanding of the world. The pursuit of the knowledge of God is the most noble pursuit of humanity, and the quest for knowledge about the world is a never-ending wonder of complexity, design, balance, beauty and purpose.

[The Bowser]

> The pursuit of the knowledge of God is the most noble pursuit of humanity

That's a bold claim. Does it apply to all gods, or just the particular version of whatever god that you happen to believe in?

Is pursuing Ah Muzen cab, the Mayan god of bees, the most noble pursuit of humanity?

Is pursuing Yahwey, the angry and jealous Christian blood god, the most noble pursuit of humanity?

[jimwalton]

> Does it apply to all gods, or just the particular version of whatever god that you happen to believe in?

It applies to the truth. It's logically, practically, and theologically impossible that all religions are true. Some beliefs are false, and we know them to be false. If I believe that everything everyone believes is true, that's nonsense, because someone else may believe that nothing someone believes is ever true. So it's impossible to believe that A = non A.

I'm talking about real life. Right and wrong, justice and injustice, life and death. Truth matters. We don't seek a belief system that makes us feel good, but the truth. What I'm speaking of is the truth regarding deity. Zacharias says, "God is not a place or an experience or a feeling. Pluralistic cultures are beguiled by the cosmetically courteous idea that sincerity or privilege of birth is all that counts, and that truth is subject to the beholder. In no other discipline of life can one be so naive as to claim inherited belief or insistent belief as the sole determiner of truth. Why, then, do we make the catastrophic error of thinking that all religions are right, and that it does not matter whether the claims they make are objectively true? ... All religions are not the same. All religions do not point to God. All religions do not say that all religions are the same. At the heart of every religion is an uncompromising commitment to a particular way of defining who God is or is not and accordingly, of defining life’s purpose. Anyone who claims that all religions are the same betrays not only an ignorance of all religions, but also a caricatured view of even the best-known ones. Every religion at its core is exclusive."

> Is pursuing Yahwey, the angry and jealous Christian blood god, the most noble pursuit of humanity?

This betrays either a hostile presupposition or a misunderstanding of the Christian God. You make him sound like a vengeful child instead of conforming to principles of justice mitigated by love, grace, and mercy. Perhaps a longer conversation would be beneficial, if you're interested.

[Lu Lu]

Do you believe God created life? do you believe God created man "in his image"?

[jimwalton]

Yes, and yes. John 1.3 says, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." Gn. 1.26 says, "Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,..." It has been much debated what "in his image" means, but I think we all pretty much agree about the core of it.

I'm not sure what's behind your question, though. Why do you ask, or wonder, if I believe those things?

[Lu Lu]

you are proving my point. Believing God created life, ends the search for the real reason how life was created. which collectively and over time, makes you less intelligent.

[jimwalton]

Not at all. I still don't know how it was created. I know who created it (first cause), but how it came about is still a fascinating pursuit. But not only how it was created, but all the intricacies and beauties of it are intriguing beyond end and worthy of study. That certainly doesn't make me less intelligent. The quest for scientific knowledge, philosophical understanding, theological sense, and curiosity about all of life never ends. Just because I believe God created what we see doesn't make me less intelligent or influence me to stop learning.

[lu Lu]

But if you've already concluded that God created the universe, that means you've stopped looking into that, which means you've stifled some scientific inquiry, which means you are going to be less intelligent.

[jimwalton]

God is the creator, but we don't know how and all the intricacies of the workings of it. You seem to think that if I believe God was the creator it blocks all free inquiry into science and cosmogony and makes me somehow stupider. You've been working hard on that point. I believe God is the ultimate cause, but that doesn't stop any intellectual pursuit into every corner of everything else, just as you believe (I presume) that there was no ultimate cause, and so we should intellectually pursue every corner of everything else. Because I philosophically/theologically subscribe to a metaphysical first cause doesn't shut down any intellectual pursuit or hinder me from becoming smarter. Just because I know that the moon is 238,900 miles from the earth, and that part is settled for me, doesn't mean I'm hindered from becoming smarter. Sometimes certain knowledge is settled. Good. Now I have time to pursue other areas of knowledge. My conclusion that God is the ultimate source doesn't even begin to hinder all of what we try to figure out.