Has it ever occured to anyone that, over the course of history, humans often come to the conclusion that anything that cannot be explained at the moment is automatically considered to be supernatural? For example, the Greeks. They had a god for just about anything that they could not explain with their means of science or technology at the time. How else could they explain the torrent of fire and molten lava that spwes out of a volcano? By claiming that Hephasteus is simply working in his forge of course.
But fast forward to today. And we know that isn't the case. The advent of computers, automobiles, airplanes, etc etc etc, would simply astound the Ancient Greeks. They would consider us gods. They would be unable to speak out of pure awe.
And since science is never ending in the sense that, with each question answered, more questions are formed... we still do not have a logical explanation for God. That being that supposedly judges us from afar, and moves through us all.
Think about it though... what if we just haven't reached the technological threshold to explain it yet?
It could be possible, that "God" is nothing more than a wave that interacts with our matter. Influencing our decisions with maybe electrical impulses or something similar. Religion is making "god" more important than it really is. With the advent of more powerful technology, we may be able to see what it is that moves through us all. More than likely, it is just another force of nature. It justs exists. It is there, always has been. But it is not a being, it is not something to worship... it is just not something we can understand. YET.
Basically, what I am trying to say is, we humans have proven over time that with the advent of better technology we can understand the ways of nature around us. So what's to stop us from unlocking the secrets of the universe? As well as explaining what "god" really is? We just can't comprehend it yet... but we will in time I think. Just like we did with volcanoes, oceans, telephones, airplanes, etc etc etc.
Religion is powerful in many ways no doubt. It helps certain people get through rough times, and to them, it explains the way things are as well giving them a code of ethics that they can follow. But religion is also on a way ticket to being obsolete. If science can bridge the gap between the two, what now?
Now just so everyone knows, I am not trying to attack anyones beliefs, I am merely wondering outloud if the above could be the case. I would also like to hear what other people have to say. Please be open-minded, and rational.
I will explain in better detail some ideas that I have heard as well some of my own if a great dialogue can be established.
'It' has evolved. No-one [typically] worships Zeus etc....now it's a 'defective construct' predominantly overseen by the RC church .
I don't think the Greek gods were into immaculate conception but once there be popes there be miracles....
Yes, religion 'evolved' through natural selection.....which must really fuck with the creationists' minds...
Lol, nothing but assumptions and conjecture from BoobzTwo.... figures.
As more is studied, FEWER scientist are agreeing with your age old evolution crap. The origin of the species is nothing more than a child's look alike book.
Grr... Edit:
A good, thought, but the Torah (old testament) was around near the same time as the greek god structure.
You all really have it in for the Roman Catholics, don't you? (glad I'm not one of them....)
You all need to open your minds to some real Christianity, not that old religion. Again, there is a difference between God and Religion... A BIG one.
Ah, yes....the Old testament might have been around as long.....just shows that natural selection still saw the OTHERS die out in popularity.
It's always 'quaint' to see people attempt to debunk evolution....as if their religion is on a highway to hell if they embrace evolution TOO.
Pretty pathetic religion if it cannot coexist.
Probably time to find a better one....that Dimwit Hubbard thought he had one....but were it any good it wouldn't attract the brain-dead like Cruise to it.
No. Religion and superstition are not interchangeable. Some religions are atheistic. Some teach through mythology as well, however they do not claim that their myths are more than just a story. People tend to view religion through the lens of what they know. Simply look at all the religions in the world. Not all of them are based on superstition. Even in Christianity, I know a lot of Christians who totally understand where the symbols in the myths of the Bible are. They are atheistic Christians who definitely practice religion and are definitely not superstitious. Although I do know one who has a superstition phobia regarding Friday the 13th.
What's funny is that their religions are on a highway to hell because they don't accept such things.
Kind of like the Shakers. A religion that at first believed in celibacy. Took them a while to figure out why that belief wasn't working.
There are many "artistic types" who sway from mainstream religion but still seek something spiritual. I guess they "know" a good story when they see it.
Scientology looks to me like a business which wanted tax-exempt status. Not much difference between that and the 700 Club to me
I'd completely agree that this is the origin of religious structures.
Cmon Jafo....
I just said I wasn't arguing RELIGION. I am talking about GOD. Not religion.
What is "quaint" is you lumping God into religion... If there is a God, he would be above religion, beyond religion. Religion is simply behavior modification and control.
If a God exists, It transcends human concepts of "religion"...as well as human concepts about whether or not it can exist or is the figment of someone's imagination.
I'll quote Samuel Clemons again, "The problem with self made men is too often the worship their own creators" and who was also smart enough to respond when asked if he wasn't worried about the things in the bible he didn't understand to reply with, "It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do".
OK then....if you must....religion is the pomp and ceremony surrounding the 'belief' in a God....whether he's a cosmic muffin or not there'll be a religion for it/him/her.
Hardly....as the acceptance [belief] in his/her existence is equally a human construct as the religion by which his 'existence' is lauded.
And you know this as fact how? It's your opinion.
When Christians actually were children as opposed to being adults and believing in fairy tales ... Was it actually necessary for them to connect all the dots in a 'dot' picture before they knew exactly what they were about to color? Well I don't need all of life’s dots filled in to get the bigger picture either … but who am I to stand in the way of perfection?
Alright Boobz, I'll enlighten you. But it will take more than my typical short postings....
I'll compile a decent sized listing of the different problems I have with evolution and it's supposed "science"
Here is the list preview, if you want to educate yourself ahead of time -
- Genetic Entropy
- Phyletic Gradualism
- Punctuated Equilibrium
- The Miller/Urey experiments
- Evolution and the human ear - gradual?
- Darwanism and the missing link
- convergent and divergent evolution
- sexual genetic deterioration (this is a fun one )
- adaptive evolution
- evolutionist dogma
- instinct vs. imprint development
- evolution geology
- sediment fossilization
- uniformitarianism
- Dinosaurs and history
- neo-cautastrophism
- the flood
- glaciers and the ice age?
- Cambrian layer "explosion of life"
- seismic wave discrepancy
- cosmology
- DNA
- big bang?
- helium science
- infinite time?
- Oort cloud and comet life
- regenerative magnetic fields vs decaying magnetic fields
- spectrometers and carbon 14
- mysteries of science
- star formation
- language
- time and the domino effect
- Censored Science
I will go into much more detail on all of it if you wish. Or you can ask me specifics on certain points.
Like I said, I have EXTENSIVELY studied this stuff.
I am not some priest following Christian with a suppressed curiosity. I intend to have proof for what I believe, BEFORE I believe it. I've spent many years searching, verifying and meditating on God, religion and science. I hope you will have the courage to do the same, and not just write off this opportunity.
More to come....
Why bother studying science...The science simply proves that Genesis etc. is mythology. It has nothing to do with God.
Simply research "Leap of Faith" and then decide whether to jump or not.
Studying the history of Mythology is worthy as well. That will show you where most of the Myths and related symbols of the Bible and other religious mythology originated from. Joseph Campbell-Mythos I...on netflix is a decent series on this.
And besides, science is going to win anyway in the long run if for no other reason than it works … and religion doesn’t.
Oh, religion works perfectly well....just don't poke it under a magnifying glass.
Scientific research is for science. There IS no room for it in religion.
They are [by definition] mutually exclusive.
Perhaps though....Scientology is when the REALLY deluded think there is a connection..... or it's just a way for people to make a SHITLOAD of money out of a SCAM and call it a Religion.
I love how you immediately jump to me studying mythology. Does any of that in the list scare you? Or are you worried that your precious science may prove something otherwise?
And this sounds like nervous banter as well....
At least you Jafo don't resort to putting words in other peoples mouths and jumping to conclusions....
But I thought science teaches that there is no absolutes... therefor there is no mutual exclusivity....
I'll get into the details that you all seem to be nervous throughout this week, time permitting. Don't worry, I'm not blowing smoke up your skirts....
I will break down all this into 3 sections for easy writing on my part, and easy understanding for the rest of you all. Hopefully this writing will enlighten some of you, and further your search for the truth.For easy identification, I will refer to Evolutionists as the sect of science that pushes Evolution ideas exclusively. I will refer to Science as the rest of the scientific community. No need to get offended over the labels, they are just there for ease of identification...First up is the broad topic of Biology.The 150 year old theory of Charles Darwin is the basis for modern Evolutionary theories. This theory basicly states that species advance over time and can make large evolutionary jumps to form new species, by way of adaptation, mutation and natural selection. Darwin, and subsequent scientists, have also proposed the Origin of the Species, as being a gradual advancement in all species from single cells up to complex beings. You all should know this theory well enough, it is taught in every major university on the planet, and has been forced into every science classroom, usually touted as fact.But there are many problems with this old theory, as modern science has shown.The first being Genetic Entropy.Genetic Entropy is the degradation of the genetic code in organisms by means of mutation in replication. Mutations can change a creature, but it has yet been shown to advance a creature, consistently. For example: Say you have a 1000 page instruction manual, with each page containing 1000 words. If we randomly changed 100 letters on one page, we could still build the item. The end result would still be 99.99% the same. Now imagine that done over many, many times. More and more of the product will be rejected, because it doesn't function properly. Occasionally one set may have a bonus, but what about subsequent mutations? That bonus will be lost in the continued degradation of the code.This is the proven science - Natural selection CANNOT cause an increase in information complexity. It can only filter and change what is present in the organisms DNA. Mutation eventually leads to extinction, not a higher complexity.Secondly, we will address interdependency of the functional parts of an organism.There are two parts to this issue... Phyletic gradualism - the assumption that small changes compound over time, and Punctuated Equilibrium - the assumption that functions stay the same, but rapidly change, leaving no fossil record.Interdependency shows that all the parts of an organism must be there and functioning for that organism to survive. On the molecular scale, it is called irreducible complexity - the minimum number of steps/feature that are needed for an organism to survive.A good way to illustrate this is will blood. Blood is the means of nourishment in many complex creatures. It supplies nutrients to the different parts of the body. But without clotting, any creature that gets even a small cut, would bleed out and die. There are 17 different steps that blood must go through to react to the oxygen, thicken the surface blood, withstand high pressure and heal over time. If any one of these steps is missed, the creature dies. So if every step must be there from the start, how could it have evolved over time? Natural selection would weed out any creature that is not functional in its development.Along the same idea, is the Urey/Miller experiment.This experiment was first conceived in 1953, and has been duplicated/expanded upon many, many times by modern scientists. It attempts to show how simple chemicals could be transformed into amino acids, the basic building blocks of life. Yet this experiment has never been able to produce ALL the necessary amino acids, nor has been done in a "natural" setting that could have existed on earth. This experiment has only produced a biologically useless mixture of chemicals, none of which use oxygen, a major component to life. Even if it had, there are still many problems with the theory...How could the right chemicals find each other, and react in proper sequence?How could the "right" chemicals not react in the "wrong" ways? For example, DNA is a reversible reaction and rapidly "unzips" when placed in water. But wasn't life to have formed out of water? How can that be?Even with splitting bacterial membranes in a test tube, giving all the correct chemicals, temperature and proportions, NO life has ever been formed.So HOW could the first cell have formed, and learned to reproduce itself, while maintaining its functions to survive? There are 350,000 DNA code pairs in the most simplest of organisms... How could it have formed from simple amino acids in water?I will add more later. I need to sleep
Whose to say what is a valid religion or a scam? After All the RCC is the wealthiest institution in the world. Even the smallest autonomous churches elect elders that decide where the money goes. Look at the wealthiest religious organizations in this country. Most do support charities but they are also buying influence in government, and who knows what else they have their hands in.
How do you think religion is taught?
myth
noun
Please don't.
Or at least don't make me read it - just in case there's some hidden personal attack against which I am obliged to act. Nothing in your 'first up' conflicts with evolution.
Nothing.
You are wasting your keyboard's life in futility.
I for one don't want to be witness to one lost soul's search for the meaning of life, the universe and the whole damn thing.
The answer is 42.
Now, please move on.
I'm pretty much out of the "discussion" here (for obvious reasons) but I think it's inappropriate for a moderator to suggest a person stop posting (with a suggestion to be careful or be at risk of a ban) because he disagrees with their statements on a personal level and then ends with "move on".
It's an open thread on a speculative subject here at best and there are far worse issues throughout this discussion that you've completely ignored.
Remember this forum is Life, the Universe, and Everything, subforum Everything Else. So there's not much that doesn't fit in those.
It's a perfect example of chaos theory.
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