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What is the purpose of the universe?
43 Answers
Let us accept the the fact that there are trillions and trillions of stars , planets and asteroids.
Now the bible claims that it was made by an entity we call God.
Clerics have claimed for thousands of years that we are unique , our world is unique and life is unique to our world.
If that is true what is the point of the universe . Why would God make something that dead and lifeless. Trillions of lumps of rock and gas travelling through space for billions of years seemingly for nothing.
If God created Man as an experiment, as is sometimes claimed , he could have done that by just creating our solar system at the most. Why waste all those creative powers on a useless universe.
One other possibility is that the bible and the clerics are all wrong and that there are countless worlds out there and the universe is teeming with life. It still doesn't answer the question . What is the purpose of the universe but it does make a little more sense.
Now the bible claims that it was made by an entity we call God.
Clerics have claimed for thousands of years that we are unique , our world is unique and life is unique to our world.
If that is true what is the point of the universe . Why would God make something that dead and lifeless. Trillions of lumps of rock and gas travelling through space for billions of years seemingly for nothing.
If God created Man as an experiment, as is sometimes claimed , he could have done that by just creating our solar system at the most. Why waste all those creative powers on a useless universe.
One other possibility is that the bible and the clerics are all wrong and that there are countless worlds out there and the universe is teeming with life. It still doesn't answer the question . What is the purpose of the universe but it does make a little more sense.
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Goodlife, you may care to take this opportunity to answer my question of a few days ago, which was //why do you place so much credence in the bible when it has never been claimed that it is the word of god. The old testament is the alleged history of the Hebrews and the new testament is a self contradictory account of the events occurring around the life of Jesus. Even the ten commandments is an edited version of tablets of stone that Moses was allegedly given'// You might just as well base your life on 'The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.,
@Goodlife.
Biblical cosmology is bunk. The same verses are tortured and twisted to suit different ideas by different people.
The bible tells us that the universe if geocentric. This was such a fundamental part of christian belief that Galileo was accused of heresy and blasphemy for suggesting otherwise. This cosmic view was held as official doctrine by the Catholic Church until very recently!
The same bible tells us that the earth is flat, the stars are fixed into a solid vault of sky, and the whole is supported by pillars and foundations.
Lets not get into the whole creation myth and all the problems with those claims.
The bible also contains that reliable guide to healthy living from the frothing at the mouth loon Leviticus.Try to live by his edicts and you will quickly go mad.
How anyone can attempt to claim the bible is the inerrant word of god is just blind- it is a heath robinson construct, in part from unknown sources, with false attributions to made up characters,, its supposed facts oral history told after the events portrayed, heavilyedited and redacted with whole gospels left out - As a fact source it is a lot less reliable than wikipedia, lets put it that way.
The bible is a man made construct,heavily edited through the centuries to suit prevailing political and religious thought - in fact, very similar to our understanding of that man made construct that is god - and what "science" is there is mostly observations through the lens of superstition.
Biblical cosmology is a joke.
Biblical cosmology is bunk. The same verses are tortured and twisted to suit different ideas by different people.
The bible tells us that the universe if geocentric. This was such a fundamental part of christian belief that Galileo was accused of heresy and blasphemy for suggesting otherwise. This cosmic view was held as official doctrine by the Catholic Church until very recently!
The same bible tells us that the earth is flat, the stars are fixed into a solid vault of sky, and the whole is supported by pillars and foundations.
Lets not get into the whole creation myth and all the problems with those claims.
The bible also contains that reliable guide to healthy living from the frothing at the mouth loon Leviticus.Try to live by his edicts and you will quickly go mad.
How anyone can attempt to claim the bible is the inerrant word of god is just blind- it is a heath robinson construct, in part from unknown sources, with false attributions to made up characters,, its supposed facts oral history told after the events portrayed, heavilyedited and redacted with whole gospels left out - As a fact source it is a lot less reliable than wikipedia, lets put it that way.
The bible is a man made construct,heavily edited through the centuries to suit prevailing political and religious thought - in fact, very similar to our understanding of that man made construct that is god - and what "science" is there is mostly observations through the lens of superstition.
Biblical cosmology is a joke.
I suspect most clerics will now realise that the assumption the Earth and humans were the centre of everything was in error, but there again in ye olden days the evidene that it was otherwise wasn't obvious. It was a fairly reasonable assumption.
The universe may need to be massive in order to get conditions that allow life to emerge and be sustained to occur without continuous interference. A solar system alone is unlikely to emerge and would ruin the mystery of whether a diety was behind everything or not.
I don't believe the countless worlds thing negates the main beliefs of most of today's believers.
If you are a believer then surely the purpose of the universe would be to give humans, and maybe many other species too, an experience that will be beneficial to them during their permanent existence. As for what the final aim for everything is, you'll have to give God a call and ask.
The universe may need to be massive in order to get conditions that allow life to emerge and be sustained to occur without continuous interference. A solar system alone is unlikely to emerge and would ruin the mystery of whether a diety was behind everything or not.
I don't believe the countless worlds thing negates the main beliefs of most of today's believers.
If you are a believer then surely the purpose of the universe would be to give humans, and maybe many other species too, an experience that will be beneficial to them during their permanent existence. As for what the final aim for everything is, you'll have to give God a call and ask.
It is possible that a diety may never betray a trust, assuming one has the agreement one thinks one has. Unfortunately it is also true that something that does not exist can not betray anything either. One reasonably wants more than someone saying something is so to rely blindly upon it when one need not do so.
//I appreciate that some have trouble seeing the universe as having a purpose. But to they have an explanation for why it came into existence? (Not "how", though I imagine the questions are related.)//
Reason being an emergent quality in a highly evolved universe, wouldn't you need a universe that has been in existence for some time before you could have a reason . . . for anything?
Reason being an emergent quality in a highly evolved universe, wouldn't you need a universe that has been in existence for some time before you could have a reason . . . for anything?
-- answer removed --
jno // I appreciate that some have trouble seeing the universe as having a purpose. But to they have an explanation for why it came into existence? (Not "how", though I imagine the questions are related.) //
Put simply, the universe exists because it can exist.
It is a consequence of the "boundless nothing" that would otherwise be reality.
Two foundational rules apply to everything. All interactions tend towards minimum enthalpy and maximum entropy. Minimum enthlapy means evening out the energy such that it is the same everywhere. Maximum entropy means the system will become completely disordered.
Although minimum energy would decree that there should be nothing, an infinite expanse of nothing would require an infinite amount of orderliness.
Consequently the product of minimum energy and maximum disorder across an infinite system actually results in some places being very ordered and hence the existence of the Universe.
Moreover, some hypotheses suggest that there would be as many as 10^500 different possible Universes all which could exist even though we could not experience them. (To put that number in perspective, take the number of protons in the visible Universe and multiply it by itself five times. You will be getting close by then.)
Little wonder that our Universe and the life in it exists despite that fact that even small changes in some of the fundamental constants would not only make life impossible but matter would not even exist.
And absolutely no need for a creator.
Put simply, the universe exists because it can exist.
It is a consequence of the "boundless nothing" that would otherwise be reality.
Two foundational rules apply to everything. All interactions tend towards minimum enthalpy and maximum entropy. Minimum enthlapy means evening out the energy such that it is the same everywhere. Maximum entropy means the system will become completely disordered.
Although minimum energy would decree that there should be nothing, an infinite expanse of nothing would require an infinite amount of orderliness.
Consequently the product of minimum energy and maximum disorder across an infinite system actually results in some places being very ordered and hence the existence of the Universe.
Moreover, some hypotheses suggest that there would be as many as 10^500 different possible Universes all which could exist even though we could not experience them. (To put that number in perspective, take the number of protons in the visible Universe and multiply it by itself five times. You will be getting close by then.)
Little wonder that our Universe and the life in it exists despite that fact that even small changes in some of the fundamental constants would not only make life impossible but matter would not even exist.
And absolutely no need for a creator.
//Put simply, the universe exists because it can exist.//
Not only can it exist . . . it must. For the universe to be other than what it is, here and now would be contradictory to what it is in that same instant and contradictions are what can not and do not exist in reality.
If you want to know 'Why?' then you must appeal to reason which is the application of logic, the art of non-contradiction, to achieving an objective understanding of ones perceptual experience. Reality does not conform to ones arbitrary beliefs or demands, however strongly one might protest. You will never understand anything about anything, (let alone the universe), until you learn to understand the meaning of meaning and the means and process by which we acquire and assimilate knowledge. Only then will you begin to grasp why if its answers we seek regarding the nature of reality it is our own mind which must conform to reality and not the other way around.
Not only can it exist . . . it must. For the universe to be other than what it is, here and now would be contradictory to what it is in that same instant and contradictions are what can not and do not exist in reality.
If you want to know 'Why?' then you must appeal to reason which is the application of logic, the art of non-contradiction, to achieving an objective understanding of ones perceptual experience. Reality does not conform to ones arbitrary beliefs or demands, however strongly one might protest. You will never understand anything about anything, (let alone the universe), until you learn to understand the meaning of meaning and the means and process by which we acquire and assimilate knowledge. Only then will you begin to grasp why if its answers we seek regarding the nature of reality it is our own mind which must conform to reality and not the other way around.
Hello Answerprancer , still smarting I see, but it's nice to see you in this religious section, but be warned, they don't like abuse even when hidden with asterisks.
Incidentally I'm sure you will appreciate it to know that there is no such word as 'insensed' as used in your post.
Have you seen potterfan3's post in Science its quite good although it does require a belief in a God, but if you do, then it does supply one possible answer to my original question
Incidentally I'm sure you will appreciate it to know that there is no such word as 'insensed' as used in your post.
Have you seen potterfan3's post in Science its quite good although it does require a belief in a God, but if you do, then it does supply one possible answer to my original question
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