New Stars

[naomi24]

I've just watched Horizon. Did anyone see it? Very interesting - and thought provoking. Hence this question.

If god created the universe and finished the work as the bible tells us, why are new stars continually being formed, and what is creating them? Is it god or is it nature? If it's god, then the bible must be inaccurate since clearly the universe is constantly changing and his work isn't finished.

Christians tell us that god did all this in order to glorify himself and to enable us here on earth to tell the seasons, but why would he continue, even today, to create stars at such great distances from earth that we need Hubble to see them? Sorry, don't mean to sound cynical, but that's not much use to farmers is it?

[fairkatrina]

Be as cynical as you like, these problems are challenging all religions. Ultimately I see all religion as a nice idea, but nothing more. It must be very comforting to believe that you will live forever in one form or another, and that there is an existential parental figure looking after you all your life, who you can blame for everything that ever goes wrong. Ultimately however, religion was nothing more than the tool used to control people before there were laws.

[Llamatron]

Well, it's yet more proof (as if any more were needed) that it's all just a load of bo11ocks isn't it.

But it wont help to open the eyes of the deluded when belief requires no proof in the first place.

[jake-the-peg]

I think this is an old and fruitless battleground. Religious literalists will just say "you've got it wrong" either in interpretaion or your science and the argument goes nowhere.

More progressive religous types shift the ground and say God used the Big Bang to create the Universe.

The really sophisticated apologists challenge us to explain the apparent fine tuning in the universe's creation which we are unable to do with authority and may never be able to to if indeed we are one of many universes which we cannot observe.

In any case there is always an answer because whatever we discover religion can always claim was the creation of a greater being

The real battleground is in the soul. This is a concept key to all religions and one on which they rely - show that the soul is an illusion and they have nowhere to go.

How many of them would spend their Sundays glorifying God if they didn't think there was going to be a quid pro quo?

[naomi24]

I've asked that question in the past, Jake. Not surprisingly it got no response.

[luna-tic]

Human life or indeed any life on any planet in this or other universes I think are always changing,growing,learning,ending and starting over but as a people in this Earthly incarnation; We have not gained enough experience or regained enough knowledge from our ancient ancestors to fully understand our true way of being.
That probably sounds very mystical or maybe even trite (or tripe) but it's just my thoughts.
I don't know much about the god of biblical fashion,having only read a few pages and then used it as a coaster for my mug of Ovaltine but it seemed quite fanciful to me and did have some relative philosophical passages.
:0 }

[lobbert]

if you know anything about mental health, you will be aware of delusions. dr raj persaud in his book explains about part of the brain that thinks about god. this can be stimulated to make you believe you are having a religious experience. it can also be taken away. a godotomy. so you will no longer believe. crazy huh. but makes perfect sense