I Changed My Mind About God

“I can appreciate your opinion of me; I am glad you have not denigrated me as some would be only to happy to do...”

I find it so sad for you, because you mention you changed your mind away from a belief/faith in God you had once held and that’s not a good a stance, but maybe a necessary one in the grand scheme. He will allow evil to accomplish good, I hope this is one of those times. You mention you have your reasoning for doing so. As long as you are alive and of sound mind, you can come home. How long will you be alive and how long will it take to come back is anybody’s guess if it is to ever occur.

I hope you come back in to the fold, because He still loves you.

That’s all I am going to say on it.

I hope the best for you.

Learn to thank Him for all His blessings in your life.

**********

I heard someone say this & it definitely resonated with me:

“Imagine waking up in the morning and only having the things you thanked God for yesterday.”

“your statement is a non sequetur...”

I don’t think so. If your reasoning boils down to “I believe what I want to believe”, then it isn’t really reasoning at all, it’s just rationalization.

“I said nothing whatsoever about being ‘correct...’”

Come now, you explicitly argued that the number of deities people worship leads you to conclude that they are just “hardwired” to invent supernatural explanations. If they are simply invented by our imaginations, then they are not “correct”, or at least, they could only be “correct” by accident.

“except your god, apparantly;”

No, my God is eternal and uncreated.

“you might answer that God is eternal, I can answer likewise with natural forces...”

But you cannot, because natural forces are, by definition, part of the natural world, which means the observable universe. And we have demonstrated scientifically that the universe has a beginning, so those natural forces also have a beginning and cannot be eternal.

“does that statement not negate the entire validity of divining a god in the first place, that of seeking to bring order, harmony and meaning to life...?”

I’m not sure what you mean by “divining a god” there.

“the Bible expends thousands of words in telling us what God thinks and does and how He expects us to act; do you think the authors thought God would not react to their actions as they would have expected him to in return...?”

Yet this is, if we take the Bible at its word, a revelation from God. There’s no logical reason to think a deity wouldn’t comprehend himself and be able to at least partially describe some of his qualities to us. The problem arises when you go in the opposite direction, thinking that we can intuit the nature of God on our own, while ignoring the fact that our knowledge and faculties are limited and biased.

To use an example, a dog might look at their owner and try to interpret the actions of their owner according to “dog logic”, and come to some strange and wrong conclusions. Yet that doesn’t mean that the owner is also unable to teach the dog some true things about himself in a way that the dog might be able to understand.

JP’s latest:

https://youtu.be/3wmKR8DQLzM?si=B-GBNIn0uo6cevMx

BKMK

👍

Many people will say “..well MY God is.....” as if everyone is entitled to a correct, and different, definition of God.

I find it implausible because I do not accept the existence of the supernatural,

Something to chew on before I go to sleep:

Meaning that the atheist/antitheist position the claim that there is no Creator/God, is one lacking in evidential warrant and requires great faith. For it can only presume that an exceedingly vast, systematically ordered, intricate universe,* exquisitely finely tuned for earthly life with its extensive diversity and astounding complexity - from God’s “Big Bang” to DNA - came to be by known (or potentially known), purely natural demonstrable powers, as if it was Divine, without any supreme supernatural intelligence behind it.

And while man- using His God-given intelligence - has discovered the immediate cause and means of many things (like lighting) that were once attributed by some to be purely supernatural, such is simply a discovery of how God created natural things to work, and which laws He used, which is beside actions which require supernatural creation and organization of matter, and the programming of it.

Moreover, rather than a trajectory of scientific discovery leading to a purely natural explanation of the universe, instead, the more that is discovered then the more perplexing the competing hypotheses become.

[1]

For the Christian the evidence comports to the omniscient omnipotent God of the Bible as being the Ultimate First Cause, organizer and programmer. And who, by His very nature of knowing what every effect will be of every one of man’s choices - not only for this life but for eternity - has in that light a reason for His choices, including enabling man to make his choices and thus realize consequences.

And unlike man, as omnipotent can make all things to ultimately work out for Good, with justice as well as mercy and grace;

And which Being cannot be judged regarding His choices by finite and exceedingly ignorant man as specks in this darkened corner of the universe, existing on earth in but a moment of time. Despite the ignorant railings of antithiests who essential must presume omniscience in charging an all-knowing God of immorality, while themselves have no sure supreme standard for morality, much less knowing what every effect will be of every one of man’s choices and the ability to make it all work out for what is objectively Good in the light of all that can be know.

Many of which atheists even deny a creator as a hypothesis and regardless of whatever evidence could be offered, as well as for the historicity of the Biblical Christ.

It's almost impossible to understand how unfathomably massive our universe truly is

https://www.discovery.org/m/2020/06/Fine-Tuning-Parameters-Jay-Richards.pdf

Fine-Tuning (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

1. Fine-Tuning for Life: the Evidence 1.1 Examples from Physics Our best current theories of fundamental physics are the Standard Model of elementary particle physics and the theory of general relativity. The Standard Model accounts for three of the known four fundamental forces of nature—the strong, the weak, and the electromagnetic force—while general relativity accounts for the fourth—gravity. Arguments according to which our universe is fine-tuned for life are aimed at showing that life could not have existed for the vast majority of other forms of the laws of nature, other values of the constants of nature, and other conditions in the very early universe. The following is an—incomplete—list of suggested instances of fine-tuning for life. (For popular overviews see Leslie 1989: ch. 2, Rees 2000, Davies 2006, and Lewis & Barnes 2016; for more technical ones see Hogan 2000, Uzan 2011, Barnes 2012, Adams 2019 and the contributions to Sloan et al. 2020.) 1.1.1 Fine-tuned constants The strength of gravity, when measured against the strength of electromagnetism, seems fine-tuned for life (Rees 2000: ch. 3; Uzan 2011: sect. 4; Lewis & Barnes 2016: ch. 4). If gravity had been absent or substantially weaker, galaxies, stars and planets would not have formed in the first place. Had it been only slightly weaker (and/or electromagnetism slightly stronger), main sequence stars such as the sun would have been significantly colder and would not explode in supernovae, which are the main source of many heavier elements (Carr & Rees 1979). If, in contrast, gravity had been slightly stronger, stars would have formed from smaller amounts of material, which would have meant that, inasmuch as still stable, they would have been much smaller and more short-lived (Adams 2008; Barnes 2012: sect. 4.7.1). The strength of the strong nuclear force, when measured against that of electromagnetism, seems fine-tuned for life (Rees 2000: ch. 4; Lewis & Barnes 2016: ch. 4). Had it been stronger by more than about \(50\,\%\), almost all hydrogen would have been burned in the very early universe (MacDonald & Mullan 2009). Had it been weaker by a similar amount, stellar nucleosynthesis would have been much less efficient and few, if any, elements beyond hydrogen would have formed. For the production of appreciable amounts of both carbon and oxygen in stars, even much smaller deviations of the strength of the strong force from its actual value would be fatal (Hoyle et al. 1953; Barrow & Tipler 1986: 252–253; Oberhummer et al. 2000; Barnes 2012: sect. 4.7.2). The difference between the masses of the two lightest quarks—the up- and down-quark—seems fine-tuned for life (Carr & Rees 1979; Hogan 2000: sect. 4; Hogan 2007; Adams 2019: sect. 2.25). Partly, the fine-tuning of these two masses obtains relative to the strength of the weak force (Barr & Khan 2007). Changes in the difference between them have the potential to affect the stability properties of the proton and neutron, which are

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fine-tuning/

A fine-tuned universe

Precise facts and figures at work in the cosmos permit the existence of life

https://wng.org/roundups/a-fine-tuned-universe-1617224984

Science quotes on God

'God: new evidence' - the fine tuning of the universe - part 1

When science and philosophy collide in a 'fine-tuned' universe

The Universe Really Is Fine-Tuned, And Our Existence Is The Proof

Somehow, the Universe began with just the right mix of cosmic ingredients to make life possible. It sure doesn't seem likely.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/12/19/the-universe-really-is-fine-tuned-and-our-existence-is-the-proof/?sh=6ef154444b87

Design from Fine-Tuning | Reasonable Faith

Hi, Dr. Craig you’re my favorite Christian philosopher. From listening to your lectures and audio lessons you’re a firm believer that design is the simplest explanation for the fine tuning of the universe. I ran into an article by Richard Carrier “debunking” the fine tuning argument, in a response to James Hannam (bede.org.uk), Richard responded with this, Hannam has failed to show that it is even possible for one constant to change while the others remain the same. For altering one constant may irrevocably alter another, greatly modifying any conclusion we can

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/question-answer/design-from-fine-tuning/

We Live in a Very Fortunate Universe

List of Fine-Tuning Parameters

List of Factors of Fine-Tuning of Intelligent Life in the Universe

Can DNA Prove the Existence of an Intelligent Designer?

[God DNA] Proves Presence of God” says Scientists

82 Mind-Blowing Facts about DNA | FactRetriever.com

'God: new evidence' - the fine tuning of the universe - part 1

Evidence for the Fine Tuning of the Universe

It Takes 26 Fundamental Constants To Give Us Our Universe, But They Still Don't Give Everything

The Universe as We Understand It May Be Impossible

Is There Any Evidence for Jesus Outside the Bible?

Ancient Evidence for Jesus from Non-Christian Sources

Is Jesus Alive?

Amazing Stories, Christian Testimonies, Healing Miracles and Inspirational Stories

Jim had a massive heart attack, flat lined and literally met his Maker. He's alive today and vividly remembers his out of body experience. Born with a deadly heart defect, Ben Breedlove was able to inspire millions at the end of his short life. Colton's 4 year old spirit left his body during an emergency surgery and he experienced heaven with Jesus. Tony was shot multiple times on an L.A. street and actually died. He says he went to heaven, only to be sent back to earth. A former drug dealer, addict and felon overdosed and was pronounced dead. Today, he's an evangelist changing lives with his story. A drug binge put Carl Knighton at death's doorstep. The result was an experience of hell that changed his life forever. An 18-wheeler truck ran into her, and Deerinda went from being trapped in her car to being on the stair steps of Heaven. They called a time of death on Jeff Markin's lifeless body. Then, his doctor heard the Lord say, 'Pray for him.' He had a vision of the afterlife after being stung by a dangerous jellyfish. Rick fell on his head as he was working to restore power after a hurricane. Doctors didn’t expect him to survive. Scott's rebellious nature nearly cost him his marriage and his life. She had lost all bodily functions and almost lost all hope after her auto accident. Then, Julie died just long enough to get a glimpse of the afterlife. Little did Don Piper know he would be late for the service that night--not just by minutes or hours, but by months--and before he got home, he would take a detour he would never forget. Mickey died in a fiery plane crash while doing what he loved, skydiving. He survived, and now shares the visions he had of the afterlife. Living a rebellious life backfired when Jordan experienced a drug overdose. After experiences of heaven and hell, Jordan returned to this life with a passion for God. To Fatuma of Ethiopia, only one day stands out more than the day she died. It is the day she came back to life. Double pneumonia puts Yvonne on life support and in a medically induced coma for six weeks. After an encounter with Jesus, she miraculously wakes up three days before life support is to be stopped. Darnisha was declared dead after a diving accident. What happened next was amazing. What looked like a textbook operation left Jeff Thompson suspended between life and death. Paula longed for the love and affectrion of her father, but she never received it. Instead Paula drifted through life looking to fill the void in a variety of destructive ways. A 16 year old who came from a strict Muslim family in Ghana meets a friend at his school who is a Christian. After growing up under the harsh brand of Islam practiced by her father, Hephzibah was hesitant to share her conversion to Christianity with him. The son of a Hell's Angel, Geronimo Aguilar took to the streets after his father abandoned him and his mother is murdered. Akilah was molested as a child, triggering an attraction to other women. As an adult, s

http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/

Dawkins [essentially] Admits Nothing Can Persuade Him God Exists

*As Albert Einstein observed, " We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations."

Another non-Christian:

“The order of the universe is not an assumption; it’s an observed fact. We detect the light from distant quasars only because the laws of electromagnetism are the same 10 billion light years away as here. The spectra of those quasars are recognizable only because the same chemical elements are present there as here, and because the same laws of quantum mechanics apply. The motion of galaxies around one another follows familiar Newtonian gravity. Gravitational lenses and binary pulsar spin-downs reveal general relativity in the depths of space. We could have lived in a universe with different laws in every province, but we do not. This fact cannot but elicit feelings of reverence and awe.” ― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

"according to many physicists, the fact that the universe is able to support life depends delicately on various of its fundamental characteristics, notably on the form of the laws of nature, on the values of some constants of nature, and on aspects of the universe’s conditions in its very early stages." https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fine-tuning/ A listing of such follows.

“I find it quite improbable that such order came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing principle. God to me is a mystery but is the explanation for the miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing.” - Alan Sandage (winner of the Crawford prize in astronomy) Willford, J.N. March 12, 1991. Sizing up the Cosmos: An Astronomers Quest. New York Times, p. B9.
“Amazing fine tuning occurs in the laws that make this [complexity] possible. Realization of the complexity of what is accomplished makes it very difficult not to use the word ‘miraculous’ without taking a stand as to the ontological status of the word.” - George Ellis (British astrophysicist) Ellis, G.F.R. 1993. The Anthropic Principle: Laws and Environments. The Anthropic Principle, F. Bertola and U.Curi, ed. New York, Cambridge University Press, p. 30
“We are, by astronomical standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures.. .. If the Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in.” - John O’Keefe (astronomer at NASA) Heeren, F. 1995. Show Me God. Wheeling, IL, Searchlight Publications, p. 200.
“As we look out into the universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked together to our benefit, it almost seems as if the universe must in some sense have known that we were coming.” - Professor Freeman J. of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton
“The statistical probability that organic structures and the most precisely harmonized reactions that typify living organisms would be generated by accident, is zero.” - Ilya Prigogine (Chemist-Physicist) Recipient of two Nobel Prizes in chemistry in, "Physics Today" 25, pp. 23-28
“The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be total chaos if any of the natural ‘constants’ were off even slightly. - - Dr. Paul Davies, esteemed author and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Adelaide University.
“...how surprising it is that the laws of nature and the initial conditions of the universe should allow for the existence of beings who could observe it. Life as we know it would be impossible if any one of several physical quantities had slightly different values.” - Professor Steven Weinberg (Nobel Laureate in High Energy Physics [a field of science that deals with the very early universe], writing in the journal “Scientific American”.)
16O has exactly the right nuclear energy level either to prevent all the carbon from turning into oxygen or to facilitate sufficient production of 16O for life. Fred Hoyle, who discovered these coincidences in 1953, concluded that “a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology.” - Hoyle, Fred. “The Universe: Past and Present Reflections,” in Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 20. (1982), p.16 (for more of these coincidences click here)
“If you equate the probability of the birth of a bacteria cell to chance assembly of its atoms, eternity will not suffice to produce one… Faced with the enormous sum of lucky draws behind the success of the evolutionary game, one may legitimately wonder to what extent this success is actually written into the fabric of the universe.” - Christian de Duve. “A Guided Tour of the Living Cell” (Nobel laureate and organic chemist)
“...The capacity of DNA to store information vastly exceeds that of any other known system: it is so efficient that all the information needed to specify an organism as complex as man weighs less than a few thousand millionths of a gram. The information necessary to specify the design of all the species of organisms which have ever existed on the planet…could be held in a teaspoon and there would still be room left for all the information in every book ever written…” - Dr. Michael Denton (Australian microbiologist)

Does Dawkins exist?

Do you believe Richard Dawkins exists? by Ellen Barrington Photo by Matti Á, flickr.com Do you believe in Richard Dawkins? If your answer was yes, why? Most of us have assumed Dawkins’ existence based on very little evidence. I for one have never met him. And though I’ve seen a couple of pieces of video footage, a few pictures and his name as author on a number of books, when you think about it, it’s not that substantial. I’ve seen video clips and pictures of ‘Santa Claus’, too. And authors use pseudonyms all the time, so there’s no telling who really wrote The God Delusion or The Greatest Show on Earth . By now you’re probably thinking, ‘Of course he exists; I’ve never seen direct evidence but I have good reason to believe he does.’ And even though your belief is based on faith, it’s a reasonable faith to hold. Ultimately, nothing in this world can be scientifically proven with 100% certainty. As humans with fallible reasoning and limited resources, we often have to come to similarly faith-based conclusions, based on the weight of evidence. We use such reasoning, involving logical deductions and inferences, frequently in everyday life. It’s why I’ve come to believe that I am surrounded in air, even though I can’t see it. And it’s why I believe that there is a country called Uzbekistan, thousands of kilometres away from my home, even though I’ve never been there. In fact, I would argue that I have seen far more evidence for the existence of God than for the existence of Dawkins. In the same way, I have also been convinced that there is a God who created the world and everything in it, specifically the God of the Bible. In fact, I would argue that I have seen far more evidence for the existence of God than for the existence of Dawkins. Skeptical? Let’s look at some of the evidence for a Creator God. God cannot be directly measured or detected by scientific means, and the larger scientific community claims that this is a good reason to deny His existence. Dr Scott Todd, an immunologist at Kansas State University, once stated that “even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic”. 1 In other words, supernatural creation, and miracles, are ruled out philosophically , whether true or not. The existence of everything around us Most evolutionists believe that the matter and energy in the entire universe, and the laws of physics themselves, ultimately appeared from nothing, out of nowhere, for no reason. Then the astronomical universe—the orderly system of stars, galaxies and planets—came into existence through entirely natural processes, all by itself. If we were to assume the truth of this astonishing claim, the next question is how life arose on earth. Evolutionists claim it occurred by abiogenesis, i.e. life arising from non-living matter, by itself. Yet current scientific evidence only supports biogenesis, i.e. that life arises from living matter. Biogenesis is one of

https://creation.com/does-dawkins-exist

Science quotes on God

THE WHIRLPOOL GALAXY “The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books - a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.” - Albert Einstein “The statistical probability that organic structures and the most precisely harmonized reactions that typify living organisms would be generated by accident, is zero.” - Ilya Prigogine (Chemist-Physicist) Recipient of two Nobel Prizes in chemistry I. Prigogine, N. Gregair, A. Babbyabtz, Physics Today 25, pp. 23-28 “The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be total chaos if any of the natural ‘constants’ were off even slightly. You see,” Davies adds, “even if you dismiss man as a chance happening, the fact remains that the universe seems unreasonably suited to the existence of life—almost contrived—you might say a ‘put-up job’.” - Dr. Paul Davies (noted author and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Adelaide University) “...how surprising it is that the laws of nature and the initial conditions of the universe should allow for the existence of beings who could observe it. Life as we know it would be impossible if any one of several physical quantities had slightly different values.” - Professor Steven Weinberg (Nobel Laureate in High Energy Physics [a field of science that deals with the very early universe], writing in the journal “Scientific American”.) “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.” - Isaac Newton (“General Scholium,” in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Isaac Newton. 1687) 16O has exactly the right nuclear energy level either to prevent all the carbon from turning into oxygen or to facilitate sufficient production of 16O for life. Fred Hoyle, who discovered these coincidences in 1953, concluded that “a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology.” - Hoyle, Fred. “The Universe: Past and Present Reflections,” in Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 20. (1982), p.16 (for more of these coincidences click here) “If you equate the probability of the birth of a bacteria cell to chance assembly of its atoms, eternity will not suffice to produce one… Faced with the enormous sum of lucky draws behind the success of the evolutionary game, one may legitimately wonder to what extent this success is actually written into the fabric of the universe.” - Christian de Duve. “A Guided Tour of the Living Cell” (Nobel laureate and organic chemist) Probably the leading paleonto

https://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/science-quotes/

A list of 60 aspects is , cited as regards the above is https://wng.org/roundups/a-fine-tuned-universe-1617224984https://www.biola.edu/blogs/biola-magazine/2010/can-dna-prove-the-existence-of-an-intelligent-desi https://spaceupper.com/god-dna-proves-presence-of-god-says-scientists/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220402043932/https://godandscience.org/apologetics/designun.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/ethansiegel/2015/08/22/it-takes-26-fundamental-constants-to-give-us-our-universe-but-they-still-dont-give-everything/?sh=62e102bf4b86

“The church has gone gay. its leader, the pope...”

The pope is the leader of the denomination known as Catholicism, not the Church that Jesus created.

Jesus’ Church is the total of all Born Again Repentant Christians who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Oh, and I doubt a denomination can completely “go gay”

Very nice, enlightening...for him AND us.

It’s like he is an “accidental Christian.”

I liked his mentioning how much evil there is now, and it’s growing.

The positive thing about that is, is that it got him leaning away from evil.

And that leaning away got him leaning towards God.

Instead if just being “spiritual”

I find that a lot of people are spiritual, and think that is enough.
How nice for JP that he didn’t get stuck there like many people do.

Scripture says that what Satan means for evil, God can use for the good. This is a good example of that Truth.

So much is going the wrong way, in the world as well as here in our own country, that it is awakening many people to the alternative; ie, that is looking for the good.

And that is towards God, because God IS GOOD!

I don’t remember hearing him mention Jesus, but maybe in a future video.

Never heard of this guy before, but I find myself liking him quite a lot.

Why am I not surprised that you have a lot to say about this?

Nice to see you Daniel, I always appreciate your posts.

Truth and Facts are food for the soul and spirit.

Thanks for weighing in sir.

If you ever saw his comedic videos, I think you would find this one even more remarkable.

I cannot tell you how many people I know that if I asked “are you a person of Faith?”, the answer would be “well ... I’m spiritual”. JP hit that nail (& quite a few more) directly on the head.

Why am I not surprised that you have a lot to say about this? Nice to see you Daniel, I always appreciate your posts. Truth and Facts are food for the soul and spirit. Thanks for weighing in sir.

Glory to God for what is good, but my post lacked the formatting of my source.

[[“If you equate the probability of the birth of a bacteria cell to chance assembly of its atoms, eternity will not suffice to produce one]]

Not only is it true that even one assembly by natural forces is impossible- beyond the realm of probability-, but the fact is that the anti-god/creation folks would have us believe that billions of assemblies took place- and billions of ‘positive mutations’ took place, all ending up exactly precise enough to advance life along- There just aren’t enough trillions of years to accomplish such an natural accomplishment as that- The Supernatural HAD TO direct creation because nature is totally incapable of creating life- heck, it can’t even create a single cell on it’s own without INTELLIGENT Design running the show (ie the experiment where carefully controlled conditions were created in order to facilitate the creation of amino acids- problem is, without intelligent design interfering, they would not have survived because right hand aminos destroy left hand aminos when in proximity to one another- So the intelligent designers of the experiment had to artificially and unnaturally separate the two-

on aND ON it goes- the chance of one mutation ADDING non species specific new information necessary for actual macro evolution is so far beyond the probability limit that it can’t happen- forget about billions of “positive mutations” happening in order for life to arise ‘naturally’ from nothing