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How would you respond to this argument: "Since science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God, then it's possible he exists"?
Quora.com ^ | Updated 12-10-23 | Daniel Hamilton

Posted on 12/10/2023 12:53:16 PM PST by daniel1212

Partly, by responding that scientific discovery and knowledge does not warrant the premise that the universe and everything therein can (at least someday) all be attributed to purely natural processes.

Meaning that the atheist/antitheist position 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, 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 causes and means of many things (like lighting) that were once attributed by some to purely supernatural causes, these are discoveries of how God created natural things to work, using laws He ordained, yet which are beside actions for organization of matter, and the programming of it which require supernatural powers and intelligence.

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 competing hypotheses become

[1]
and the more absurd the atheistic denial of a creator becomes.

For the Christian the evidence comports to the omniscient omnipotent God of the Bible as being the Ultimate First Cause, organizer and programmer.

Moreover, addressing the moral argument of antithiests, God, due to 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 choices between alternatives - right or wrong - (unlike perfect robots) and thus effect consequences, for good as well as for bad, which to varying degrees affect others.

And unlike man, as omnipotent, God alone 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.

*

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

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

3.

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

4.

5. Science quotes on God

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

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

8.

9.

10. We Live in a Very Fortunate Universe

11. List of Fine-Tuning Parameters

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

13. Can DNA Prove the Existence of an Intelligent Designer?

14. [God DNA] Proves Presence of God” says Scientists

15. 82 Mind-Blowing Facts about DNA | FactRetriever.com

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

17. Evidence for the Fine Tuning of the Universe

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

19. The Universe as We Understand It May Be Impossible

Is There Any Evidence for Jesus Outside the Bible?

20. Ancient Evidence for Jesus from Non-Christian Sources

21. Is Jesus Alive?

22.

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

23. Genesis Impact

24. Dawkins [essentially] Admits Nothing Can Persuade Him God Exists

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

25.

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

A list of 60 aspects are cited as regards the above is https://wng.org/roundups/a-fine-tuned-universe-1617224984

Quotes:

Science quotes on God

"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)

As regards “order,” from 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

*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."

“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)

For non-seeking atheists, like their rebel master, their denial of God and rejection of a supreme judge even as a hypothesis, their adament position due to their unconscious desire to be as God, as the supreme judge (atheism being a progression of idolatry) rather than being subject to Him.

Thus, they effectively presume omniscience in sitting in moral judgment upon an omniscient and omnipotent creator (at least of the Bible). Who cannot be judged since the choices of an omniscient and omnipotent creator are made in the light of His unique knowledge of what all the effects will be of every choice, not only in this brief time, but for eternity.

And who can - as He promises to do - make all to work out for what is Good, with justice towards the idolaters, and mercy and grace toward those who want what God represents, and thus seek and find The Light, The Way The Truth and The Life, by the grace of God. (Romans 2:7


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Evangelical Christian; Religion & Science
KEYWORDS: creationism; evolution
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To: daniel1212

Just consider Jupiter...and tell me that there *absolutely* is no God.


81 posted on 12/10/2023 3:45:14 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (Proudly Clinging To My Guns And My Religion)
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To: metmom

No. It’s being able to replicate the results with falsifiable testing.


82 posted on 12/10/2023 3:45:29 PM PST by Fuzz (. )
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To: Hot Tabasco
If a God exists, why has He manifested himself in so may other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism? And why do Christians believe that their religion is the one and only and takes precedence over all the others?

The answer to both is rather simple: The ability to make choices=alternatives, while Truth is exclusive by nature.

1. The ability to make choices (vs. being a robot) is meaningless unless there are alternatives to choose btwn.

2. God thus allowed Lucifer to choose to try an "Occupy Movement," that of breaking into the administration building, I mean presuming,
"I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High," (Isaiah 14:13-14)

3. Being cast down ("for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" - Luke 18:14) then as the Original Liberal/Communist, in his unending quest for power, he worked to seduce Eve via the victim entitlement mentality, essentially inferring that she was a victim of injustice due to God forbidding her to obtain godhood, and thus she was deceived into thinking she was justified in obtaining this status by an act of disobedience via shoplifting something that was attractive to the eyes, the flesh, and the ego. Adam however, knew what he was doing but choose to essentially made his wife as god for the moment.

4. Since there must be and are alternatives to choose btwn - and a devil to seduce souls with false gods - then there are many different created things to choose rather than the one True Creator of all that is good. But only an omniscient, omnipotent Being is worthy to be your God, which means whatever is your ultimate object of security, and allegiance, and spiritual affection, for all created things are finite, prone to faults, and will ultimately fail.

5. Since Truth is ultimately exclusive by nature, even though sharing some commonalities, then only one a competing deities, earthly and heavenly can be the right one, thus only one basic faith can be the right one.

6. The purpose of this ability to choose and of competition is to manifest what each person will choose, as God seeks Truth in the inward part, and those who truly want what God is, comes to Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. John 2:19-21; 14:6

7. When compared with others, Christianity stands far above all others in comprehensive ancient revelation in scope and depy, wisdom, moral depth and qualities, and experiential reality 8. What you do with the degree of Truth you have - while you have it - beginning with conscience, affects how much more you will receive, (John 12:35,36: Romans 2:7,8) while spurning and rejecting this grace will ultimately mean ending up deceived (Matthew 6:21-23) and in eternal darkness, (Matthew 8:12) and with eternal punishment relative to your accountability and iniquity. (Acts 20:11-15) in contrast to the Children of Light. (Ephesians 5:8)

(Note that Pluralism itself does not solve the problem of Truth is exclusive by nature, since that itself would be presuming to be the one true belief.)

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:18-21)
Hope this helps. http://peacebyjesus.net
83 posted on 12/10/2023 3:47:33 PM PST by daniel1212 (Turn 2 the Lord Jesus who saves damned+destitute sinners on His acct, believe, b baptized+follow HIM)
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To: GSWarrior

I do believe that Jesus is/was/always will be the Son of God, there is a Holy Trinity:Father, The Word, The Holy Ghost and these three are one, and salvation is freely offered through the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God. How do I know? I was shown my sinful self, in comparison to His perfection. I know what He has done in my life, I know the relationship I have with Him. Proof? Don’t need it. I know.


84 posted on 12/10/2023 4:01:51 PM PST by RoadGumby (This is not where I belong, Take this world and give me Jesus.)
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To: Rockingham
physics, the hardest and most rigorous branch of science, now contradicts the view that material existence is all that there is. Indeed, consciousness is woven into quantum mechanics, the fundamental explanation of matter and energy. Quantum entanglement, which arises from the wave-particle duality of energy and matter, is well-recognized and firmly established.

Thanks, a very good addition. Should I add Quantum entanglement to the list of keywords?

On that basis, scrupulous atheists now have to take consciousness seriously. Like matter, it seems plausible that the realm of consciousness is organized in some manner. For humans at least, this implies the existence of a soul as well as the existence of other conscious entities -- perhaps even God as a Supreme Being.

Not likely the latter, for while the existence of aliens and "space seed" is allowed as a hypothesis, usually a creator-judge is verbotten.

85 posted on 12/10/2023 4:02:05 PM PST by daniel1212 (Turn 2 the Lord Jesus who saves damned+destitute sinners on His acct, believe, b baptized+follow HIM)
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To: tired&retired

Your post reminded me of a conversation I had with a schizophrenic homeless guy once. Well, it wasn’t much of a conversation honestly, I just listened.


86 posted on 12/10/2023 4:08:40 PM PST by Fuzz (. )
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To: daniel1212

at one time, ‘it’ was either magick/sorcery or the gods.a time later, it was still ‘m’/’s’ or the go d.
a time more, the debate between the god or neginning science.
today, you have that half-boat buildet in kenticky stating its all the god, the atheist stating no god, the scientist pushing back on no god and its m/s.

whatever is experiential to the individual, is best defimed in the box of the individual, because that which happened cannot be duplivated for verification.
whether that be divine, m/s, or happenstance.


87 posted on 12/10/2023 4:19:27 PM PST by Terry L Smith
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To: tired&retired

You’ve jammed FM Receivers?
.
You are My best Buddy !


88 posted on 12/10/2023 4:22:49 PM PST by Big Red Badger (The Truman Show)
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To: tired&retired; .45 Long Colt; Apple Pan Dowdy; BDParrish; Big Red Badger; BlueDragon; boatbums; ...
The first step is to define, “What is God?” I define God as any level of consciousness that exists above the level I am currently at.

And thus, "Our level of consciousness who art in Heaven."

I have passed through this and entered Heaven many times, most recently in October during surgery when I left my body. I’ve also gone there many times guiding people when they die. I call this lower level of Heaven the recycling level for souls that are growing but have not grown to transcend self or the physical body. Death is not graduation, it is merely a semester break. Transcendence is graduation as it allows a person to move above the lower level of Heaven

I can add that to collection of erroneous esoterica. Wherever Scripture clearly speaks of the next conscious reality for those who die in that effectual faith then it is with the Lord, at death or His return (Lk. 23:43 [cf. 2Cor. 12:4; Rv. 2:7]; Phil 1:23; 2Cor. 5:8 [“we”]; 1Cor. 15:51ff'; 1Thess. 4:17)
Note in the latter case all believers were assured that if the Lord returned, which they expected in their lifetime, so would they “ever be with the Lord.” (1Thes. 4:17) though they were still undergoing growth in grace, as was Paul, who expressed he would go to be with the Lord at death, yet was not already perfect. (Phil. 3:10f)

. Paul spoke of this Higher Heaven in Acts.

He spoke of the third heaven in 2 Co. 12:4. The first would logically be this atmosphere, the second, space.

Your soul actually expands to where the entire earth exists within you. This is what Jesus experienced when He came out of the wilderness and dtsted “My Father and I are One.”

Nonsense, are you on drugs?

I knew I was in Heaven due to both the feeling of Love and the bright Light. Everything looked brighter. All the colors were more brilliant and actually glowed. This is how they appear when you perceive with your expanded consciousness beyond your physical body.

If not something like the church of LSD.

89 posted on 12/10/2023 4:24:03 PM PST by daniel1212 (Turn 2 the Lord Jesus who saves damned+destitute sinners on His acct, believe, b baptized+follow HIM)
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To: daniel1212

Priviledge Planet movie.


90 posted on 12/10/2023 4:32:15 PM PST by reviled downesdad (Some of the lost will never believe the Truth and will hate you for it.)
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To: All

I would not look to science to assist with this question, but in the narrow consideration of logic, the statement is true, if science cannot prove or disprove existence (of anything, God or otherwise), then it could exist. Believers have faith that God does exist. They may rely on personal experiences or they may look at what they see as overwhelming evidence that the universe and in particular our planet were intelligently designed.

Even so, if God created the universe, then we are left with a really unsolvable mystery, what was God’s origin before the universe? I think there are two possibilities, (1) God existed before the universe was created, or (2) God came into existence somewhere in the universe after that happened. Once in existence, God would have the powers to travel in space and time and could have been “present” at the creation even if it also happened before his existence.

For those who would want to say, oh no, God was definitely the creator of our universe, that’s fine, I don’t know, but it simply kicks the can down the road to whatever previous universe existed before God existed, or we are left with the concept that God existed before everything existed, including previous universes. I cannot totally wrap my mind around such a paradox but I freely admit that my inability to comprehend is not any sort of proof of a negative, just a shortcoming in my mortal understanding.

Personally, I see no chance that there is no God. If there was not the God of our understanding (Biblical, Yahweh, father of Jesus Christ) then inevitably some future being in the universe would evolve to obtain god-like powers anyway. An interesting question is this, can God do everything, or just more things than any other creation? For example, can God be in two places at the same time? Can God add 2 and 2 to get 17? Can God hit a hole in one on every hole including par fives? You see what I am getting at, not to be facetious, but it is sufficient for God to be much more powerful than us to merit our worship and service. God would not have to be able to do anything no matter how illogical. So the definition of God is important, is it a being without any limits at all, or a being with superior powers to other beings? At what point does an evolving being “become” God? What happens if one does and there already is a God?

I don’t know the answers to any of these questions.


91 posted on 12/10/2023 4:33:22 PM PST by Peter ODonnell (Prayers up for Jim Robinson and family ... an island of sanity in a sea of madness. )
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To: Hot Tabasco
And why do Christians believe that their religion is the one and only

See post 20.

92 posted on 12/10/2023 4:34:25 PM PST by JesusIsLord ( )
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To: daniel1212
The great German physicist and pioneer of quantum mechanics, Max Planck, stated: “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” The Observer, 25 January 1931.

The scientific exploration of consciousness is only beginning. Already though, using the human mind under controlled circumstances, hypnotic regression and mediumship tend to produce consistent results that include descriptions of human souls as eternal and as deriving from "source" as a supreme universal consciousness.

The funny thing about aliens and space seed theories is that they defer but do not answer the question of who created the aliens. And if one goes in for ETs and the like, what argument can be made against taking the results of hypnotic regression and mediumship seriously?

93 posted on 12/10/2023 4:41:28 PM PST by Rockingham (`)
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To: daniel1212
I once posted comments by Stephen Hawking about this topic from his book A Brief History of Time. I don't think I have a link to the original post, but I do have what I posted in a text file.

Here are some passages from A Brief History of Time. This book is full of spirituality.

From chapter 4, The Uncertainty Principle:

The doctrine of scientific determinism was strongly resisted by many people, who felt that it infringed God's freedom to intervene in the world, but it remained the standard assumption of science until the early years of this century...

The quantum hypothesis explained the observed rate of emission of radiation from hot bodies very well, but its implications for determinism were not realized until 1926, when another German scientist, Werner Heisenberg, formulated his famous uncertainty principle. In order to predict the future position and velocity of a particle, one has to be able to measure its present position and velocity accurately...

...In other words, the more accurately you try to measure the position of the particle, the less accurate you can measure its speed, and vice versa...

The uncertainty principle had profound implications for the way in which we view the world. Even after more than fifty years they have not been fully appreciated by many philosophers, and are still the subject of much controversy. The uncertainty principle signaled an end to Laplace's dream of a theory of science, a model of the universe that would be completely deterministic: one certainly cannot predict the future state of the universe precisely! We could still imagine that there is a set of laws that determine events completely for some supernatural being, who could observe the present state of the universe without disturbing it.

From chapter 8, The Origin and Fate of the Universe

Science seems to have uncovered a set of laws that, within the limits of the uncertainty principle, tell us how the universe will develop with time, if we know its state at any one time. These laws may have originally been decreed by God, but it appears that he has since left the universe ti evolve according to them and dies not now intervene in it. But how did he choose the initial state or configuration of the universe? What were the "boundary conditions" at the beginning of time?

One possible answer is to say that God chose the initial configuration of the universe for reasons that we cannot hope to understand. This would certainly been within the power of an omnipotent being, but if he had started it off in such an incomprehensible way, why did he choose to let it evolve according to laws that we could understand? The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.

...This means that the initial state of the universe must have been very carefully chosen indeed if the hot big bang model was correct right back to the beginning of time. It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.

...If Euclidean space-time stretches back to infinite imaginary time, or else starts at a singularity in imaginary time, we have the same problem as in the classical theory of specifying the initial state of the universe: God may know how the universe began, but we cannot give any particular reason for thinking it began one way rather than another. On the one hand, the quantum theory of gravity has opened up a new possibility, in which there would be no boundary to space-time and so there would be no need to specify the behavior at the boundary. There would be no singularities at which the laws of science broke down and no edge of the space-time at which one would have to appeal to God or some new law to set the boundary conditions for space-time. One could say: "The boundary condition of the universe is that is has no boundary." The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE.

...The idea that space and time may form a closed surface without boundary also has profound implications for the role of God in the affairs of the universe. With the success of scientific theories in describing events, most people have come to believe that God allows the universe to evolve according to a set of laws and does not intervene in the universe to break these laws. However, the laws do not tell us what the universe should have looked like when it started -- it would still be up to God ti wind up the clockwork and choose how to start it off. So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?

From chapter 10, The Unification of Physics

But can there really be a unified theory? Or are we perhaps chasing a mirage? There seems to be three possibilities: 1) There really is is a complete unified theory, which we will someday discover if we are smart enough. 2) There is no ultimate theory of the universe, just an infinite sequence of theories that describe the universe more and more accurately. 3) There is no theory of the universe; events cannot be predicted beyond a certain extent but occur in a random and arbitrary manner.

Some would argue for the third possibility on the grounds that if there were a complete set of laws, that would infringe on God's freedom to change his mind and intervene in the world. It's a bit like the old paradox: Can God make a stone so heavy that he can't lift it? But the idea that God might want to change his mind is an example of the fallacy, pointed out by St. Augustine, of imagining God as a being existing in time: time is a property only of the universe that God created. Presumably, he knew what he intended when he set it up!

With the advent of quantum mechanics, we have come to recognized that events cannot be predicted with complete accuracy but that there is always a degree of uncertainty. If one likes, one could ascribe this randomness to the intervention of God, but it would be a very strange kind of intervention: there is no evidence that it is directed toward any purpose. Indeed, if it were, it would by definition not be random. In modern times, we have removed the third possibility above by redefining the goal of science: our aim is to formulate a set of laws that enables us to predict events only up to the limit set by the uncertainty principle.

From chapter 11, Conclusion:

We find ourselves in a bewildering world. We want to make sense of what we see around us and ask: What is the nature of the universe? What is our place in it and where did it and we come from? Why is it the way it is?

...The success of these laws led Laplace at the beginning of the nineteenth century to postulate scientific determinism, that is, he suggested that there would be a set of laws that would determine the evolution of the universe precisely, given the configuration at one time.

Laplace's determinism was incomplete in two ways. It did not say how the laws should be chosen, and it did not specify the initial configuration of the universe. These were left to God. God would choose how the universe began and what laws it obeyed, but he would not intervene in the universe once it had been started. In effect, God was confined to the areas that nineteenth-century science did not understand.

...In effect, we have redefined the task of science to be the discovery of laws that will enable us to predict events up to the limits set by the uncertainty principle. The question remains, however: How or why were the laws and the initial state of the universe chosen?

...These singularities would be an end of time for anyone who fell into the black hole. At the Big Bang and other singularities, all laws would have broken down, so God would still have had complete freedom to choose what happened and how the universe began.

...But if the universe is completely self-contained, with no singularities or boundaries, and completely described by a unified theory, that has profound implications for the role of God as Creator.

Einstein once asked the question: "How much choice did God have in constructing the universe?" If the no boundary proposal is correct, he had no freedom at all to choose initial conditions. He would, of course, still have had the freedom to choose the laws that the universe obeyed. This, however, may not really have been that much of a choice; there may well be only one, or a small number, of complete unified theories... that are self-consistent and allow the existence of structures as complicated as human beings who can investigate the laws of the universe and ask about the nature of God.

...Up to now, most scientists have been too preoccupied with the development of new theories that describe what the universe is to ask the question why? On the other hand, the people whose business it is to ask why, the philosophers, have not been able to keep up with the advancement of scientific theories.

...However, if we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we would know the mind of God.

-PJ

94 posted on 12/10/2023 4:43:43 PM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: daniel1212

The author is verbose and too wordy. Try this: if everything had a beginning, then nothing would start. True. Thus, there is one thing that did not have a beginning and has always been here. The Father. Case closed.


95 posted on 12/10/2023 5:03:41 PM PST by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson.)
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To: daniel1212

bkmk


96 posted on 12/10/2023 5:13:36 PM PST by Faith65 (Isaiah 40:31 )
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To: tired&retired
I define God as any level of consciousness that exists above the level I am currently at. My Fathers Mansion has many rooms, and each room is a different level of consciousness.

You need to repent and put your faith in the God of Scripture, not some fabricated idea of what you have concerning God. The god of your own making cannot save you. It's an idol.

Your posts have always indicated a real lack of knowledge of God and Scripture, and this comment of yours proves it.

God is God, not some level of consciousness above your own. You are messing with the demonic and will pay a serious price for it.

97 posted on 12/10/2023 5:26:55 PM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.)
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To: Fuzz

I know God and some version of heaven and hell exists because of faith.


98 posted on 12/10/2023 5:43:37 PM PST by Boomer (The Long Winter is coming...)
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To: montanajoe

Will know for sure when we drop dead...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And you know this how?


99 posted on 12/10/2023 5:48:37 PM PST by fortes fortuna juvat (Biden left our troops to die in Afghanistan and our military equipment to our enemy. Never forget.)
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To: MotorCityBuck

At the end of the day it’s all about faith in the unproven.
We all choose our own path.
Anyone that tells you they “Know” is full of Sh*t.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yep, that says it all!


100 posted on 12/10/2023 5:50:36 PM PST by fortes fortuna juvat (Biden left our troops to die in Afghanistan and our military equipment to our enemy. Never forget.)
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