My response to the statement I still believe God exists

2015-01-13

azim58 - My response to the statement I still believe God exists

I don't understand why you feel like you need to say "I still believe God
exists." I don't see why you should believe this. There is definitely a
possibility that there are more superior beings than us in the universe.
In fact, I think this is likely given the vastness of the universe and
our small part in it. There is also a possibility that superior beings
created us and are even watching over us, but do we have any evidence of
this? No we don't. Some people may claim that the intricate complexity
and beauty found throughout the universe and in living things is a
testament of a creator. However, with the findings of the last few
centuries we have discovered that complex, intricate, and beautiful
things can arise from simple rules with no overseeing ruler. One such
finding would be the discovery of evolution by Darwin, and computational
findings have been outlined by Alan Turing and Stephen Wolfram with his
cellular automata in the book "A New Kind of Science".

One of the interesting things to think about is that we think that we
create things (part of the reason we think there must be a creator when
we see order in the universe is because we often create ordered things
ourselves). However, I think we have a lot less control over our
creations and thoughts than we imagine. We have a lot less free will than
we think we do. We are all the products of our genes and the way our
environment has shaped us. John had some good lines for this in the
Watchmen:

Perhaps the world is not made.
Perhaps NOTHING is made. <- (I like this line a lot because it suggests
that not even we are making things; not like we think we are)
A clock without a craftsmen. <- (reference to the deists who often
referred to clocks; God setup the universe (the clock) and is now just
letting it run by itself; the founding fathers of America (Thomas
Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, etc.) were mostly deists)

I think the only thing a person can rationally be is agnostic. "Agnostic"
literally means "a" without "gnosis" knowledge. We are all without
knowledge. Our understanding of the universe and how it works is very
primitive. So let's just try to find out more without claiming to know
things that we don't in the meantime.

Anyway, that's my take.

-Kurt

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