Adam5 Posted May 16, 2014 Posted May 16, 2014 Hi All, I have been thinking of posting this for a while... One of the most common reasons given by Christians to explain belief in God is cause and effect. The apostle Paul puts it as follows: Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made." Humankind looked at nature, and assumed a creator. The effects of nature are seen, and due to our limited knowledge of science, are ignorant of the causes. Ancient man due to superstition and ignorance would see lightening and thunder, and natural wonders and ascribe gods as the unknow causes of these natural phenomena. After thousands of years man reflected on the gods, and to simplify things reduced the number of gods to one single God. The effects of nature are not properly understood, and many people dont take time to study them properly. So because of lack of understanding of science and nature, ancient man invented God. Do you agree? Your thoughts?
FreeThinkerNZ Posted May 17, 2014 Posted May 17, 2014 Yep I pretty much agree. This stuff never occurred to me until I had deconverted.
wanderinstar Posted May 17, 2014 Posted May 17, 2014 I agree. Many christans see God as the un-caused first cause of course with no evidence or at least decent logic to confirm this claim. I am content to accept that the universe just 'is' there is no decent evidence for a sepearate creator.
Gamecock1973 Posted May 17, 2014 Posted May 17, 2014 I have never understood the "look at nature and creation and God is so obvious!" argument/mantra. Especially when the same christians will tell you in the next sentence how the world is going to hell in a handbasket and that is a sign of the end times. Even when I was a christian, I was uncomfortable with the "God is obvious is creation" apologetic, because it is such a matter of subjective perspective. Mountains and sunsets and babies' births are beautiful, but what about earthquakes, tornadoes, cancer, flesh-eating diseases, and horrendous birth defects? The animal kingdom is incredibly cruel. Writing off such natural events as "a result of the fall" always seemed like a lame cop-out to me. If you're going to say nature reflects the glory of god, you can't just ignore the parts of nature that don't!
RipVanWinkle Posted May 18, 2014 Posted May 18, 2014 "Even when I was a christian, I was uncomfortable with the "God is obvious is creation" apologetic, because it is such a matter of subjective perspective. Mountains and sunsets and babies' births are beautiful, but what about earthquakes, tornadoes, cancer, flesh-eating diseases, and horrendous birth defects? The animal kingdom is incredibly cruel. Writing off such natural events as "a result of the fall" always seemed like a lame cop-out to me. If you're going to say nature reflects the glory of god, you can't just ignore the parts of nature that don't! " Gamecock1973 The deceptive character of apologists cannot be overestimated. These guys don't say things like "God is obvious in creation" because believe it's true. I doubt they care if it's true or not.They say it to convince their victims/customers who don't know any better. Just think about how ridiculous the apologists' arguments against evolution are. And the faithful don't see it. It's merely one strategy in a host of others which have nothing to do with the truth. bill
par4dcourse Posted May 18, 2014 Posted May 18, 2014 Adding god didit just adds another level of complexity to any question. Truth is thus further away.
christophercomplex Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 Hi All, I have been thinking of posting this for a while... One of the most common reasons given by Christians to explain belief in God is cause and effect. The apostle Paul puts it as follows: Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made." Humankind looked at nature, and assumed a creator. The effects of nature are seen, and due to our limited knowledge of science, are ignorant of the causes. Ancient man due to superstition and ignorance would see lightening and thunder, and natural wonders and ascribe gods as the unknow causes of these natural phenomena. After thousands of years man reflected on the gods, and to simplify things reduced the number of gods to one single God. The effects of nature are not properly understood, and many people dont take time to study them properly. So because of lack of understanding of science and nature, ancient man invented God. Do you agree? Your thoughts? I don't know if I agree, but if I did it matters little...(I can't find a way to end my post, I might change it later)
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