Not the thread. I didn’t think you and I were getting anywhere.
Science doesn’t know what happened before the big bang. That’s fact. And as you could see by the link I gave from Stephen Hawking’s lectures, he says it’s a problem for science.
I never was like this A until I knew for sure that God exists. He had given me a gift. My priest will not allow me to talk about it at this time. It is hard when this happens because you want to tell the world but can’t because they think you are crazy. Trust me, I am as sane as anyone.
You have NOTHING to use to refute the statement, Zeus created the heavens and earth.
If you had any evidence, you would have presented it, wouldn’t you?
You implied it quite strongly. I could have gone in-depth about matters of Church teaching on morality, sure. I decided to make light of it, unaware I was supposed to remain deadly serious at all times. No, I do not think that way, and indeed, if you’ve been paying attention to what I’ve been talking about, it’s obvious.
Obviously it isn’t, since there remain those who do not believe without willful rejection.
Not at all. I am suggesting that God could be upfront and honest, say ‘here I am, do you love me or not?’ It would still be our choice to love and worship.
In other words, you agree that the quote in your signature is erroneous, and that Mother Theresa was a good person who did not insult God by her doubt. Thank you.
Good, then we agree as to what a contradiction is.
Catholicism is extremely elusive. Pinning down exactly what they teach is extremely difficult - what is infallible? how do you know? what are you obliged to believe? what has the Church taught before that they no longer teach?
There has to be a before. Science demands a cause.
science can’t prove the negative or the positive here. Because as Hawking says, they just don’t know what happened before the bang, because there is no way to measure it… But he clearly acknowledges a before. He just dismisses talk of it because what happened can’t be measured in scientific terms
Did you see Hawking’s answer to this… not the earth at 6000 years, but human life?
God is eternal. He has no age.
Since we’re talking about the universe, how do you know that? Where’s YOUR evidence to deny God.
I have to admit that i have not taken the time to read the posts of anyone else but you and Phooney. Even then, i’ve read each of your replies to only my posts.
He has and He does. The crucifix is visual sign for all times. So is the Mass and all the sacraments.
You read into the quote something that is of your own making. And no, I don’t believe the spin given to Mother Teresa’s letters by the ignorant, or that she insulted God.
.No my friend, I can’t! I hope to be able to clear this up here.
The crucifix is a sign that a man lived and died who is believed by many to be God incarnate. What reason do I have to believe that Jesus was the son of God? He is reported to have said so; but speakers and recorders alike can lie, be mistaken, be mad, or be caught up in themselves.
But every day for decades she doubted, wondering if God was really there. According to Pio, then, she insulted God in the worst possible way.
Is that not your intent? Congratulations, you have succeeded in that. However, you are missing your chance to make a skeptic – perhaps even myself – consider Christianity a thing to be desired, a worthwhile pursuit. Which is more valuable to you: stroking your ego, or even the potential to bring a single soul to God?Padre Pio’s quote that I use as a signature, sure ruffles the feathers.
Perhaps it would have helped if, when responding back then, you hadn’t have quoted partial sentences, demanding explanations that were given in the rest of the sentence that you failed to quote. Also, your seemingly random quotations of other people’s posts, with arbitrary underlining, bolding and colour changes did, and does, nothing to clarify your position.
As far as I am aware, we all agree on this, though there are reasonable hypotheses postulated that are mathematically sound, as I already told you. Do you have a stronger argument to show that God was responsible for the beginning of the universe other than we don’t know what happened “before” the big bang, which is merely an argument from ignorance, as I already told you.
Great, science loves problems and the unknown, it’s just more to be learned.
A God of some kind of definition will always be beyond falsifiability, you don’t really need to worry about that. However, the more we understand, the less gaps there are for a God to hide in. Nor is the burden of proof on those that aren’t making the claim that god did it.
That’s because it is a scientifically empty statement. There is no evidence for it, nor have you provided a way to falsify it. It is inferior to all the currently untested, but mathematically sound, hypotheses for the universe, and indistinguishable from a figment of your imagination.
Sorry you got that from a single quote. I assure you, It certainly wasn’t meant to offend. Especially when you see how he writes in context with other great quotes. Check this out if you’re interested. See with broader context, why Padre Pio would say what I use as a signature. .
The reason I suggested you think about that question, A is because in a previous post you explained many of the circumstances in life, in your own family, for example., something about how it stretched your mother’s resources to pay tithes, etc., about the sole survivor of the plane crash…you know, that post, where you were citing the unreasonableness of much of the suffering in the world, and how that had an impact on your embracing Atheism as your own existential perspective.
Hi A;
I agree that one can be lead to a certain faith because it’s the faith a family follows, but I have strayed from my faith in my lifetime. I never lost faith in God, but I stopped going to church for a time about 10 years ago. Once I became an adult, I had to figure out who God was in my life and I no longer followed the fold, which was my family. (especially once I married)