Evidence for the existence of God

[Andir]

senseinobaka said:

fkusumot said:

senseinobaka said:
I'd like to comment on the topic and remain above the bitter fray between the believers and non-believers.

I feel there is plenty of evidence of God. Even the evidence that many would like to believe disproves God, I believe confirms his existence, like Science. I can never understand why scientist feel that their knowledge means god doesn't exist. It's an illogical leap. Evolution is a good example. The theory is an idea extrapolated from basically 1 fact, natural selection. The ability for organisms to adapt, change, and survive in changing circumstances doesn't mean god doesn't exist, it means he's a genius.

Well, since you're not a stupid teacher I feel compelled to ask you two questions. Would you live your life any differently if you knew for certain there was a god? And conversely, would you live your life any differently if you knew for certain there wasn't a god? There's no trap that I'm trying to imply in these questions, i.e., the epistemological considerations implied are absolute. Just wondering where you're coming from.

 It's a difficult hypothetical to answer.

I live my life with certainty that God does exist. I enjoy studying many things, including science. And, like many scientist in the world, I believe there is undeniable evidence of design in almost every naturally occuring system (biology, chemistry, astronomy, geology). I also enjoy studying the bible and the history related to it. With what I have learned I am sure of god's existence, and live my life according to to the teachings in the bible. (as a side note, following the bible stringently is vastly different than what "mainstream christianity" is now)

However, if all my research led me to the opposite assurance, I would have felt no compulsion to change my lifestyle.

It's also important to note that I do not worship God out of some morbid fear of eternal damnation that mainstream christianity preaches. I have taken the time to study the God of the bible and understand God in a matter that compels me to worship him out of love.

There are many things about mainstream christianity I take extreme offense to. I feel that they have done God a great diservice at least and more than likely blasphemed his name by painting him as a vindictive tyrant that wants you to fear him or he will throw you in hell. Or when a tragedy happens, it's always Gods fault or desire. That's not the person Jesus spent 3 years traveling all over the middle east talking about. Modern day christianity has done such a poor job about actually teaching people about god that I am willing to bet that here in this thread there are more atheist and non-belivers that have researched enough to now god's personal name than professed christians.

Let's say for instance (in an example I brought up earlier) that all things you see and hear and smell today are derived from one simple rule.  Let's call this rule "gravity" for argument sake.  You have these particles, and gravity.  This particle is tiny.  It's smaller than what we know as an atom.  It's composed of one part.  One part that has a given mass.  Let's say that it's attracted to another particle.  When it "combines" with this particle (not collide and bounce, but orbits, maybe even settles to form a heavier object) it slightly changes characteristic.  If enough of these particles work together you have something on one end that looks like a grouping of matter (clumping), something that looks like energy (orbiting) and something that causes reactions form other groupings (collision, reflection... light).

If you take a million specks of sand, you can form a lot of unique and interesting things.  No two would be alike, no two would do the same thing.  Let's say you have other particles colliding with these groups and some break apart.  Some stay intact.

Now, if these two sand particles collide and push against each other, they create what is perceived as energy... motion.  This is how I see the world.  Everything is created and composed of the most simple object that we have yet to see.  You have the table of elements, but they are simple composed of elements derives from what I assume is our building block material.  Through resilience, these elements either remain intact and resist the collision of other micronic particles or they break apart like billiard balls.  Those most resilient combinations are what we see most commonly found (Iron, Oxygen, etc.)  The unstable minerals are those that usually contain what we perceive as energy, but in fact, they could simply be incompatible groupings of these tiny particles bouncing off each other.

The rule governing these particles (move toward each other) is the simplest, yet most stringent rule.  In order to change something in someone's life without them witnessing such a change, you'd have to change this one basic rule, and the entire universe would destroy itself because you'd upset the entire relationship structure that all these tiny particles base their structures on.

So, where did these particles come from?  They've always existed, happily bouncing and colliding about. (IMHO)