Religion - a respectful discussion, for those interested

First of all, I want to sincerely thank the last 3 posters for their respectful and well-thought-out replies. This is the kind of intelligent discussion I had envisioned when I started this thread. We all want the same thing, after all...to pattern our lives on the Truth, as best we can determine it. There must be a correct explanation for how the universe came into being, and for reality as we experience it now, so we are all ultimately trying to determine what that is, the best we can. So everyone's contribution is valuable. This thread was meant as a common search for the Truth.

In my research on the topic, I came across an argument that goes something like this (I am changing it a bit, but the idea is the same...I don't remember exactly how it goes). Although this is admittedly an unscientific example, it was used in a science book to help explain scientific principles. Imagine, if you will, an alien race that visits planet earth. Imagine that earth is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, nothing at all exists except for a computer, and a source of electricity to plug it into. So the aliens plug it in, turn it on, and start using it. They begin to wonder where it came from. Which is the more likely explanation ... that this complex machine arose randomly from the matter that composes it, that all of the pieces just happened to come together in an incredibly complex and ordered way to create a fully functional computer? Or isn't it much more likely that someone designed and created it? ... take some time and really think about that, and how it relates to our universe and everything we experience in our lives.

 

Do you tell your kids to eat their vegetables, look both ways before crossing the road, don't talk to strangers, do your HW, don't pick your nose, and on and on .... why do you deny your children their "freedom" like that? Why not just let them do whatever they want? For that matter, you deny yourself endless amounts of "freedom" every day because you know what's best for you: you don't eat 3 plates of dessert after every meal, even though you might be tempted to, you don't jump the bones of every hot woman that you pass in the street, even though again you might be sexually attracted, you don't spend your life savings on things you want to buy today, because you are thinking about your future....you deny yourself every day, why is it so bad for Catholics to do the same? The reasons are the same, we know what's best for us in the long run. It's all about discipline, which is really the key to a good life.

The rules of the Catholic Church are designed to help us find the peace, joy, happiness, and human fulfillment that the world cannot give. Jesus Christ has been called
"the greatest therapist who ever lived" for that reason. When we don't follow the advice of God our Father, as taught to us by His only Son, we bring sin, spiritual death, and the hell that results on ourselves.

 

The short answer: God is not a being, so He did not need to be created. He is the essence of being itself; the supernatural, animating power behind the creation of the universe.

"...God does not have, or share, or receive, or participate in, any attributes. He is all his attributes. He does not have goodness or truth or beauty; he is goodness, and truth, and beauty. He does not even have being, He is being." ~Peter Kreeft, Philosophy professor, Boston College.

Pretty deep, huh? And hard for us feeble humans to wrap our minds around, but that's because we're talking about the supernatural here. I can't explain it, but I know one thing....according to basic, fundamental laws of science that all scientists agree on, the universe required a cause outside of itself to emerge. And prior to the big bang singularity, there was no time, space, matter, or energy. There was no space, or even time, in which the universe could have emerged, not to mention the fact that there was no matter or energy to serve as the building blocks for the universe. In other words, there is only the possibility of something outside of the physical, natural universe (which, after all, didn't even exist yet). This is what is commonly referred to as the "supernatural", literally something lying above or outside of the natural.

 

But will you be prepared when the storms of life hit? ... and they certainly will. Your idyllic, care free beach lifestyle will not last...illnesses, family tragedies, bad luck, etc, life is full of surprises. If your life is not anchored in the solid foundation of religion, it may very well crumble like a house of cards when the storms hit.

 

"Look at History. (This is the single clearest reason why I became a Catholic: because I looked at History.) Not a single Christian in the world for 1000 years doubted or denied the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist."

"As a young Protestant at Calvin College, I read the early Church Fathers to try to prove to myself that I was in the right Church ... I never found a single one of the current Protestant objections to a single one of the current Catholic doctrines in a single one of the early Christian writers. For the first 1000 years, no one ever protested against any of the specifically Catholic doctrines which Protestants claimed were innovations...But as a Protestant I was most shocked by the centrality of the Eucharist for Christian worship from the earliest times, and by the universal, unquestioned belief in the Real Presence. Even Luther did not deny the Real Presence. Nor do Lutherans today, Nor do Anglicans. Even Calvin believed it was an objectively efficacious 'sign and seal', not a mere symbol." ~ Peter Kreeft, Philosophy Professor, Boston College, from his book "Jesus-Shock"

 

Why is it so hard to believe that God could have begun the process of evolution? The Bible, also, was written at a time when science had barely begun, and most people were not educated, so God had to inspire the writers of the Bible to explain things in a way people at that time could understand. In Hinduism, there are long cycles of time; 4 yugas = 1 mahayuga, which represents 4.32 million years. 1000 mahayugas = 1 kalpa, and 2 kalpas = a day of Brahma (God). So, the Bible's account of creation in 7 days could represent billions of years of evolution. Christianity speaks of God's time being different than our time.

Apart from a religious explanation, how can we explain the first living organism? Is it reasonable to just assume that inanimate matter and energy somehow came together, accidentally, in just the right way for a living organism to operate in all of its order and complexity? Even the most simple, primitive prokaryotic bacterial cell is like a little machine, with moving parts perfectly attuned to carry out all of the basic life functions. No matter how many billions of years of inanimate matter and energy bouncing around off of each other, is it reasonable to expect everything to come together, and continue to operate like a perfectly designed machine, all by itself? The famous Miller and Urey experiments in science, which simulated the primordial earth, showed how molecules could be formed from basic matter, but it did not come close to demonstrating how those molecules could become "animated" and organized in such a way as to form any kind of living organism.

Evolution is perfectly reasonable, but how it all started ..... that's something that seems impossible for science to explain. How did the first living thing emerge from "space dust"? Do you have any explanation for that? Can you find any ...try Googling it and researching it. I doubt you will find any reasonable scientific explanation. Common sense, along with what we do know from science, tells us that some kind of higher power would be necessary to "get the ball rolling" in the first place...

 

Here's what science has to say (psychology) about the benefits of religion in helping people cope with life's problems. From the APA website (American Psychological Association).

"Empirical studies of many groups dealing with major life stressors such as natural disaster, illness, loss of loved ones, divorce and serious mental illness show that religion and spirituality are generally helpful to people in coping."
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/03/religion-spirituality.aspx

You can read the rest of the article also, if you are interested in learning about the role of religion in mental health. It explains why countries without religion (like communist countries, or Nazi Germany) always have human rights issues, grave abuses, and much higher suicide rates. Communist China is a recent example. Lots of kids there, who fail to get into a good college or achieve academically, end up killing themselves, life has no meaning for them apart from the superficial. So sad. Not to mention the government-imposed 1 child limit, causing so many young girls to be killed because their families want a son. What happens when people start to accept abortion, euthanasia, and devalue human life. Throwing people away like rag dolls when they are deemed "unworthy" to live, or useless to society....again, so sad. It's a slippery slope. Thank goodness the Pro-Life movement is starting to make major progress to counter this culture of death, these dark ages we find ourselves in. And the Pro Life movement is being bolstered by young people, who see clearly the insanity of many of our modern policies.


Oh those pesky facts, atheists try to avoid them at all costs, so they can keep believing the myths and lies they make up about religion! (and keep attacking the rest of us with their juvenile insults)