I'm new to Experts and have browsed through several posts on questions of God's existence. They are very lengthy and what little time I have doesn't allow me to read every sentence in every post and then try keep in mind who said what so I could respond to them. So I thought I'd start my own "little" thread on the subject. I was raised in a Baptist home and became very religous when I was a teenager. Since then (over 10 years now) I have questioned alot of things about religon and haven't found any good answers. I'm fascinated by science and history and have found more answers in these than in religon and have become agnostic.
A quote by James Burke can sum up the reasons I "trust" science more than religon:
"The generator of this accumulation of knowledge over the centuries, science, seems at first glance to be unique among mankind's activities. It is objective, making use of methods of investigation and proof that are impartial and exacting. Theories are constructed and then tested by experiment. If the results are repeatable and cannot be falsified in any way, they survive. If not, they are discarded. The rules are rigidly applied. The standards by which science judges its work are universal. There can be no special pleading in the search for the truth: the aim is simply to discover how nature works and to use that information to enhance our intellectual and physical lives. The logic that directs the search is rational and ineluctable at all times and in all circumstances. This quality of science transcends the differences which in other fields of endeavour make one period incommensurate with another, or one cultural expression untranslatable in another context. Science knows no contextual limitations. It merely seeks the truth."
I do understand that most religous people state that god can't be tested by experiments in the physical world and the existence of god relies on faith which leads me to my questions:
1.) Why does god "test faith"? Does he want us to believe in him or not? Does god play mind games?
2.) Why do Christians believe that a man named Jesus that lived 2000 years ago is God in human form simply because Jesus said that he is? Yes, I know he performed "miracles", but we have only the Bible (written by humans) as evidence for this. If a man came up to you and said that he is the Son of God and that you had to bow before him to get to heaven would you do it? What evidence would you need that he is the Son of God? Also, why don't preists, preachers, etc., perform miracles? Why do we not hear of the same stories we read in the Bible that God spoke directly to someone or saw him, today? Why would you believe in a person who says he hears God's voice? Most people who hear voices are locked up in menetal institutions.
3.) Knowing that all humans are sinners and are imperfect, why would god rely soley on humans to spread the belief in his existence? Humans wrote the Bible. Why not speak directly to me like he did Abraham so that I would believe?
4.) Why would a supreme being create lesser beings and not something equivalent to himself?Also, He supposeldy created us perfectly and then allowed us to fall in sin. Why? He is omnipotent, so he knew Satan would trick Eve into eating the apple. He created us then turns his head and allows Satan to exist. Isn't it Satan's fault and not ours (or utlimatly god's fault since he knew it would happen and had the power to stop it and allows Satan to continue to exist) If God really loves us, what better way to show it than by destroying Satan and showing himself to me? He manifested himself in the physical world as Jesus, so we know he can exist in the physical world, why not now?
I know that there are several questions in questions but I'm just trying to be clear and precise. I look forward to any responses and to having a great conversation!
