[Mike Doolittle]

Originally Posted by Avptallarita

I don't understand what you're saying. What's the logical reasoning according to which if something exists than it has to have "got here"? Why is existence something that has to come into being?

I'm not suggesting a "God of the Gaps" where scientific blanks infer the existence of God. It's an illustration to say that belief in a God isn't unreasonable. I thought Liddle really hit it well when he was talking about physics and the creation of the universe.

If there's no God, then the universe always existed in some form or another. But this would violate our known laws of physics because energy can't perpetuate itself infinitely or come out of nothing. All the energy in the universe is finite – stars for example expend their fuel, explode, die, and become black holes. They don't just magically keep producing energy forever. That's why the oscillatory universe theory was scrapped (it violates the second law of thermodynamics), and why the only true "infinite universe" theory is string theory's idea of an infinite number of other universes that have the ability to spawn additional universes – and I don't know that such a far-out and untestable "theory" answers any more questions than it raises.

I don't think this proves God exists or anything, much less that any specific God exists, but it at least demonstrates that there isn't anything irrational about believing life might have been created.

Also, I don't agree with your argument that atheism is a choice or an act of Will. Despite being an atheist, in the past I have approached christians and the christian church, read the gospel, and repeatedly attempted to "open myself" to God. You know what happened? Nothing. That's the only reason I don't believe in God, because there's nothing that gives me any reason to do so, not because I have an alternative explanation on how the universe works. (though I admit to never having approached any religion other than christianity).

Then how is that not your choice? You don't have to limit yourself to Christianity, or any religion for that matter. I think think the issue of whether we "need" spirituality is completely subjective. Some people feel a deep, intuitive spiritual connection to the world, and some don't. Faith and spirituality are important to me, but many people feel they don't need it. I'm not going to tell anyone they're "wrong", but I do think that spirituality is a unique and valuable part of the human experience; and that while skepticism is healthy, a total abandonment of spirituality may be misguided.