[Wim Libaers]

Originally Posted by Abraham

Didn't care to read the article either, it's the kind of stuff that is actually written not to be read... But is this pink trout?

Well, I read it. Interesting. Not necessarily correct, but still interesting.



Now, for my personal opinion: I try not to think about it much. It is an area with much uncertainty, and as far as I can see no good way to get reliable answers. The plethora of religions that are at least in some ways opposed to each other illustrates the problem. Even if they were in agreement, that still would not mean they agreed on the right thing.

So what do I do? In the absence of good information, I postpone forming opinions on the subject. I don't claim there certainly is a God, and I don't claim there certainly is no God. I just accept that I don't know, until I get a good reason to start believing. Of course, standards of proof are subjective. Some "feel" there is a God. As a catholic by education, I certainly have had some special feelings at some moments, during church services. Some might think they have been touched by God or something. Personally, I do not know the cause of those feelings, and I do not want to ascribe them to God just because I do not really understand them (after all, that was what more primitive people did with all things they saw, lightning, the sun, a tree, all were gods). And I do know the mind can perform some strange tricks occasionally, in situations that definitely aren't religious.

I guess that if, at some point, God decides he really wants me to know about him, being omnipotent he'll have no problem to demonstrate his existence in a blatantly obvious way, without requiring me to interpret vague feelings or the conflicting writings of various religions.

I do not see any problem with the kind of God proposed by Hitman. It is not in conflict with anything we know, one just takes the aggregate of rules that govern our universe, both those already known and those yet to be discovered, and perhaps those that will never be discovered because they're too subtle or inaccessible, then defines the cause of those rules to be God. But that seems to add little to saying that those rules merely exist.


By the way, Sixpack, your view of scientists seems to be slightly exaggerated. It strongly resembles some Hollywood and comic book representations of scientists, and a few real ones, but most scientists I know are just very interested in discovering how things work. Of course, I'm doing research myself, so I may be biased here.