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Why the Universe Obviously Has a Creator (and Why Some Atheists Refuse to Even Consider It) [View all]
Rabbi Alan Lurie
Author, 'Five Minutes on Mondays: Finding Unexpected, Purpose, Peace and Fulfillment at Work'
Posted: 03/ 5/2012 8:49 am
Throughout recorded history the majority of humanity has seen the existence of a Creator, Who intentionally brought the Universe in to being and sustains all life, as an obvious truth.
This truth does not stem from any doctrine or belief system, but it is at the heart of all religions, and is the underlying, indispensible principle of most spiritual practices. Even Buddhism, which is often misrepresented as an atheistic tradition, recognizes the existence of a guiding consciousness. As the Zen Buddhist master, Soyen Shaku, said, "Let me state that Buddhism is not atheistic as the term is ordinarily understood. It has certainly a God, the highest reality and truth, through which and in which this universe exists."
Scientific discoveries have only reinforced this realization, as it becomes even clearer that the Universe was carefully designed. Prominent British mathematician Roger Penrose calculated the probably of random chance producing a Universe conducive to life at vastly less than the scientifically accepted definition of "zero." Even if one were to accept arguments from those who claim that the Universe is not so "fine tuned," we must rely on the mind-boggling, and empirically unproven, concept of multiple Universes, and even then the probability of random events leading to life only budges from staggeringly unimaginable to extraordinarily unlikely. And we are still left with such clearly designed, and incredibly complex, mechanisms as DNA and the brain.
This is not a "God of the Gaps" explanation, any more than looking under the hood of a car and deducing a designer is "Engineer of the Gaps." To postulate a random, undirected, meaningless, existence in the face of this unbelievable complexity and purpose of life is, in actuality, the much more irrational, and less logical, conclusion. This has been compared to proposing that a hurricane whipped through a junkyard and randomly assembled a jet plane.
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-alan-lurie/why-atheists-refuse-to-consider-a-creator_b_1303613.html
Author, 'Five Minutes on Mondays: Finding Unexpected, Purpose, Peace and Fulfillment at Work'
Posted: 03/ 5/2012 8:49 am
Throughout recorded history the majority of humanity has seen the existence of a Creator, Who intentionally brought the Universe in to being and sustains all life, as an obvious truth.
This truth does not stem from any doctrine or belief system, but it is at the heart of all religions, and is the underlying, indispensible principle of most spiritual practices. Even Buddhism, which is often misrepresented as an atheistic tradition, recognizes the existence of a guiding consciousness. As the Zen Buddhist master, Soyen Shaku, said, "Let me state that Buddhism is not atheistic as the term is ordinarily understood. It has certainly a God, the highest reality and truth, through which and in which this universe exists."
Scientific discoveries have only reinforced this realization, as it becomes even clearer that the Universe was carefully designed. Prominent British mathematician Roger Penrose calculated the probably of random chance producing a Universe conducive to life at vastly less than the scientifically accepted definition of "zero." Even if one were to accept arguments from those who claim that the Universe is not so "fine tuned," we must rely on the mind-boggling, and empirically unproven, concept of multiple Universes, and even then the probability of random events leading to life only budges from staggeringly unimaginable to extraordinarily unlikely. And we are still left with such clearly designed, and incredibly complex, mechanisms as DNA and the brain.
This is not a "God of the Gaps" explanation, any more than looking under the hood of a car and deducing a designer is "Engineer of the Gaps." To postulate a random, undirected, meaningless, existence in the face of this unbelievable complexity and purpose of life is, in actuality, the much more irrational, and less logical, conclusion. This has been compared to proposing that a hurricane whipped through a junkyard and randomly assembled a jet plane.
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-alan-lurie/why-atheists-refuse-to-consider-a-creator_b_1303613.html
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Why the Universe Obviously Has a Creator (and Why Some Atheists Refuse to Even Consider It) [View all]
ellisonz
Mar 2012
OP
"Anyone want to count the fallacies and factual errors?" I'd rather count fire ants, but sure.
saras
Mar 2012
#15
Well, if it's old and a "philosophy of the east," it must be unquestionably true.
laconicsax
Mar 2012
#34
I suggest that you don't understand the basics because you say terrifically ignorant things.
laconicsax
Mar 2012
#58
Actually there is a good argument that it is highly probable that we are part
Warren Stupidity
Mar 2012
#74
I like that one. Odds of anything being exactly the way it is are astronomical.
DirkGently
Mar 2012
#9
Whatever assumptions he used, the universe is in no way fine-tuned for life.
laconicsax
Mar 2012
#23
"God" is a piss-poor answer because it replaces one unknown with another and stops further inquiry.
laconicsax
Mar 2012
#69
So you expect an "answer" to the question of creation to be found by science? n/t
ellisonz
Mar 2012
#77
Yes, you do realize that everything we know about the physical world...
Humanist_Activist
Mar 2012
#79
Your clumsy anology is rather inaccurate, and God isn't an answer, but a roadblock to the answer...
Humanist_Activist
Mar 2012
#78
An omnipotent god would create all possible simultations within all possible universes
FarCenter
Mar 2012
#75