God and Reality (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by dhw, Sunday, November 17, 2013, 14:10 (3813 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: A Christian view of first cause:-http://www.breakpoint.org/features-columns/breakpoint-columns/entry/2/23856-QUOTE: "In short, the universe was created by something that consisted of nothing—instantly. Think of a rabbit being pulled out of a hat . . . without the hat or a magician, and you get the hang of it."-That is a common atheist version, which depends on the Big Bang. I also find it unbelievable. As unbelievable as an eternal immaterial magician suddenly making himself go bang, and consciously spreading himself around as a universe.-QUOTE: "Whether the universe is the result of the Void of Buddhism, the Vacuum of scientism, or the God of theism, it is a question that can't be settled by science, except by fiat. In fact, these are not questions at all; they are presuppositions upon which our search for purpose and meaning are founded.
Lawrence Krauss is right to imagine that science has run its course, for each of the questions above hinges on the ultimate question: What is Ultimate Reality, the thing that is self-existent and non-contingent, preceding all that exists? Is it matter, energy, the vacuum, God? Ultimate Reality is the fountain from which all knowledge springs, yet is beyond the "limits of empirical science," whether from light spectra captured by the Hubble, exotic particles detected by the Large Hadron Collider, or cellular structures unraveled by the electron microscope."-Fine up to now. But then he goes and spoils it all with this:-"It is something or Someone, that must be revealed and, in fact, has been: "In the beginning, was the Logos.""-Just like all the others, this is a presupposition, or "fiat" (strange use of the word, but certainly more applicable to religion than to science). The usual atheist pots and theist kettles.