The Big Bang (Origins)

by dhw, Tuesday, May 04, 2010, 08:25 (5099 days ago) @ David Turell

DHW: [..] if indeed he [God] is not concerned about us, why should we be concerned about him?-DAVID: Is he concerned? You are in a thought trap. We can never know how concerned He is, if at all. This is where faith and hope, and Pascal's leap appears, and always will appear. The one obvious fact is just this: God requires faith, pure and simple. Relying on supposed miracles to 'prove' His existence is intellectually dishonest.-This is a misunderstanding of the problem. It's not a matter of wanting miracles to prove his existence, but of recognizing the system he has set up if he does exist. Long before humans came on the scene, the principle of survival through competition was established ... competition for food, territory, sex, all of which involve selfishness, cruelty and pain ... together with random diseases and disasters caused by factors totally beyond the control of the creatures exposed to them. These are the roots of all suffering, and humans have inherited this system, which constantly results in the punishment of the innocent. Some religious people may seek to blame it on humans, and unquestionably part of it is our own fault, but if a God who is powerful enough to create a universe also creates a system of life based on pain, I find it difficult to embrace a "pure and simple" faith that he is concerned about us. If the suffering he has inflicted on his creatures doesn't bother him, it would be intellectually and emotionally dishonest of me to say, "Never mind, I believe in him and the rest doesn't matter." It does matter to me, and it lends potent support to the argument that, in your own words, we are "going on our lonely way" ... either because there is no God, or because God doesn't care.