Cosmologic philosophy: dhw said once universe too big (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, October 18, 2021, 23:57 (1132 days ago) @ David Turell

I can't find the quote I remember from dhw that if God made this huge universe it was illogical from Him to do so. Why so big if He just wanted us? Here is a take on that narrow negative view:

https://evolutionnews.org/2021/10/the-big-myth-big-universe-is-a-problem-for-religion/

"Self-appointed spokesmen for science often use the enormous size of the cosmos, with its billions of galaxies, as a club to beat up Christianity. They say people in the Western tradition had to wait till modern science to grasp that the universe was huge, and had to shed their historic Judeo-Christian views to do so. Not true.

***

"C. S. Lewis, in his 1943 essay “Dogma and the Universe,” demolished Nye’s way of thinking. Lewis begins with an analogy. Consider how a doctor determines that someone has been poisoned to death. The doctor can conclude this reasonably if “he has a clear idea of that opposite state in which the organs would have been found if no poison were present.” Similarly, if we try to disprove God by pointing out how small we are in a huge cosmos, we should clearly identify the kind of universe that is expected if God did exist.

"But Lewis argues that such a project fails. “Whatever space may be in itself … we certainly perceive it as three-dimensional, and to three-dimensional space we can conceive no boundaries,” he writes. So we naturally feel that the cosmos is huge. What if we discovered nothing but our own sun and moon in such seemingly infinite space? “This vast emptiness would certainly be used of God,” Lewis notes. In that case, atheists would argue that no God would create such vast amounts of wasted empty space.

"What if we discovered nothing but our own sun and moon in such seemingly infinite space? “This vast emptiness would certainly be used of God,” Lewis notes. In that case, atheists would argue that no God would create such vast amounts of wasted empty space.

"Lewis runs through the other options: “If we discover other bodies, they must be habitable or uninhabitable: and the odd thing is that both these hypotheses are used as grounds for rejecting Christianity.” If there are billions of habitable planets, then the skeptic would likely say that this means humans are not special. We would be lost in a crowd of aliens, or so the story goes.

"Lewis continues: “If, on the other hand, the Earth is really unique, then that proves that life is only an accidental by-product in the universe, and so again disproves our religion.” In that case, atheists might further complain that no God would create trillions of sterile planets-what a lousy design.

"Do you see the problem? No matter how God might have made the universe and life, skeptics would surely complain about something to the point of disbelief What we have here isn’t truth-seeking, but rather, game rigging.

"Spinning the Universe

"Atheists would find ways to spin a story that ridicules belief in God no matter what the size or contents of the cosmos. Bill Nye’s God-bashing cosmic storytelling fails the credibility test. Keep all this in mind the next time you hear this popular myth invoked to mock religious believers.

"For both Jews and Christians, here is the situation: We believe in an omnipotent, infinite God, and modern astronomical discoveries have confirmed that we inhabit a majestic universe befitting just such a creator. The psalmist got it right 3,000 years ago: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1)." (my bold)

Comment: this is same argument as to why did God bothered with the whole evolutionary process of a giant bush if all He wanted was to start off some living humans with big brains? Forget the need for constant food supply. Atheists have the same God complaints as agnostics as they search for logical reasons to refute God. It starts with a reasonable view of who God is, noting my bold. I don't see dhw ever starting from that position. When he discusses a purposeful God, it is a God filled with human purposes which he clearly describes in free-for-alls, experimenting, changing His mind along the say, enjoying a spectacle. This is not God as we religious see Him.