Topic: God was behind Big Bang, universe no accident: Pope

[Highwind Dragoon]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110106/sc_nm/us_pope_bigbang

*sigh*

[Gunlord]

Well, I'm not sure what you believe (I'm not Catholic either, for the record) but it's not the most offensive thing I've ever heard a Pope say.

[Highwind Dragoon]

Actually, I was baptized and went through conformation.

[crisis]

Well, myself, personally, I believe there is some form of "higher consciousness" that we will experience when we die. A universal consciousness perhaps.


God is energy, and according to science energy cannot be created or destroyed. Atleast that's how I see it.

[X]

For me, the Big Bang never happened. It is only in our "finite" minds that everything must have a beginning and an end because it's the simplest way to think about things. For me, the universe never had a beginning and it will never have an end. It was always here, ever growing, ever changing, ever evolving, forever. A lot of ancient religons tell that the universe is the body of god and since god is eternal, then it is logical to think the same concept applies to the universe as well. It quite a comforting thing to think about rather then waiting to see the "Big Crunch" or end of time creep up on you.

-X

[Gunlord]

Ah, okay. Sorry about that HD, didn't know ^^;

[Kale]

............................ If the big bang did happen, then I believe God was behind it. Regardless of what this pope says. Always been my belief anyway. And I'm catholic.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Actually, I was baptized and went through conformation.

Either I see what you did there, or that's a hell of a Freudian Slip.
(It's supposed to be 'Confirmation')

[Gecko]

Wow. Those have been my general thoughts on the universe for quite a while, and I'm not even Catholic! Interesting that the Catholic Church now officially endorses them.
Maybe I'm more of a traditional Christian that I thought...

[Highwind Dragoon]

Either I see what you did there, or that's a hell of a Freudian Slip.
(It's supposed to be 'Confirmation')

Oops, It was more of a misspelling if anything.

My bad.  

For me, the Big Bang never happened. It is only in our "finite" minds that everything must have a beginning and an end because it's the simplest way to think about things. For me, the universe never had a beginning and it will never have an end. It was always here, ever growing, ever changing, ever evolving, forever. A lot of ancient religons tell that the universe is the body of god and since god is eternal, then it is logical to think the same concept applies to the universe as well. It quite a comforting thing to think about rather then waiting to see the "Big Crunch" or end of time creep up on you.

-X

“Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?” Friedrich Nietzsche

I do believe in god, but I don't believe that he is as powerful as people make "him" out to be. (not saying that "he" is weak, just that he is near omnipotent, as opposed to omnipotent, which doesn't seem like much, but there is a difference.)

Also, why does man get the favorable treatment?  There could be life on other plants in the milky way galaxy and through the rest of the universe.

[Mooning Freddy]

It's interesting to seek theological sources for the religious theories or myths about the creation of the world (or universe).

When I studied Bible at school we studied it from a secular-historical point of view, and so my teacher taught the stories of Genesis from a pragmatic point of view.

The Jewish story of world creation, described in the Book of Genesis, which later was borrowed by Christianity and Islam and accepted by them, was very revolutionary in the time it was written, because it had aspects not present in any other religion at the time:

1. The existence of only one, abstract God (or divine being).
2. The elevation of the one God above anything in the world. Nature and great animals have been created by God, and so, forces of nature & great animals shall not be referred to as gods.
This apparently had great importance in the Jewish religion, as the book claims:

001:021 And God created great whales, and every living creature that
        moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their
        kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that
        it was good.

Some ancient religions believed that whales and gators are Gods (or divine beings), and so the Bible mentions that God created them, therefore they are nothing more than animals. 

3. God created humans in His image. "In his image" means, not physically, as God has no form, but mentally- he gave him the ability to think. Humans were given dominion over the land, and so they are free, and not slaves of a god.

It's easy to understand how revolutionary this theory was when compared to Enuma Elis, the Babylonian myth of world creation. The Babylonian believed that the world was created as a result of a war between gods, and the earth and skies were created by the god Marduk from the corpse of Tiamat, a god that he has killed. Later he uses the blood of her husband to create humans, and makes them his servants.   

[Abnormal Freak]

Reminds me of Doug TenNapel's (Earthworm Jim creator) blog post, "Four Revolutionary Words".

"Finally, I read my kids those first four words of Genesis, 'In the beginning, God...' and I stop. Within four words the Bible has already pissed off most of my employers, most of the philosophers I read, many in the arts community and many of my neighbors here in Los Angeles (come on, you live a city named after angels). There's little more offensive than to claim that God existed in history, is really there and that this can be known."

Moses' Genesis creation account was definitely revolutionary.

"Conformation," tee-hee. :)

[A-Yty]

As long as he's not telling people to do the old in-out without a rubber or protecting pedos (both of which he does but let's just pretend, shall we?), does it honestly matter?

[uzo]

*sigh*

I'm not sure I understand what would be so far fetched about God having been behind the Big Bang.

It literally is the best theoretical example of "let there be light".

[Kale]

I'm not sure I understand what would be so far fetched about God having been behind the Big Bang.

It literally is the best theoretical example of "let there be light".

Wow, is this like the first time I agree with you? >.>

Anywho, regarding Man getting favorable treatment.... you never know. Maybe the universe was created and everything was set in motion, and God watches the outcome, and Man just happens to come on top, making them the ones God interact with..... at least at the level we perceive. Or, it could be that Man isn't getting the more favorable treatment... it's not like we know it for sure.