-whispers- i'm female :P
Oh... lol Sorry I didn't mean to do that :O
One of my reasons is hope, yes. I find comfort in religion. It's what i have been brought up with, but i don't believe indoctrination as i didn't start believing until i was 16 & even at that wasn't a great Christian. A few things happened before my 18th birthday and i "found god" i guess you can say.
Glad to know you wasn't directly brought up into Christianity. Your lifestyle with Christianity I actually quite like - I wouldn't do it, but there is no bad in it if you ask me.
I've always maintained a "Christian" lifestyle, but never believed it to be a Christian lifestyle - i've always lived morally good i guess.
I wouldn't call it Christian seeing as how I developed moral characteristics from Fable I :P For you it could be considered Christian but I would just like to ask for clarification
Yet again, all depends on your beliefs which are personal.
You're beginning to lose me a bit here - do you believe he is actively changing things ?
But first consider this. If a person opposes even the possibility of there being a God, then any evidence can be rationalized or explained away. It is like if someone refuses to believe that people have walked on the moon, then no amount of information is going to change their thinking. Photographs of astronauts walking on the moon, interviews with the astronauts, moon rocks...all the evidence would be worthless, because the person has already concluded that people cannot go to the moon.
It's this idea that you are "defending" your self via your beliefs, it activates what would be used to defend yourself in dangerous situations making you irrational and stubborn - I am well aware of this thanks, but please remember that opposition =/= closed-mindedness or a compromised mindset.
Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, If God does exist, would I want to know him?
Sadly no, the morality behind God is bad if you ask me, I don't see why I would put him on such a high pinnacle of value when I barely know him. To me power only matters if you use it correctly, and even so, it doesn't make you any better than someone with less power but the same intent.
1. Does God exist? The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.
Why so complex however? Would gold be a requirement in the world if God just wished us to live happy? We have food, we have wood and we have air - isn't that all we really need?
The Earth...its size is perfect. The Earth's size and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth's surface. If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.3 Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.
There are billions of stars in each galaxy, and billions of galaxies, it isn't really surprising to me that one of them had the capability to create life - furthermore, the Drake Equation states that there is a possible 10,000 other planets with life on it in our galaxy alone if I'm correct.
Europa, a moon of Jupiter may sustain life, it is effectively a giant iceball but beneath there may be water, do we know if there's life there? No, but I bet there's people willing to find out.
The Earth is located the right distance from the sun. Consider the temperature swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees. If the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any closer and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the Earth's position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible. The Earth remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates around the sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating on its axis, allowing the entire surface of the Earth to be properly warmed and cooled every day.
Another point I'm going to make. We are of THIS planet. If we were to look from the vision of another planet that possibly sustained lifeforms capable of surviving in very different conditions then wouldn't we look at it, as if it were worthless or even if we were ones who required water etc, it would be a masterpiece. Being a masterpiece there would be life on it, it's quite easy to take it for granted, even given the thousands of stars we can see.
And our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its gravitational pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and movement so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans are restrained from spilling over across the continents.4
What really can I say? The chances are small but the amount of planets is massive and being part of this very convenient planet it could look miraculous - I highly doubt so though.
Water...colorless, odorless and without taste, and yet no living thing can survive without it. Plants, animals and human beings consist mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human body is water). You'll see why the characteristics of water are uniquely suited to life:
Life on EARTH, that is, whom's to say other lifeforms can't sustain themselves without water?
I wouldn't say it's impossible.
Like a robot, in a way, it doesn't need water, it needs electricity - of course it lacks sentience but nonetheless a sub-valid point to add onto a valid argument.
It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature changes, while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.
We generate our own warmth, I wouldn't say water does anything for us temp. wise - at least when it's in our bodies, if it's warm and we consume it well... of course it helps.
Water is a universal solvent. This property of water means that thousands of chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried throughout our bodies and into the smallest blood vessels.5
Global solvent - that, and they're fine nutrients / chemicals / minerals we consume, life on another planet may not need something so rawly powerful.
I think water was required to make life on our planet in the first place but, that is limited to us at least and it could be something else on another planet able to do the same using different materials. Do I know? Of course not, but I won't rule out the possibility the same way I don't rule out the possibility of there actually being a God, there's not real reason for me to believe there is one but I'm always going to be open.
Water is also chemically neutral. Without affecting the makeup of the substances it carries, water enables food, medicines and minerals to be absorbed and used by the body.
I looks as if you're trying to make water a creation of God - which is what you're doing, I think, but realize how bland water is. That's why it's effective, it doesn't take a genius to see that it was not effort into making this amazing, it was the lack of change within the object (water) itself.
Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants can therefore flow upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to the top of even the tallest trees.
Unique surface tension is unique, obvious to say but nonetheless my points still stand.
Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the winter.
Unique surface tension + how liquids work, it's the same thing as before really.
Also, given evolution I wouldn't be surprised that fish live and survive. :P
Ninety-seven percent of the Earth's water is in the oceans. But on our Earth, there is a system designed which removes salt from the water and then distributes that water throughout the globe. Evaporation takes the ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms clouds which are easily moved by the wind to disperse water over the land, for vegetation, animals and people. It is a system of purification and supply that sustains life on this planet, a system of recycled and reused water.6
Admittedly I found it strange how clouds were formed without there being 100 degrees celsius of heat. What really can I say against it other than the laws of physics which is ultimately what this is?
I have to go, but I will reply to the rest tomorrow I hope - it depends how many pages more there are on this thread, it grows very fast.
- H
