Yme

God does not play dice with the universe - Albert Einstein

Sunday, March 15, 2009 1:17:34 AM

Ah ... religion, the one thing in life that I have yet to get a firm grip on. I have a sneaking suspicion that I might struggle with the concept, or at least parts of it, for the rest of my natural life. It's not a question of which god, without offending anyone, but in my humble opinion (if there is one) it would be the Christian God. And I don't have a problem (mostly) with the teachings. I maight differ to some degree with interpretations of it by others, but the general idea I agree with.

Then what is my problem? Doubt. I am struggling to believe... Faith. Another five-letter word which puts my problem in a different light. Yes, I struggle with the concept of 'is there a God?' Again this is not new, I've been on this tipping point for close to a decade now. I've gone from born-again Christian to confused to atheist to agnostic to confused again. The key point is that I still cannot find in myself the belief.

I've tried to trace the origins of my doubt but it only led to disappointments with people and communities, not with God. I have no argument with Him, no anger. Maybe it's because in a scientific world, there is no place for God ... yet the quantity of renowned scientists that saw God's work is immense. Amongst them are some of my heroes like Albert Einstein.

Maybe my fault lay in trying to reason for or against the existence of God. It took me longer than I care to admit that this was an exercise in futility. If the greatest thinkers through all the ages could not prove it either way, what chance did I have. So no, my love of logic would do me no good here.

The short of it all is that I want to believe, yet always stop short of the little leap of faith required. And more so, there must be a way of reconciling my religion with my science. Many before me have succeeded, it's now up to me to find my own truth. It's a path no one can show me but I'm still looking for. Maybe that's the most important thing ... to not stop looking, for that is giving up.

I leave you with some great quotes regarding God:

God exists since mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists since we cannot prove the consistency. – Morris Kline

Black holes are where God divided by zero. – Steven Wright

If there is a God, he’s a great mathematician. - Paul Dirac

Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe. - Galileo Galilei

The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God. - Euclid

God runs electromagnetics by wave theory on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the Devil runs them by quantum theory on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. - Sir William Bragg

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not. - Eric Hoffer

Call on God, but row away from the rocks. Indian Proverb

MmmmmmmmWhat am I doing?

Comments

YmePinkyGeneral # Sunday, March 15, 2009 1:20:07 AM

In fact just after posting I found this quote which does strike a chord:

We think having faith means being convinced God exists in the same way we are convinced a chair exists. People who cannot be completely convinced of God’s existence think faith is impossible for them. Not so. People who doubt can have great faith because faith is something you do, not something you think. In fact, the greater your doubt the more heroic your faith. - Real Live Preacher

RobiRobynA # Sunday, March 15, 2009 6:02:00 AM

If you look at the true meaning of the word 'faith' it is a 'studied believing' (roughly) because as uncle Adi always says..People who think faith is blind will never see God.

YmePinkyGeneral # Sunday, March 15, 2009 4:46:45 PM

A couple of things I realised recently (or knew and was confirmed today) is:

1. Belief/faith is not going to be an ah-ha moment but a slow realisation.
2. I don't have to agree with everything someone says to have a similar idea of something.
3. Just because I'm not comfortable with something doesn't make it wrong.
4. Just because I disagree with something doesn't make me wrong either.
5. The sheer scope of changes that will be necesary in my personal life, as well as the people I will have to confront are a little scary.

That said, whatever happens or is decided ... I know I am trying and it's going to be a considered decision.

AdoptingMarioH2o # Monday, March 16, 2009 8:02:55 AM

Hi
Im not sure also?

Unregistered user # Monday, March 16, 2009 11:37:27 AM

Gavin writes: Someone told me that Mother Theresa heard from God at the beginning of her life when he told her to go work in Calcutta. And then he never spoke to her again. Welcome to the long dark night of the soul my friend.

YmePinkyGeneral # Monday, March 16, 2009 2:00:59 PM

She also famously said: "God will only ask of you what you can handle, I just wish he didn't trust me so much!"

Fikile Jusylipz # Monday, March 16, 2009 9:05:22 PM

Faith is within us ur faith is ur life n in the GOD issue he is very much alive n saying somthn, but ull never understand until u experience the miracles urself

Ockert Potgietertheoperahouse # Thursday, April 2, 2009 4:44:15 PM

Thanks for sharing in honesty! I do not think our honesty can ever shock Father or our doubt will ever catch Him off-guard! The good news for us all is the promise - if you will seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me!! Enjoy the journey! He is real!

ShallowMuse # Thursday, April 9, 2009 7:15:48 PM

Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.
So its like a pregnant woman i suppose, she knows she's pregnant, she sees it and feels it within herself yet she cant see the baby yet but knows its coming..just an example of course!

hmm i just compared faith to pregnancy

YmePinkyGeneral # Thursday, April 9, 2009 9:53:00 PM

It's amazing to me how much so many people have to say for something which has no clear right or wrong... Also (no offense meant to anyone) so many people use clever phrases to attempt to convince you that God is real, which kinda puts me off... I don't know, maybe my bullshit-o-meter is overly sensitive

In the end, it's down to: do I believe, can I have faith? Strangely a comparison between pregnancy and faith is probably very apt...

Joseph Nepomucin N. Niezjosephnepomucin # Thursday, April 30, 2009 1:33:37 AM

Interesting!

Faith is usually defined as "believing with ascend". I am not a theologian nor a genius scientist but my faith has brought me a sense of purpose. I used to question so many things about God but I was frustrated.

It is said that God is a mystery. Fathoming its depth is but difficult to achieve and no one have physically proved His existence as well as His non-existence. But looking at life and the universe I see something powerful and I call it a God.

Believing is but a deliberate choice. No matter how much convincing you try to a skeptic but he forcefully reject anything but his own logic, idea, theories, concepts, etc.... Nothing is gained.

YmePinkyGeneral # Thursday, April 30, 2009 6:53:11 AM

I think in a nutshell you have summed up my dilemma. I can see the beauty in the universe we live in, on so many levels... yet that small leap is what i find most difficult. I simply can't bring myself to 'believe' that there must be a god because of the exquisiteness of our universe.

Once again this might be the cynic in me, but just because the universe makes sense, because it truly is beautiful from a galactic to a subatomic scale... does that justify saying there must be a higher power involved?

Joseph Nepomucin N. Niezjosephnepomucin # Thursday, April 30, 2009 10:20:50 PM

Honestly I do believe that there must something greater in there. (That is what i believed in.)

My ignorance is a bliss, it spared me from all complexities this life has to offer, making my life less miserable.

Being an atheist or agnostic is a choice. In the same manner as believing in God. It's reason who dictates us what to believe in. You have your own reasons I too have mine.

Unregistered user # Thursday, May 14, 2009 5:28:46 AM

Anonymous writes: You can only have faith in God once you have met Him. Once you have met Him, you can be sure that He is alive indeed!

Unregistered user # Saturday, May 23, 2009 8:23:22 PM

Shane - BATM writes: It wasn't beauty or hellfire or the need to complete the equation which made me believe in God. It was years of doing my own thing and coming to a place where no matter what I did I was never satisfied... not when everyone had gone home and I was alone with my thoughts. I gave Him a shot and He came through for me and I will never turn my back on Him again. Enjoy the "bushwalk", because the questions in you will never stop, not until you turn back to him. Howver as with all things in life it is your choice - He will never force you to respond but if you leave this mortal coil without reestablishing a relationship with Him (which is a very real possibility) you will have no right to ask why He never gave you a "proper chance".

Unregistered user # Saturday, July 18, 2009 6:47:59 AM

Kan Pam writes: In my ignporance, I considered all my frustration and emptiness were something normaly and part of life. I never had any inkling of finding him when i started to study the word accompanying my friend, but it does helps in finding the answer to all my questions in life - a good night rest and getting up the next morning fresh, that i feel very special even though i seem not to be, mopping the floor is something enjoybale etc. I never had this contentment before but now I do. I do not know how to explian this but its something real to me.

author@ptgbook.orgptgauthor # Sunday, July 19, 2009 2:53:03 AM

I think God has made in man a desire for Him, a hunger to believe in and know a Higher Power, and without a relationship with God, we can never be 100% emotionally satisfied.

Unregistered user # Wednesday, August 26, 2009 3:33:45 AM

H writes: Believing in god isnt necesary (for truly healthy people). I dont want to offend anyone but if you say god exists, prove it, i dont have to disprove it since you have no reasons nor arguments to its favor (burden of proof, oh and actually there are, but they are already refuted beyond any logical doubt, like the theory of the intelligent designer). I dont think god exists, neither i think it does not exists, i just dont have proofs of its existance or it not existance, but untill i collect the data necesary, i wont take him into consideration on my decision/life/cosmovision. And for those who say " ifeel it, it sreal for me, you have to feel it, it cant be explained"...news.. those are your psicological needs asking for their teddy bear or some mental illness. Ah, and btw, emotions are just chemicals and electrical stimulus in your brain .period. Of course, one must always doubt, but this concepts are pretty well proven, its very unlikely for them to get a WTFOMGBBQ twist (although physics is another history).

author@ptgbook.orgptgauthor # Wednesday, August 26, 2009 4:17:25 AM

Originally posted by anonymous:

Anonymous # 25. August 2009, 21:33
H writes:

Believing in god isnt necesary (for truly healthy people). I dont want to offend anyone but if you say god exists, prove it,

I have proved it. Not to you, obviously, but to myself, and I was able to do it without bias. I have documented how I did this in my website (see my blog if you are interested in a link to my site).

If you are still collecting data, how do you know that some people who believe in God do not have reasons and arguments that cannot be rationally refuted?

If you have an open mind and keep searching for proof one way or another, you will find the answer.

Unregistered user # Wednesday, September 2, 2009 2:46:37 PM

Sonnesta writes: Einstein was wrong. God does play dice. Dice is the act of rolling random, not accidental, numbers. In dice you can only roll numbers between two and twelve. Because of the intelligent design of the dice, you can never 'accidentally' roll fourteen; just like you can never 'accidentally' create a cosmos. If science is right and a singularity did exist just prior to the Big Bang, how long did it exist? It doesn't matter if it existed for eons or for just a nano-second. If it existed at all, it had a history, and that histroy was written, as all histories are, in time. Therefore, despite science's claim, time existed before the light came, and time will continue to exist after our cosmic sparkler fades back into the darkness from which it first emerged. Einstein realized if a singular particle or force had existed before the Big Bang exploded it must have existed in one of two states. It was either at rest, or in motion. Applying Newton's Laws to the singularity Einstein realized that if the singularity had been at rest it should have remained at rest -forever, or until acted upon by an outside force or influence. Likewise, if the singularity had been in motion it should have remained so until..acted upon by an outside force or influence. Einstein asked, "What outside force or influence could have caused the singularity to abruptly, and violently, change?" For lack of a better word he called this force, or influence, 'God.' Now he was certin God existed. But, what was the purpose of His existence? That we now know is to create. God(the force or influence that acts upon us all and causes cosmic light to burn and to fade)creates. There is only one force or influence that effects us all, and causes all things to be born or to perish. That force is time. Because the universe is a smooth fabric of space/time, the only way to discern its presence is to introduce matter which warps it. The cosmos is thaqt matter and the warping of space/time is what we perceive as time passing. Again, science is wrong. The light did not create time, but rather time created the light. The light reveals the presence of time just as the DNA in a child reveals the identity of its parent. When our cosmic light fades into darkness, in time another light will come forth. The problem many believers have with understanding the nature of creation and God is the idea that God has arms and legs like humans, but this is not true. In truth, God created man in his own image. That is; not in God's image, but in his (man's) own image. The appearance of Jesus is to reveal the Son of Man as a son of God's. We look like Jesus, or he looks like us because he was the spirit in flesh. We should struggle to be the same. In time we will all be equal. Just as in time, the universe too will once more be empty.

YmePinkyGeneral # Monday, September 14, 2009 11:39:34 PM

There are some assumptions which you take to be postulations. Consider the possibility that everything started from a singular point which we refer to as the big bang...

You need to remember something: Newtonian physics and laws do not directly apply (if at all) to matter so condensed, rather quantum mechanics apply. Therefore it could have been at rest for a variable amount of time before the probability of "the big bang" happened. Also note that we still don't know enough of what really happens at a quantum level, so conjecture about what happened at the big bang is all we have.

Consider however the possibility that the big bang came from a singular point in space (whether moving or not is irrelevant as you have no point of reference) where all matter and energy was condensed into an infintessimally small point. Could that not be a natural result of another theory called the big crunch, where all matter will inevitably be compacted back to a singular point? If so, you would have a never ending cycle of crunch-bangs...

Also be careful of confusing pseudoscience with science. Time cannot be created as it is a physical dimension in our reality. Light is simply photons, particles with wave- and matter-like properties. Time is one of the dimensions used to describe a photon, as is the three dimensions we call up-down, left-right and forward-backward in layman's terms. Ignore all additional dimensions physicists use to balance equations. These four dimensions are constructs used to describe matter such as photons aka light. Therefore one did not create the other, rather light can be described in terms of time. (Depending on "the time" a photon would be in different places, which is why time is a property which describes it's position)

Be careful in proclaiming science to be wrong. Science by it's very nature is open to correction, it's merely theories backed by physical proofs. If a better, more encompassing theory comes along which better fits the evidence, then the 'doctrine' is revised. Religions proclaim themselves to be correct and inviolable. Time has proven that many things religion has stated as fact have in fact been proven wrong, dare I mention Gallileo as an example? Science is continually revised to better explain our world and to fit the evidence. Proclaiming science to be wrong is easy, explain it with a proper theory that better fits the evidence and the world will listen.

And I do not mean simply quoting more pseudo science or laying everything you don't understand at God's door. If it wasn't for our curiousity which has led us to investigate the world and question the very nature of our universe (and it's origins by proxy) then you would not live in the world you do now. You'd still be in the dark ages...

I hesitate to even start on pseudo science as it's something that makes me incredibly mad. Very few things in life irk me as much as people trying to convince people of a concept with a very sparse knowledge of science and claiming their deduced concepts as scientific fact. It might work on the uneducated, but you will show yourself as a fool to anyone who bothered to study the subject properly. This isn't a personal attack, simply a warning. It's true that nothing is more dangerous than a passing knowledge of a subject.

All that aside, the important point is that you won't 'find God' by trying to twist scientific theories or by solving all the mysteries of the universe. Faith is as another commenter rightfully pointed out, exactly as it states, taking something on faith and believing it with the full knowledge that there is no substantiating evidence. You have to 'believe.'

author@ptgbook.orgptgauthor # Tuesday, September 22, 2009 1:41:43 PM

I think that making faith a "considered decision" is the right approach.

Years ago I tried to prove whether or not God exists, and I found evidence from the creation, specifically the design of the universe and the consciousness of my mind, that He does, and for me that evidence was strong enough to be proof positive, and I have never doubted His existence since then. After that I looked for evidence for or against the Bible, and I found evidence in fulfilled prophecy that God inspired the Bible and speaks through the Bible, and again, the evidence was strong enough for me to regard it as proof that the Bible is God's word (I describe this in my website). But neither of these things were what I considered to be "faith."

Where "faith" comes in is what came next for me.

Just because I knew that the Bible is God speaking did not mean I believed the Bible. To believe the Bible meant believing everything God said, all His promises, all His instruction about Himself and about doctrine and the future. There is a verse in the Bible where God says that God cannot lie. Do I believe that or not? That is, do I trust God to always tell the truth in the Bible and always keep His promises?

After thinking about it, I made a considered decision to believe God, to believe whatever He says, and for me that considered decision was a commitment of faith. So for me, the main thing about faith is not believing that God exists - I already knew that from proof - but for me faith is believing what God says.