Creationism

Stripped Rights

Stripped Rights

Well-known member
This is something I've thought about for eons. If everything we know was really created by some one/thing is/was it done by a single lone magical devine being or was it just one being among millions of others that just happened to give us a proper environment to thrive in? Similar to us creating an ant farm or a computer simulation. None of us will ever truly know until death, even then we may never really know the truth depending on what's actually real.

Did we just happen? Were we created and if so was it by a lone devine being or just a single being among hundreds/millions/billions of average beings like ourselves in a bigger world doing an experiment?

There are numerous options if you're willing to consider the possibilities.

I was raised christian. Eventually I abandoned any idea of God or creationism. As I got a little older I realized that none of us could really know for certain until death (if even then) so now I'm undecided.

I know what some of you believe but please try to think outside of the box before committing to a solid answer.

Thank you for your thoughts/opinions.
 
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Stripped Rights said:
Did we just happen?
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Nothing "just happens", so no, that's for-certain.

Stripped Rights said:
Were we created and if so was it by a lone devine being or just a single being among hundreds/millions/billions of average beings like ourselves in a bigger world doing an experiment?
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You've touched on one of the central principles regarding intelligent-design theory:

In order to create something, you must first exist in a "greater world", as you put it.

Just as in the story of Mr. and Mrs. Flat, a being in a higher dimension, of which physicists have estimated an ever-growing number through the years, would be invisible to us and yet possess greater intelligence and capability of manipulating the 3 (or 4, depending on how you see time) dimensions we experience. The addition of just 1 dimension is beyond the comprehension of most when it comes to the capabilities it'd impart. Now imagine 2, 3 or many more.

Such a being would literally be outside of time and space, meaning that size (of the universe for instance), distance, mass and indeed time would have no meaning or constraining qualities. Such a being would be able to see the future as we perceive it, manipulate matter from an atomic right through to an astronomical level, know an extraordinary amount of detail about each of us far beyond our own capabilities, be capable of all manner of "miraculous" (again, as we'd perceive them) feats and so on.

"Mr, and Mrs, Flat", you ask?

It's a simple thought experiment that illustrates the power of adding just 1 dimension:
Said individuals are paper cut-outs. Circular, square, triangular, it doesn't matter. They exist on a single 2-dimensional plane. When they look at each other, all they see is a straight line.

Now imagine the myriad of "miracles" they'd witness if you were to be able to see all around them? Touch them in their centres? So the thought experiment goes; it's crude, but it's a useful illustration of the principle I outlined.

Stripped Rights said:
Similar to us creating an ant farm or a computer simulation.
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... except that instead of using existing designs (the ants, the plastic, water, sugar, soil etc.), you design the farm from the atoms up, the latter being designed by you too of course.

Bingo 'though; that's the principle as mentioned in my previous response.
 
Monkey Man said:
It's a simple thought experiment that illustrates the power of adding just 1 dimension:
Said individuals are paper cut-outs. Circular, square, triangular, it doesn't matter. They exist on a single 2-dimensional plane. When they look at each other, all they see is a straight line.
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Sounds like the classic novel "Flatland"
 
You raise the eternal question of mankind. Perhaps the defining question of humanity. I think the ability to even recognize and ponder this question is where humanity (any sentient being for that matter) separates itself from the animal kingdom.

Given our complete inability to break out of the frame of reference imposed by our very existence, I think the only rational reactions we can have to The Question are faith or skepticism.

I have often pondered the role of faith. I have come to believe that for a person to accept faith, to find the peace and acceptance to believe that there is something greater than all of this; even greater than self… it changes ones life. It can temper the fear and uncertainty that mere awareness of “The Question” can raise.

When I was 17 or so, myself and some friends were sitting around smoking bowl after bowl of weed from a pipe. As the last bud was glowing in the bowl I looked at it and said something to the effect of: “Imagine if when we lit this bowl we started our own big bang and in the minutes it has taken us to smoke this bowl, a whole universe was born, creatures lived their lives, trillions of years passed, and when the bowl dies so does that universe. No being in that universe could ever hope to understand that all their existence ever was, was 4 dudes smoking a bowl of weed”.

I know that bowl of weed was not a universe. I was stoned af. But it served as a metaphorical abstraction for me in that moment to contemplate the limits that our very existence impose upon our perspective.

It also led me to comtemplate that God may also have perceptive limits. Would God be aware of everything that happened at a micro level (individual thoughts, hopes, aspirations) or at a macro level (this thing exists, but unaware of internal machinations)? Or could God just be a kid smoking a bowl of weed contemplating his own place within the enormity of existence? IDK.

TL;DR: We have no way of knowing until our time here is done. Each and every one of us either finds and accepts faith or does not. Either way we are all here until we are not and must chart our own path.

Good thread!
 
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There may be a metaphysical entity or Borg or multiverse or something beyond the observable universe, sure.

But it sure as hell isn’t the Abrahamic father/wizard in the clouds. That we can be 100% sure of.
 
First, there was nothing.

Then, it exploded..

..and created everything.

hiSRv1Z.jpg
 
well, San Franciso, Seattle, Portland, and other cities created their totalitarian dystopian cesspools; I suppose one can also view this as destruction of their civil society.

Depends on one's perspective, like most things.
 
Monkey Man said:
Nothing "just happens", so no, that's for-certain.
Click to expand...

Ok so that's a problem for the Creator. If nothing "just happens" then the creator would need a Creator in an infinite regression.

If you say the Creator is the Alpha, and Omega, the First the Last, the Beginning, and the End. He must have "just happened" popped into existence as many would say.

So if you say nothing just happens, or nothing can come from nothing then we have a logical fallacy called "Special Pleading"
Because you're making a special exception for the creator, and breaking the rule you set forth that nothing "just happens"
 
Clig Herdunkachuk said:
TL;DR: We have no way of knowing until our time here is done. Each and every one of us either finds and accepts faith or does not. Either way we are all here until we are not and must chart our own path.
Click to expand...

We will still have no way of knowing after our time is done. Your whole consciousness is a biological neural network in your skull. These neural connections ARE YOU. When your body dies the brain containing these neural connections dies and deteriorates.

We can observe this. Also there is no mechanism for uploading this neural connection map to some spirit realm. Although Elon Musk is working on it :hys:
 
CrazyNutz said:
We will still have no way of knowing after our time is done. Your whole consciousness is a biological neural network in your skull. These neural connections ARE YOU. When your body dies the brain containing these neural connections dies and deteriorates.

We can observe this. Also there is no mechanism for uploading this neural connection map to some spirit realm. Although Elon Musk is working on it :hys:
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I can agree with your point.

If we are an expression of energy and our body binds that energy, how does that energy maintain the cohesion of “personhood” when the body dies?

Seems to me that it would be more like pouring a glass of water into a river. You will never be able get the same exact glass of water from the river, but all of its molecules are there.
 
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Stripped Rights said:
This is something I've thought about for eons. If everything we know was really created by some one/thing is/was it done by a single lone magical devine being or was it just one being among millions of others that just happened to give us a proper environment to thrive in? Similar to us creating an ant farm or a computer simulation. None of us will ever truly know until death, even then we may never really know the truth depending on what's actually real.

Did we just happen? Were we created and if so was it by a lone devine being or just a single being among hundreds/millions/billions of average beings like ourselves in a bigger world doing an experiment?

There are numerous options if you're willing to consider the possibilities.

I was raised christian. Eventually I abandoned any idea of God or creationism. As I got a little older I realized that none of us could really know for certain until death (if even then) so now I'm undecided.

I know what some of you believe but please try to think outside of the box before committing to a solid answer.

Thank you for your thoughts/opinions.
Click to expand...
You are important and were created for a reason… I don’t believe anything is random or just happens.

~ss
 
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