Absolute Certainty

Originally posted by divegeester
I am not certain that God exists but I hope he does. I am not an absolutist and should there be an afterlife and I'm shown to be wrong about my belief in the nature of God I would not be entirely surprised.

I also completely accept that despite the wonder of nature, the universe, human beings there is no actual empricial evidence that a God of any na ...[text shortened]... rcial perspective. So I am surprised that I cling to my faith. Or perhaps my faith clings to me.

Although i am 'pretty certain' God doesn't exist, i too hope that he does. Two things i'm pretty certain of:
1. If aliens ever make it to earth they will be of a friendly disposition. (A Vulcan rather than a Klingon). To make it here they will have to be far more advanced than us, an advancement that i'm certain will have made them benevolent.
2. If God does exist, and is indeed all loving, no human being has anything to fear from him, irrespective of what religion or non-religion they have chosen.

Originally posted by divegeester
I've been posting here for 7 years and you claim that your don't know wether or not I view God as a 'bearded chap in the sky'? I don't believe you.

And in those 7 years you have frequently called off conversations with me about your beliefs. I actually know very little about what you believe. I know you don't believe in hell, and that's about it.

Originally posted by divegeester
I'm happy to continue discussing this with you and you don't make the conversation "uncomfortable" as I don't agree with your opinion and world view; perhaps you think your opinion is more powerful than in fact it is.

Perhaps you could give a bit more description of the God(s) you are talking about in the OP. Does this God interfere in peoples lives, and does he violate the laws of physics when doing so?

Originally posted by twhitehead
Not if they know what the term means, no.

You don't think they fully believe it when they (for instance) throw the fine-tuning argument at you? That they're not thinking to themselves that you must really see it their way, but choose not to, because you don't want to? I keep being told by many theists that I really do believe, but hate god, or whatever, so clearly they believe this is somethong I'm struggling with, maintaining a non-belief while really believing (so they think).

Edit: Yes, I hit o instead of i there, but the result was so hilarious, I've decided to leave it, on purpose. 😵

Originally posted by twhitehead
And in those 7 years you have frequently called off conversations with me about your beliefs. I actually know very little about what you believe. I know you don't believe in hell, and that's about it.

you know I don't regard god to be a "bearded man in the sky".

Originally posted by twhitehead
Perhaps you could give a bit more description of the God(s) you are talking about in the OP. Does this God interfere in peoples lives, and does he violate the laws of physics when doing so?

I didn't really think about it and prefer to not put constraints on this "god". Let's assume it could be any time of god. considering some scientists consider an infinite multiverse to be a possibility, let's also assume a god could be infinite in how it is defined.

Originally posted by Ghost of a Duke
Although i am 'pretty certain' God doesn't exist, i too hope that he does. Two things i'm pretty certain of:
1. If aliens ever make it to earth they will be of a friendly disposition. (A Vulcan rather than a Klingon). To make it here they will have to be far more advanced than us, an advancement that i'm certain will have made them benevolent.
2. ...[text shortened]... g has anything to fear from him, irrespective of what religion or non-religion they have chosen.

I always see god as all loving but I have trouble accepting the aspects of god typified by some traditional Christian interpretations.

As for "aliens"...sonship seems to think there a beings on other worlds. I guess without empirical evidence of alien existence then should be absolutely certain they do not exist?

i think they would probably be aggressive and potentially look at us as food or some other resource.

Originally posted by divegeester
i think they would probably be aggressive and potentially look at us as food or some other resource.

Would you look at a completely alien form of life and think: "Ah, food"? 😕

I think, unless we stand in the way of something they need, they would think of us kind of like how we think of ants. We may be interesting for scientific study, but that's about it.

Originally posted by C Hess
You don't think they fully believe it when they (for instance) throw the fine-tuning argument at you? That they're not thinking to themselves that you must really see it their way, but choose not to, because you don't want to? I keep being told by many theists that I really do believe, but hate god, or whatever, so clearly they believe this is somethong I'm struggling with, maintaining a non-belief while really believing (so they think).

You have a point. Maybe they do.

Edit: I read that 10 times and couldn't find the misplaced 'o'. When I replied, I finally spotted it.

Originally posted by divegeester
you know I don't regard god to be a "bearded man in the sky".

No, I do not know that - or at least I didn't until you stated it in this thread. And I don't mean it literally anyway. I am referring to certain properties usually attributed to God by theists:
1. Human like characteristics (hence God is usually represented as a bearded man).
2. The sky represents another world of unknown location but definitely not on earth.
3. The act of looking down on us, watching us and interfering with us is also part of the imagery.

Originally posted by divegeester
As for "aliens"...sonship seems to think there a beings on other worlds. I guess without empirical evidence of alien existence then should be absolutely certain they do not exist?

I am absolutely certain that alien spacecraft visiting earth and kidnapping people do not exist. However, alien life forms in general is another matter altogether. That is well within the realm of scientific possibility.

i think they would probably be aggressive and potentially look at us as food or some other resource.
I agree with C Hess that that would be highly unlikely. The technology to travel between star systems almost certainly comes after farming and other methods of obtaining food and other resources have been worked out. Also, if by some strange chance they were looking for biological food, then the most likely source would be plants as they are far more plentiful and easy to gather.

Originally posted by C Hess
Would you look at a completely alien form of life and think: "Ah, food"? 😕

I think, unless we stand in the way of something they need, they would think of us kind of like how we think of ants. We may be interesting for scientific study, but that's about it.

If i'd traveled 1000 parsecs on an empty stomach, yes of course.

Originally posted by divegeester
If i'd traveled 1000 parsecs on an empty stomach, yes of course.

Not only would it not be very smart of you to eat alien life forms, but it wouldn't be very smart to travel 1000 parsecs on an empty stomach - and likely not even feasible.
Most importantly though, it would likely not do you any good to eat the alien life form as they would probably have different chemistry from us and thus not provide you with what your body needs.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I am absolutely certain that alien spacecraft visiting earth and kidnapping people do not exist. However, alien life forms in general is another matter altogether. That is well within the realm of scientific possibility.

Agreed.

however, the chances of us meeting alien life is hugely small given the age and size of the universe and the distribution of habitable planets within it. Bio-systems and civilisations could rise and fall in the relative blink of an eye and simply not exist at the time time. The vast distances involved would mean technology so advanced that we would probably not even recognise them as aliens. Perhaps if we encountered one we would sense its presence but not see it. Perhaps we would explain it as god.

Originally posted by twhitehead
Not only would it not be very smart of you to eat alien life forms, but it wouldn't be very smart to travel 1000 parsecs on an empty stomach - and likely not even feasible.
Most importantly though, it would likely not do you any good to eat the alien life form as they would probably have different chemistry from us and thus not provide you with what your body needs.

Agreed. That was me being flippant. 🙂