25 or so years ago I was in a conversation(argument) with some friends and family members regarding "life in the universe and God". We humans mistreat each other and kill in the name of god. If we are the best that he can do, than he needs to give back his god card, since he supposedly created us in his image as religion professes. My contribution to the conversation was that one day we would discover that there are other planets orbiting other stars in the galaxy the same way earth and the other planets in this solar system orbits the sun. I argued that several of those planets would probably have living beings on them.
God has way too big a Universe to take care of to bother with our tiny speck of dust. Besides if God is so omniscient, why wouldn't he just ow up to shut the atheists up? Also if we are the only life in this Galaxy, then it stands to reason that life would exist in some of the 100 Billion other galaxies.
I have used a similar argument several times.
If god created our galaxy of over 100 billion stars which is one of over a hundred billion galaxies in a universe with a diameter of about 92 billion light years with most starts having planets revolving around them, then he’s pretty powerful dude. Why would such a being be at all concerned about what Phil and Max were doing last night at their place over on Fifth and Vine?
Hi noworry28,
I am having some difficulty in reconciling your statement, would you be so kind as to help me understand what you mean?
Are you saying that because we humans mistreat each other and kill in the name of God, therefore God must not exist?
And, because there are most likely planets orbiting stars in our own and other galaxies that probably have living beings on them, this would therefore prove that God does not exist?
I am most likely misunderstanding your meaning.
Actually what I am attempting to say is that religion claims that we are made in god's image and that w are his greatest creation. If there was a god and we are his greatest creation than he was a total failure.
Thanks for replying noworry28.
Would you mind if ask what are the reasons that lead you to conclude that If there was a god and we are his greatest creation then he was a total failure?
What grade would you give the human race. Take a look at our history. If one was to create anything, it would be judged by how close to perfection it is. If a god created us in his own image, and he is perfection, all knowing and without fault then shouldn't human being be as close to perfection as it can be, humans are nowhere near perfection, therefore god failed.
I think the human race has plenty of scope for improvement. I don’t think I would go so far as to say we are failing. We are all, theist and non-theist alike, responsible for our own actions and our contributions to an ever advancing civilisation. So if we are, as you suggest, “failing”, why would this mean God is a failure? It would seem to me to indicate that we are failing to live up to our potential.
Anyway noworry28, as a non-theist, what reasons do you postulate for humanity’s apparent failure?
Well for Earth single celled life developed soon after the Earth cooled suggesting it could be very common, but for most of the next 4 billion years stayed single celled or primitive sponges and algae. It wasn't till the last 500 million that complex life evolved and out of that only one technological civilization and that was after at least 6 mass extinction events. We might actually be the best the universe can do.