Hello Frank,
That's interesting.
The whole creator/overseer thing is simply not plausible to me.
Okay.
Evolution is fact. It is clear that the links between animals and humans are overwhelming. We evolved from lower life forms. Life forms evolve in response to their surroundings. That cannot be plausibly denied. The physical evidence of this is overwhelming. That makes the story of creation false, and thus the entire Bible is to be doubted and not taken as fact (in my view.)
I did not bring "the Bible" into this...and I really wish it hadn't been...but...
If the discussion is about whether any gods exist or not..."the Bible" has but one of the zillions of possibilities of gods.
That is narrowing it down way too much.
As far as the Bible is concerned, here is my take (for the third time this week) taken from a reply I gave to someone condemning homosexuality:
AS FOR THE BIBLE: My personal opinion is that the best guess that can be made about the Bible is that it is a self-serving history of the early Hebrew people interspersed with a fanciful religious mythology. My opinion is that the best guess that can be made about the religious aspects of the Bible is that the people writing the material—the people inventing the god—put their prejudices into the mouth of the god they invented. Almost all of the anger, hatred, and prejudice against homosexuals today in our country has its genesis in the biblical mythology—and has absolutely no place in the hearts and minds of people supposedly as intelligent as we. It is my opinion that the unwarranted prejudice against homosexuals should end not because people are able to justify disregarding the more obviously silly ravings of what almost certainly is a mythical god…but because we, as an intelligent and basically fair species, should see such prejudice for the ignorance it is.
You are what I would call an agnostic. I thought of myself that way for a long time.
I used to call myself an agnostic...but then the conversations became about what is meant by "agnostic."
Now I just describe my position rather than use a descriptor:
I do not know if gods exist or not;
I see no reason to suspect gods CANNOT EXIST...that the existence of gods is impossible;
I see no reason to suspect that gods MUST EXIST...that gods are needed to explain existence;
I do not see enough unambiguous evidence upon which to base a meaningful guess in either direction...
...so I don't.
I lean that way, but only a minute bit. I have seen so little to support that there is any sort of sentient guidance to the cosmos, that I am 99.9% convinced there is none. But it can't be proved, so I leave room for doubt. The tiniest bit of it. For all essential purposes I am convinced there is no creator/overseer being or beings.
You are free to do that.
My position is:
It is not possible to establish that at least one god exists using logic, reason, science, or math.
It is not possible to establish that it is more likely that at least one god exists than that no gods exist using logic, reason, science, or math.
It is not possible to establish that no gods exist using logic, reason, science, or math.
It is not possible to establish that it is more likely that no gods exist than that at least one god exists using logic, reason, science, or math.
Although it was very interesting reading Van Daniken's 'Chariots Of The Gods.'
Never read it.
