I'm sure this has been debated before, but I was wondering, with all our advances in science and technology, is there room for God anymore?
Humans used to explain things they couldn't understand as a supernatural force acting upon them, such as a thunderstorm. Some things also got pretty scary at times, such as the plagues of Egypt in the Old Testament. Today however, using scientific tools and observation, we know that thunderstorms are caused by freak low pressure systems in the atmosphere, and we know why natural disasters happen, and can sometimes even predict when they will occur, and where they may hit (such as Hurricane Katrina).
It was once believed that the Earth was the center of the universe (I don't think the Bible says this, just that God created everything). Observations made by people back then made this seem logical. Anything claiming otherwise was considered heretical (just look at poor Galileo). However, once again, science steps in and says that the Earth is in fact just another planet orbiting the sun, and later on, our sun isn't even that great, it's just "average" on the scale of stars.
What I'm trying to say here is, as science comes and explains these sorts of things, it seems like the "magical explanation" of "God did it" seems to be less and less acceptable. So, do you think that science is gradually trying to replace God? Or, do you think that God is in fact revealing to us how His universe works, on a slow and gradual basis?
For me, I believe it's the latter. I grew up learning the former, but then, having read the Bible after receiving "secular training" (I suppose what you'd call a public school education hehe), I have come to believe that science is really God's way of explaining to us how the universe works.
There are still some things that science can't fully explain however, such as how old the universe is exactly. While we have a good estimate, it's not exactly precise (if you believe the "13 billion years old" thing, and that our sun is 5 billion years old, doesn't it make you wonder what happened in the first 8 billion years before the earth even existed?). I don't think the Bible ever mentions the age of the universe either, and the closest thing we have is the line "To God, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day" (sorry, I forget where it's located in the Bible, but I believe it's in the New Testament), and this is where the "Earth is 6,000 years old" claim that some Bible people say, taking that quote literally (the six days in the beginning of the Old Testament, although I wonder why they don't count the 7th day when God rested hehe).
However, I myself have trouble believing that. I don't think that God meant for us to literally take that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. To me, that "thousand years" quote was meant to be easy to comprehend to someone living in that day in age. For all we know, a billion years is like a day to God, and the Earth is probably much older than we think, just that we didn't need to know about all that other stuff that occurred back then (yeah, I'm probably going to start falling apart here if I start talking about dinosaurs and cavemen lol). I believe this is one of those things where you either believe God created everything, or you don't. Faith can't be measured the way you can measure water in a cup, which is why science has a hard time observing "acts of God" in this way (and no doubt this stuff gets confusing after a while).
I think I can understand why God spoke in such a way in the Bible, because He wants it to have a timeless feel to it (and it does for the most part. Many of the messages spoken by Jesus over two thousand years ago still ring true today, such as money corrupting people). To someone living in that day, they'd have no way of comprehending how germs invade their bodies and make them sick, or that the nearest star to us takes light 4.3 years to arrive to their eyes and for their brain to process it. And even today, you'd be hard pressed to explain where all the matter in the universe came from (science says you can't create something from nothing. But the Bible says with God, all things are possible).
The laws of science have always been around (such as, water will freeze or ice will melt at 32 degrees fahrenheit, or 0 degrees celsius), and there are no doubt new laws that await our discovery (which God will give to us through some hard working person at an appropiate time. I don't think we're ready for interstellar travel yet, but I believe it's possible, just like people used to think we could never fly, or even go into space, yet we've done both within the last hundred years).
Also, consider the Tower of Babel story in the Old Testament People tried to build a tower to reach into the Heavens, but God knew they weren't ready, and therefore split everyone up and spread them throughout the world. Gradually, although I admit that it's been a terrible path (what with the prejudices and mass killings), we've come to contact other people and in many parts of the world, have begun living together as these people back then once lived, and God hasn't really impeded our progress too much (I wish He'd let us kickstart the space program again though, I'd love to travel in space someday hehe).
I suppose to sum up what I'm saying here is, people sometimes try to hard to find God, or prove that he either exists or doesn't exist. Sometimes people come up with many reasons to prove that God exists, or that God exists in some form, or that God isn't around at all, and never really did exist (the Trinity stuff confuses the heck out of me. I still don't fully understand that concept, but I believe God sent Jesus to save us, which is still a much easier to understand message). God can be found pretty simply, and He shows us how to find him in the Bible, but many people don't seem to want to believe that, thinking that it's gotta be more complex than that, and come up with some pretty interesting ideas on how God works.
But like Jesus said, we should have child-like understanding of these things if we truly want to know God. That's why scholars and prophets have searched high and low and never found God, yet simple people have discovered Him quite easily (I also like how Jesus chose simple folk to spread the Word of God around. Imagine if Jesus explained to them how God worked as if it were a complex mathematical formula. I think it'd be over a lot of people's heads). By loving Him with all our strength (people nowadays really take what they have for granted sadly. Didn't Jesus say "we have nothing, except that which God has given us?"), and loving our fellow humans as we would love ourselves, we can learn about the nature of God (Jesus summed it up pretty nicely I believe).
Sorry if this post seems to go several places. It's something I was debating as I was writing my stories, as I try to take on these sorts of issues. As you can see, it's can be quite complicated, and I wanted to see what you all think about this stuff. At first, it seemed like learning about God was going to be something that you'd need a degree in, but as I read the Bible, I found out that the messages contained in it are pretty simplistic in nature, and really easy to read and follow. I'm hoping that in my own stories, I can reflect those kinds of messages too, easy to read and understand.
Humans used to explain things they couldn't understand as a supernatural force acting upon them, such as a thunderstorm. Some things also got pretty scary at times, such as the plagues of Egypt in the Old Testament. Today however, using scientific tools and observation, we know that thunderstorms are caused by freak low pressure systems in the atmosphere, and we know why natural disasters happen, and can sometimes even predict when they will occur, and where they may hit (such as Hurricane Katrina).
It was once believed that the Earth was the center of the universe (I don't think the Bible says this, just that God created everything). Observations made by people back then made this seem logical. Anything claiming otherwise was considered heretical (just look at poor Galileo). However, once again, science steps in and says that the Earth is in fact just another planet orbiting the sun, and later on, our sun isn't even that great, it's just "average" on the scale of stars.
What I'm trying to say here is, as science comes and explains these sorts of things, it seems like the "magical explanation" of "God did it" seems to be less and less acceptable. So, do you think that science is gradually trying to replace God? Or, do you think that God is in fact revealing to us how His universe works, on a slow and gradual basis?
For me, I believe it's the latter. I grew up learning the former, but then, having read the Bible after receiving "secular training" (I suppose what you'd call a public school education hehe), I have come to believe that science is really God's way of explaining to us how the universe works.
There are still some things that science can't fully explain however, such as how old the universe is exactly. While we have a good estimate, it's not exactly precise (if you believe the "13 billion years old" thing, and that our sun is 5 billion years old, doesn't it make you wonder what happened in the first 8 billion years before the earth even existed?). I don't think the Bible ever mentions the age of the universe either, and the closest thing we have is the line "To God, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day" (sorry, I forget where it's located in the Bible, but I believe it's in the New Testament), and this is where the "Earth is 6,000 years old" claim that some Bible people say, taking that quote literally (the six days in the beginning of the Old Testament, although I wonder why they don't count the 7th day when God rested hehe).
However, I myself have trouble believing that. I don't think that God meant for us to literally take that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. To me, that "thousand years" quote was meant to be easy to comprehend to someone living in that day in age. For all we know, a billion years is like a day to God, and the Earth is probably much older than we think, just that we didn't need to know about all that other stuff that occurred back then (yeah, I'm probably going to start falling apart here if I start talking about dinosaurs and cavemen lol). I believe this is one of those things where you either believe God created everything, or you don't. Faith can't be measured the way you can measure water in a cup, which is why science has a hard time observing "acts of God" in this way (and no doubt this stuff gets confusing after a while).
I think I can understand why God spoke in such a way in the Bible, because He wants it to have a timeless feel to it (and it does for the most part. Many of the messages spoken by Jesus over two thousand years ago still ring true today, such as money corrupting people). To someone living in that day, they'd have no way of comprehending how germs invade their bodies and make them sick, or that the nearest star to us takes light 4.3 years to arrive to their eyes and for their brain to process it. And even today, you'd be hard pressed to explain where all the matter in the universe came from (science says you can't create something from nothing. But the Bible says with God, all things are possible).
The laws of science have always been around (such as, water will freeze or ice will melt at 32 degrees fahrenheit, or 0 degrees celsius), and there are no doubt new laws that await our discovery (which God will give to us through some hard working person at an appropiate time. I don't think we're ready for interstellar travel yet, but I believe it's possible, just like people used to think we could never fly, or even go into space, yet we've done both within the last hundred years).
Also, consider the Tower of Babel story in the Old Testament People tried to build a tower to reach into the Heavens, but God knew they weren't ready, and therefore split everyone up and spread them throughout the world. Gradually, although I admit that it's been a terrible path (what with the prejudices and mass killings), we've come to contact other people and in many parts of the world, have begun living together as these people back then once lived, and God hasn't really impeded our progress too much (I wish He'd let us kickstart the space program again though, I'd love to travel in space someday hehe).
I suppose to sum up what I'm saying here is, people sometimes try to hard to find God, or prove that he either exists or doesn't exist. Sometimes people come up with many reasons to prove that God exists, or that God exists in some form, or that God isn't around at all, and never really did exist (the Trinity stuff confuses the heck out of me. I still don't fully understand that concept, but I believe God sent Jesus to save us, which is still a much easier to understand message). God can be found pretty simply, and He shows us how to find him in the Bible, but many people don't seem to want to believe that, thinking that it's gotta be more complex than that, and come up with some pretty interesting ideas on how God works.
But like Jesus said, we should have child-like understanding of these things if we truly want to know God. That's why scholars and prophets have searched high and low and never found God, yet simple people have discovered Him quite easily (I also like how Jesus chose simple folk to spread the Word of God around. Imagine if Jesus explained to them how God worked as if it were a complex mathematical formula. I think it'd be over a lot of people's heads). By loving Him with all our strength (people nowadays really take what they have for granted sadly. Didn't Jesus say "we have nothing, except that which God has given us?"), and loving our fellow humans as we would love ourselves, we can learn about the nature of God (Jesus summed it up pretty nicely I believe).
Sorry if this post seems to go several places. It's something I was debating as I was writing my stories, as I try to take on these sorts of issues. As you can see, it's can be quite complicated, and I wanted to see what you all think about this stuff. At first, it seemed like learning about God was going to be something that you'd need a degree in, but as I read the Bible, I found out that the messages contained in it are pretty simplistic in nature, and really easy to read and follow. I'm hoping that in my own stories, I can reflect those kinds of messages too, easy to read and understand.
