Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,159,037 members, 7,838,590 topics. Date: Friday, 24 May 2024 at 06:00 AM

Your God Is Too Small - Religion - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Religion / Your God Is Too Small (19186 Views)

Funke Adejumo's UK Ban: Daddy Freeze, Adelaja & Mayowa Are Too Small To Ban Rev. / Prepare To Meet Your God (An Excerpt): The Rapture And Great Tribulation! / "T.B Joshua Is Too Small" - Apostle Johnson Suleman (Throwback Video) (2) (3) (4)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) ... (12) (Reply) (Go Down)

Your God Is Too Small by menesheh(m): 12:45am On Sep 25, 2015
People often refer to the Christian God as the creator of the universe. Most of the time, I do a mental face-palm whenever I hear this and get on with my day. But every once in a while, I laugh. I laugh quite hard actually, if my mood is good enough at that particular moment in time. The idea of Yahweh being the creator of something as vast and as complex as our universe is so ridiculous, so obviously stupid, so blatantly wrong that it's laughable. And don’t call me Shirley.

Why, though? Why is the idea laughable? Billions of people believe it, so why not? It seems only rational if you're one of those people. After all, all those people can't be wrong, can they?

A Lesson in Astronomy

To understand why it's laughable, it's good to have an understanding of what the universe is. Most of what makes up the observable, material universe is matter—or atoms. Each atom has a certain number of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and the number of each determines what kind of element an atom is and how it behaves. The vast majority of the universe consists of the smallest atoms, hydrogen and helium. These elements also make up the vast majority of a star's composition for the majority of it's life, fusing hydrogen atoms in helium atoms. Our sun is a low mass star, which means that in about 6-7 billion years, it will grow into a red giant before collapsing into a white dwarf.

Stars tend to be found in large groups, such as star clusters or galaxies. Our sun is located towards the edge of one of the spiral arms in the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way itself is approximately 100,000 light-years across, and contains about 200 billion stars. The current estimates suggest there are about 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe. That means that there could be as many as 10^24 stars in the universe, or 1 with 25 zeros behind it. The universe itself is thought to be as large as 150 million light-years across, according to current estimates. That’s approximately 9*10^20 miles, or 9 with 20 zeros behind it. Even riding on the fastest man-made object, it would take us about 5 and a half quadrillion years to go from one side to the other.

All-Powerful Daddy

Now why is this relevant, you ask? “Of course, my god could have made all that, he's all-powerful!” Well, you can say that and anything else about your god that you so desire. But let's look at what your holy book says, shall we? After all, it is what you base your faith on, yes?

There are multiple passages in the Bible that talk about the stars and the sky. An example would be Genesis 1:14-18:

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good."


For most Christians, this passage, along with every other passage about stars the Bible, demonstrates that God created the stars and knew everything there is to know about them. But look at the passage again. All it says is that God created the stars, the moon and the sun, and was proud of his work. Why does it not say how the stars were made? Why are the words stellar nucleosynthesis or hydrogen or helium never mentioned in a thousand pages of scripture? It also says the stars, and the sun. Why doesn't it ever make the connection that the sun is a star, just like all the others in the sky? It's quite simple when one thinks about it. So simple that it escapes most religious people when asked about it.

They. Didn't. Know.

How could they? They had no access to telescopes or the math necessary to calculate the motions of our solar system. Algebra wouldn't even emerge until around 2000 BC, a good 2000 years or more after the events in Genesis, (depending on which YEC you ask) and even then it was not understood by all but a few people.


But why? Why


why? Why would an all-powerful, all-loving creator of the universe keep that information from his followers? Surely, such a loving god would want his children to learn about the universe in which they were born so they could have better lives through understanding it. Surely, a god as loving as the God of the Bible would leave a detailed, accurate account of the universe and how it works for future generations to read and learn from, and prosper as a result. Surely, a loving god would help us grow to be more than what we are and not keep us docile and grounded.

Instead, we’re left with a book that was formed by multiple authors who chose to write about such things as working on certain days and wearing different clothes. These concerns were canonized by a small group of people who decided that they were important enough to make the best-selling book of all time a steaming pile of bullshit for other ‘leaders’ to profit from and use to convince people to do their bidding.

What If?

I do sometimes wonder if there is a consciousness guiding the laws of the universe, using people of faith to suit its whim. After all, the second law of thermodynamics states that order and structure tends to decay into chaos and disorder, given enough time. At some point, billions of years from now, our universe will die a slow but certain heat death. There will be no more galaxies, no stars, no planets, no us. Atoms will crumble into electrons and neutrons and protons, and eventually those will collapse into quarks.

And yet, everything I have seen so far seems to defy that rule. Our sun is still burning, converting hydrogen and helium atoms into heavier elements and electromagnetic radiation. That radiation continues to fuel our planet and its ecosystem, and consequently us. Our population continues to grow and learn and discover things about the universe that we didn’t know previously, as well as things about ourselves. We learned that going back to the beginnings of life on our little mote of dust, our ancestors were nothing more than single-cell organisms. Before that, we were dust amongst the stars, and before that, we, along with the rest of the universe, were a blinding explosion of light.

With the sheer number of stars and planets in our galaxy alone, statistics and probability tell us that life likely exists elsewhere in the universe. Perhaps such life exists in our galaxy, if we’re lucky. Unfortunately, I will never know, if the current rate of technological advancement is anything to go by, for I won’t be around when the first ships capable of traveling faster than light are being built. (And they will be built. We are just now discovering that faster-than-light could be possible after all.)

But if life does exist elsewhere, is it possible that whatever civilization there might be could be contemplating some, if not many, of the same questions we are asking as well? And if that’s true, what conclusions have they come to so far? Have they looked to the stars and wondered what else is out there? Or have they buried their heads in the ground in fear of the wrath of a god, like so many of us have before?

It's not the Answer that drives us. It's the Question.

The truth is, that if life does exist elsewhere, then my previous question needs to be changed. The question isn’t if a consciousness is dictating the universe. The question is, are we part of that consciousness? Are we a part of something so vast, so powerful, so beautiful that we simply aren’t capable of understanding yet? It’s one of the few plausible answers to that highly abused, misspoken question about the beginning of the universe and whether the universe has a creator. After all, we aren’t in the universe, we are the universe. Those same elements that I spoke of earlier aren’t some alien substance under a microscope. They’re not just in your body, they are your body, your heart, your brain. We are the product of billions of years of energy, repetition, and variation, guided by the natural laws of this place we call the universe. And we, along with any other sentient life out there, are the only shot at the universe having any kind of intelligence at all.

If, for whatever cruel twist of fate, the God of the Bible exists, I want no part of him. I, along with what I hope is the vast majority of humanity, am better than him. I know more than he ever taught. I see beyond horizons that he could never reach. I love more genuinely than He. I help more than He. I understand myself better than He ever could. I see planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies just on the edge of humanity’s perception. I can even sometimes catch a small glimpse of our universe, and all the wonder and beauty it holds.

Your god is too small for me.



http://www.atheistrepublic.com/blog/tom-hanak/your-god-too-small

11 Likes 4 Shares

Re: Your God Is Too Small by Fabrepass(m): 12:54am On Sep 25, 2015
the christian god is a mere tribal deity who was often jealous. he never created anything. everything about christianity sound so silly.

5 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Your God Is Too Small by djcliff(m): 1:15am On Sep 25, 2015
if he tell u everything what then will u be doing with your brains?

2 Likes

Re: Your God Is Too Small by djcliff(m): 1:19am On Sep 25, 2015
iam open to change!
Re: Your God Is Too Small by stephenduru: 7:04am On Sep 25, 2015
Bros u dnt need a mere knowledge to understand God.You will understand Almighty God better if u are spiritual

4 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by johnydon22(m): 7:11am On Sep 25, 2015
[b]It is said truly astronomy is both an astonishing and a humbling discipline.

When you look out into the skies and find it bubbliing and swimming with trillions of stars, planets, asteroids, moons.

When you find out that our Earth is simply a pale blue dot in the solar system orbiting a gigantic sun.

and this Gigantic sun is simply a small ball in the inster Stella neighbourhood around which in return is simply a small peck of dust in the milky way.

And this milky way is but a dot amidst billions of other galaxies swimming around in a random dance of gravitational music.

You will laugh at any individual who claims they are having a personal relationship with the creator of the universe.

Because the creator of such a vast universe of countless stars and planets is busy concerning himself with whether an ant(human) in a very little dust(earth) masturbates or not.

Or busy asking and threatening some ants in the pale dust to worship it or busy bearing grudges with little ants in a very tiny dot held up by the beams of the sun.

This in our pride and self exultation we have pride ourselves the important parts of the universe but just a little peek into the heavens around us reveals just how insignificant we are.

Just how small we are and just how laughable the doctrines we have formulated in our moments of pride. Our ego have betrayed us into prizing ourselves important while we are simply too small, our greed has made us see ourselves prone to another chance of life in this sense wasting the little beautiful and brief chance our universe provides.

A simple look at the universe is enough to show you that all the Gods, titans man has conceived are simply too small..


Photo of earth as taken by Voyager one space probe, earth is just the tiny white dot i identified with an arrow. Just imagine at a puny distance of a few million miles the earth seem like a dot meaning at a distance of a billion miles one cannot even see anything called earth.



Makes one rethink our place in this universe and our duties to ourselves, in our delusion and greedy religious doctrines and dogmas we should only realize that we only have an obligation to ourselves and the earth.

Because we are all we've got. We only have each other and this earth, no horse riding deity or armor wearing God is coming to help us change anything, only us can do that for ourselves
[/b]

15 Likes 11 Shares

Re: Your God Is Too Small by freecocoa(f): 7:53am On Sep 25, 2015
Unfortunately, many christians will never know this, that's how their mind's been caged, it's a sin to think the way you lots are OP.cheesy

3 Likes

Re: Your God Is Too Small by menesheh(m): 8:00am On Sep 25, 2015
johnydon22:
[b]It is said truly astronomy is both an astonishing and a humbling discipline.

When you look out into the skies and find it bubbliing and swimming with trillions of stars, planets, asteroids, moons.

When you find out that our Earth is simply a pale blue dot in the solar system orbiting a gigantic sun.

and this Gigantic sun is simply a small ball in the inster Stella neighbourhood around which in return is simply a small peck of dust in the milky way.

And this milky way is but a dot amidst billions of other galaxies swimming around in a random dance of gravitational music.

You will laugh at any individual who claims they are having a personal relationship with the creator of the universe.

Because the creator of such a vast universe of countless stars and planets is busy concerning himself with whether an ant(human) in a very little dust(earth) masturbates or not.

Or busy asking and threatening some ants in the pale dust to worship it or busy bearing grudges with little ants in a very tiny dot held up by the beams of the sun.

This in our pride and self exultation we have pride ourselves the important parts of the universe but just a little peak into the heavens around us reveals just how insignificant we are.

Just how small we are and just how laughable the doctrines we have formulated in our moments of pride. Our ego have betrayed us into prizing ourselves important while we are simply too small, our greed has made us see ourselves prone to another chance of life in this sense wasting the little beautiful and brief chance our universe provides.

A simple look at the universe is enough to show you that all the Gods, titans man has conceived are simply too small..


Photo of earth as taken by Voyager one space probe, earth is just the tiny white dot i identified with an arrow. Just imagine at a puny distance of a few million miles the earth seem like a dot meaning at a distance of a billion miles one cannot even see anything called earth.



Makes one rethink our place in this universe and our duties to ourselves, in our delusion and greedy religious doctrines and dogmas we should only realize that we only have an obligation to ourselves and the earth.

Because we are all we've got. We only have each other and this earth, no horse riding deity or armor wearing God is coming to help us change anything, only us can do that for ourselves
[/b]


Your mouth get odour. grin

This is the reason why Winner01 said that you are my god or even our god on religion section.


Be careful about those horse riding deity or armor wearing God against visiting you in your dreams cheesy

2 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Your God Is Too Small by Krystalzkris(f): 9:41am On Sep 25, 2015
i wish people will read this with unbiased mind... Btw,Op and johnnydon22,be prepared for battles with our heavenly fighters that will accuse you of blaspheming
Re: Your God Is Too Small by johnydon22(m): 9:44am On Sep 25, 2015
Krystalzkris:
i wish people will read this with unbiased mind... Btw,Op and johnnydon22,be prepared for battles with our heavenly fighters that will accuse you of blaspheming


Hahahaha Punny arguments, it's not too hard to debunk and refute.. wink

2 Likes

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 10:53am On Sep 25, 2015
[b]Whatever dude, Johny's your mother-sucking god. With all reality and logic pointing towards a Creator and a created universe, you have decided to shift your baseless arguments to human relevance and significance. The overwhelming evidence for a Creator who is intensely interested in humans is what another host such as the op may use to argue that if there is a God, we must not be very significant to God. I quite understand, now which view is correct?

I will look into the Bible (because you also did) and into current scientific theories.

According to the Bible, the transcendent Creator of this universe made humans in His own image as the focal point of His creation. The Opand other atheists points to the vastness of the universe as evidence that humans cannot be the focal point of a theistic creation.
The famous astronomer, author, and television personality Carl Sagan put it this way:

"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."

Famous physicist Stephen Hawking wrote, “Our Solar System is certainly a prerequisite for our existence . . . . but there does not seem to be a need for all these other galaxies.”

In other words, why would God create this huge universe, if He was primarily interested in His relationship with one species occupying a tiny planet?

I agree that this is a reasonable question. After all, based on observations from the Hubble Telescope, the current best estimate for the number of stars in the observable universe is 5 * 10 to the power 22; that is a 5 with 22 zeros after it. How many stars is that? if you were to count one star every second, it would take you only fifteen hundred trillion years to count them. These stars are spread over billions of light years. Amazingly, all of these stars account for only about 1% of the total mass of the universe. Why did God now create such a vast universe, placing us on a single small planet with no reasonable hope of ever traveling beyond our solar system? I dont think the size of our universe run counter to a biblical worldview. Let me show it.

If God is the Creator of the universe, and the Bible is revelation directly from God, then accurate observation of the universe will ultimately prove to be consistent with His revelation. By combining the general revelation of science with the special revelation of the Bible, we have been rewarded with a greater understanding of the nature of our Creator and His intentions for mankind. Let’s see if this is true in addressing the vastness of the universe.

First let’s consider what God’s special revelation for us, the Bible, has to say about the vastness of the universe. The Bible often refers to God’s creative work in “stretching out the heavens” and filling it with stars (e.g. Job 9:8, Zech 12:1).
A review of Bible passages on the stars and the heavens reveals a number of reasons why a vast universe is consistent with humans being the most significant part of creation.

We need to realize that creating a vast universe is not harder for God than creating a smaller universe. God brought the universe into existence out of nothing. He had no limits on the amount of matter and energy created. Consequently, it is meaningless to say that it would be a tremendous waste for God to create so many lifeless galaxies. The concept of waste only applies when there is a limited supply. When there is an unlimited supply, you can use all you desire; there is plenty more where that came from.

Within this vast universe, God placed earth in potentially the only place in the universe capable of supporting advanced life. There are many aspects of the universe that are hidden from the casual observer, but the vastness of the heavens is not one of them. God created the earth and positioned it in an ideal place so that humans could observe the vastness of the heavens and the enormous number of stars. The Bible points out at least five purposes for humans observing this vast universe:

1. To reveal His majesty and power. Job refers to this understanding as he reflected on his sufferings stating,

"Who commands the sun not to shine,
And sets a seal upon the stars;
Who alone stretches out the heavens
And tramples down the waves of the sea;
Who makes the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south;
Who does great things, unfathomable,
And wondrous works without number.
Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him;
Were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him.
Were He to snatch away, who could restrain Him?
Who could say to Him, “What are You doing?” (Job
9:7-12).

Later, God confronts Job with His lack of understanding the full power and majesty of His Creator:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the
earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding, . . . .
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?
Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth? (Job 38:4, 31-33).

As we see in this passage, God intentionally did creative, wondrous works without number so that we could glimpse His greatness.

2. To emphasize our insignificance without God. The vastness of the heavens highlights how insignificant humans are apart from God’s concern for us. The primary lesson that Job learned through his experience was that we are in no position to critique God’s actions over His creation. God’s creation is so vast that any significance we have comes solely from God’s choice to be concerned with us. Job stated it this way: “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?” (Job 40:4)

King David was the most significant person in Israel during his reign, but when he considered the vastness of God’s creation he acknowledged our insignificance:

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him" (Ps 8:3-4)?

3. As a measure of His loving kindness toward us. God uses the vastness of the heavens to help us understand the magnitude of His love for us, stating, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him” (Ps 103:11). God’s love for us is greater than the billions of light years which separate us from the most distant galaxies.

4. As a picture of His faithfulness and forgiveness. In a similar way, God uses our inability to completely grasp the breadth and depth of the universe to emphasize spiritual truths.
Through Jeremiah, God promised a new covenant where He will remember our sins no more. God used the vastness of the heavens to convey His promise to never cast those in the new covenant away from Him with these words,

Thus says the LORD, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the LORD (Jer 31:37).

Just as you rightly said, astronomers recognize that the universe we can observe is much smaller than the state of the universe as it exists today. Due to the finite speed of light, it is impossible to directly observe the current size of the universe or count the exact number of stars. Just as the heavens can never be measured, God will never cast us off from His presence.

5. As a reminder that our understanding is limited. Our Creator understands the universe from one end to the other and from the beginning of time to its end. As humans, we are just beginning to probe its mysteries. So, God reminds us,

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:9).

It is clear that God intended us to observe and study the stars and the heavens. As a part of God’s general revelation, the magnitude of the universe speaks to His greatness. Through God’s special revelation, we see God using the vastness of His creation to teach us lessons about who we are and how we relate to Him. For a Creator who was willing to sacrifice His only Son on the cross for our redemption, it would be child’s play to create a vast universe solely for our instruction. With this understanding, the vastness of the universe becomes a testament to our importance to God rather than evidence of our insignificance.

Examine these three reasons why the universe must occupy the mass and volume that it does in order for advanced carbon based life to exist on this planet.

1. The exact mass of the universe is necessary for life supporting elements to exist.
2. The exact mass of the universe is required to regulate the expansion of the universe to allow the formation of the sun and the solar system.
3. The vast volume of the universe is required to give the earth just the right amount of light and other electromagnetic radiation to support life and not destroy it.
Mere Coincidence huh

Well, we are faced with a divine “coincidence”: the same fine-tuned distance required to safely place a habitable planet is also the exact distance required to keep that planet out of the deadly spiral arms.

Not only must the earth be located far from the center of the Milky Way, the Milky Way must be located far enough away from other galaxies to maintain the stability of its spiral structure. Many aspects of the Milky Way appear to be very rare or unique in the universe.

It then becomes laring, as a logical application of current scientific orthodoxy based on the Big Bang and constant natural laws overwhelmingly supports the view that the vastness of the universe does not imply that human life is unremarkable and insignificant.
Naah, on the contrary, the most reasonable conclusion from the evidence is that life on this planet is the primary purpose behind the vastness of our universe. Both the Bible and the results of scientific observation agree: our vast universe is the work of a Creator who considers life on earth as very significant.

If the writer says God is too small for him, well, two things;
Its either he has made man his god, or likened God to a man.
something very peculiar to menehsheh.

We don’t have to convince a seeker that the world is much younger than it appears in order to answer the question, “Are we significant to our Creator?” We can say, “Whether you look to the teaching of the Bible or you look at the current prevailing models from the scientific community, the answer is definitely yes!” The important question is, “Is it possible to know more about my Creator and have a relationship with Him?” Beginning with the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can explain how to have an eternal relationship with God and why we believe the Bible is the reliable source of information about our Creator and our universe.

Can someone give a valid answer to the picture below, since human existence is just one great coincidence. I've not gotten any reasonably logical answer in a long while. [/b]

7 Likes 3 Shares

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 11:17am On Sep 25, 2015
You may also note that while a man is conceivably nothing with the respect to the universe, an atom is conceivably nothing with respect to the man. We are stuck in the middle of two infinite physical aspects.

Thus to chase after the vastness of the cosmos, or try to split among the quantum, is quite a vanity, and really, y'all ought to just swallow your pride, be humble before your God, admit your incapacities, concede to the truth. You are not its basis for being.
This question is: how long will it take YOU to believe in Christ? For, "all things were created through him and for him". Hallelujah.

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by Nobody: 11:37am On Sep 25, 2015
winner01:
You may also note that while a man is conceivably nothing with the respect to the universe, an atom is conceivably nothing with respect to the man. We are stuck in the middle of two infinite physical aspects.

Thus to chase after the vastness of the cosmos, or try to split among the quantum, is quite a vanity, and really, y'all ought to just swallow your pride, be humble before your God, admit your incapacities, concede to the truth. You are not its basis for being.
This question is: how long will it take YOU to believe in Christ? For, "all things were created through him and for him". Hallelujah.

This one na brutality oh! I no sure say johnnydon22 go recover

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 11:53am On Sep 25, 2015
timonski:

This one na brutality oh! I no sure say johnnydon22 go recover
Dude, which one you dey. Today na for, tmao na against. I tire for yhu o! Plus did you run away from the thread below or is there something i'm missing undecided

https://www.nairaland.com/2612266/why-atheist-hate-something-doesn/4#38346225

1 Like

Re: Your God Is Too Small by Nobody: 12:00pm On Sep 25, 2015
winner01:
Dude, which one you dey. Today na for, tmao na against. I tire for yhu o!
me no dey for or against anybody. Na person wey im talk sweet pass i go cheer.

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 12:05pm On Sep 25, 2015
timonski:
me no dey for or against anybody. Na person wey im talk sweet pass i go cheer.
ehn ehn, looku looku. Na middle belt u be?.

1 Like

Re: Your God Is Too Small by Nobody: 12:12pm On Sep 25, 2015
winner01:
ehn ehn, looku looku. Na middle belt u be?.
Na, I no dey like put mouth for small talk like this. My Iq too high pass this level. I just dey read comments to see different points of view.

1 Like

Re: Your God Is Too Small by menesheh(m): 12:43pm On Sep 25, 2015
winner01:
[b]Whatever dude, Johny's your mother-sucking god. With all reality and logic pointing towards a Creator and a created universe, you have decided to shift your baseless arguments to human relevance and significance. The overwhelming evidence for a Creator who is intensely interested in humans is what another host such as the op may use to argue that if there is a God, we must not be very significant to God. I quite understand, now which view is correct?

I will look into the Bible (because you also did) and into current scientific theories.

According to the Bible, the transcendent Creator of this universe made humans in His own image as the focal point of His creation. The Opand other atheists points to the vastness of the universe as evidence that humans cannot be the focal point of a theistic creation.
The famous astronomer, author, and television personality Carl Sagan put it this way:

"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."

Famous physicist Stephen Hawking wrote, “Our Solar System is certainly a prerequisite for our existence . . . . but there does not seem to be a need for all these other galaxies.”

In other words, why would God create this huge universe, if He was primarily interested in His relationship with one species occupying a tiny planet?

I agree that this is a reasonable question. After all, based on observations from the Hubble Telescope, the current best estimate for the number of stars in the observable universe is 5 * 10 to the power 22; that is a 5 with 22 zeros after it. How many stars is that? if you were to count one star every second, it would take you only fifteen hundred trillion years to count them. These stars are spread over billions of light years. Amazingly, all of these stars account for only about 1% of the total mass of the universe. Why did God now create such a vast universe, placing us on a single small planet with no reasonable hope of ever traveling beyond our solar system? I dont think the size of our universe run counter to a biblical worldview. Let me show it.

If God is the Creator of the universe, and the Bible is revelation directly from God, then accurate observation of the universe will ultimately prove to be consistent with His revelation. By combining the general revelation of science with the special revelation of the Bible, we have been rewarded with a greater understanding of the nature of our Creator and His intentions for mankind. Let’s see if this is true in addressing the vastness of the universe.

First let’s consider what God’s special revelation for us, the Bible, has to say about the vastness of the universe. The Bible often refers to God’s creative work in “stretching out the heavens” and filling it with stars (e.g. Job 9:8, Zech 12:1).
A review of Bible passages on the stars and the heavens reveals a number of reasons why a vast universe is consistent with humans being the most significant part of creation.

We need to realize that creating a vast universe is not harder for God than creating a smaller universe. God brought the universe into existence out of nothing. He had no limits on the amount of matter and energy created. Consequently, it is meaningless to say that it would be a tremendous waste for God to create so many lifeless galaxies. The concept of waste only applies when there is a limited supply. When there is an unlimited supply, you can use all you desire; there is plenty more where that came from.

Within this vast universe, God placed earth in potentially the only place in the universe capable of supporting advanced life. There are many aspects of the universe that are hidden from the casual observer, but the vastness of the heavens is not one of them. God created the earth and positioned it in an ideal place so that humans could observe the vastness of the heavens and the enormous number of stars. The Bible points out at least five purposes for humans observing this vast universe:

1. To reveal His majesty and power. Job refers to this understanding as he reflected on his sufferings stating,

"Who commands the sun not to shine,
And sets a seal upon the stars;
Who alone stretches out the heavens
And tramples down the waves of the sea;
Who makes the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south;
Who does great things, unfathomable,
And wondrous works without number.
Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him;
Were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him.
Were He to snatch away, who could restrain Him?
Who could say to Him, “What are You doing?” (Job
9:7-12).

Later, God confronts Job with His lack of understanding the full power and majesty of His Creator:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the
earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding, . . . .
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?
Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth? (Job 38:4, 31-33).

As we see in this passage, God intentionally did creative, wondrous works without number so that we could glimpse His greatness.

2. To emphasize our insignificance without God. The vastness of the heavens highlights how insignificant humans are apart from God’s concern for us. The primary lesson that Job learned through his experience was that we are in no position to critique God’s actions over His creation. God’s creation is so vast that any significance we have comes solely from God’s choice to be concerned with us. Job stated it this way: “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?” (Job 40:4)

King David was the most significant person in Israel during his reign, but when he considered the vastness of God’s creation he acknowledged our insignificance:

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him" (Ps 8:3-4)?

3. As a measure of His loving kindness toward us. God uses the vastness of the heavens to help us understand the magnitude of His love for us, stating, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him” (Ps 103:11). God’s love for us is greater than the billions of light years which separate us from the most distant galaxies.

4. As a picture of His faithfulness and forgiveness. In a similar way, God uses our inability to completely grasp the breadth and depth of the universe to emphasize spiritual truths.
Through Jeremiah, God promised a new covenant where He will remember our sins no more. God used the vastness of the heavens to convey His promise to never cast those in the new covenant away from Him with these words,

Thus says the LORD, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the LORD (Jer 31:37).

Just as you rightly said, astronomers recognize that the universe we can observe is much smaller than the state of the universe as it exists today. Due to the finite speed of light, it is impossible to directly observe the current size of the universe or count the exact number of stars. Just as the heavens can never be measured, God will never cast us off from His presence.

5. As a reminder that our understanding is limited. Our Creator understands the universe from one end to the other and from the beginning of time to its end. As humans, we are just beginning to probe its mysteries. So, God reminds us,

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:9).

It is clear that God intended us to observe and study the stars and the heavens. As a part of God’s general revelation, the magnitude of the universe speaks to His greatness. Through God’s special revelation, we see God using the vastness of His creation to teach us lessons about who we are and how we relate to Him. For a Creator who was willing to sacrifice His only Son on the cross for our redemption, it would be child’s play to create a vast universe solely for our instruction. With this understanding, the vastness of the universe becomes a testament to our importance to God rather than evidence of our insignificance.

Examine these three reasons why the universe must occupy the mass and volume that it does in order for advanced carbon based life to exist on this planet.

1. The exact mass of the universe is necessary for life supporting elements to exist.
2. The exact mass of the universe is required to regulate the expansion of the universe to allow the formation of the sun and the solar system.
3. The vast volume of the universe is required to give the earth just the right amount of light and other electromagnetic radiation to support life and not destroy it.
Mere Coincidence huh

Well, we are faced with a divine “coincidence”: the same fine-tuned distance required to safely place a habitable planet is also the exact distance required to keep that planet out of the deadly spiral arms.

Not only must the earth be located far from the center of the Milky Way, the Milky Way must be located far enough away from other galaxies to maintain the stability of its spiral structure. Many aspects of the Milky Way appear to be very rare or unique in the universe.

It then becomes laring, as a logical application of current scientific orthodoxy based on the Big Bang and constant natural laws overwhelmingly supports the view that the vastness of the universe does not imply that human life is unremarkable and insignificant.
Naah, on the contrary, the most reasonable conclusion from the evidence is that life on this planet is the primary purpose behind the vastness of our universe. Both the Bible and the results of scientific observation agree: our vast universe is the work of a Creator who considers life on earth as very significant.

If the writer says God is too small for him, well, two things;
Its either he has made man his god, or likened God to a man.
something very peculiar to menehsheh.

We don’t have to convince a seeker that the world is much younger than it appears in order to answer the question, “Are we significant to our Creator?” We can say, “Whether you look to the teaching of the Bible or you look at the current prevailing models from the scientific community, the answer is definitely yes!” The important question is, “Is it possible to know more about my Creator and have a relationship with Him?” Beginning with the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can explain how to have an eternal relationship with God and why we believe the Bible is the reliable source of information about our Creator and our universe.

Can someone give a valid answer to the picture below, since human existence is just one great coincidence. I've not gotten any reasonably logical answer in a long while. [/b]


When will you learn bro. Stop copy and paste, it is not good for you.
You are stealing people's write-ups without quoting them or posting the url of the site you copied it from, of which you are tantamount to be called a thief.
Start using your brain rather than Google, then copy and paste.

You are claiming to be a christian but are stealing online.

Look at your long post. How would you want any sane person to start reading those long things without link to where you extract it, even your fellow Christians can't.


I wish it could be easy for me to impart some knowledge into you so that you can see the world as it is.





Remember, johnydon22 is my personal god. Are you happy now. Ya he is.

6 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 12:45pm On Sep 25, 2015
timonski:

Na, I no dey like put mouth for small talk like this. My Iq too high pass this level. I just dey read comments to see different points of view.
Lol. You try, I know menehsheh has something for small talks. If i dont make him feel important by gracing his invitation, who will? undecided grin

1 Like

Re: Your God Is Too Small by Nobody: 12:51pm On Sep 25, 2015
winner01:
Lol. You try, I know menehsheh has something for small talks. If i dont make him feel important by gracing his invitation, who will? undecided grin
lol, yhu wicked o

1 Like

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 12:58pm On Sep 25, 2015
menesheh:



When will you learn bro. Stop copy and paste, it is not good for you.
You are stealing people's write-ups without quoting them or posting the url from the side you copied it which is tantamount to be called a thief.
Start using your brain rather than Google, then copy paste.

You are claiming to be a christian but are stealing online.

Look at your long post. How would you want any sane person to start reading those long things without link to where you extract it, even your fellow Christians can't.


I wish it could be easy for me to impart some knowledge into you so that you can see the world as it is.





Remember, johnydon22 is my personal god. Are you happy now. Ya he is.
I know you're not sane as you've stated. Sane people make findings and read to gain knowledge.

Here's what you need;
1. Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (New York: Random House, 1994).
2. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (New York: Bantam, 1988).
3. Hugh Ross, Why The Universe Is The Way It Is (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008).

There you go!!!, Bravo menehsheh, you did it!!!

You dont impart knowledge, even your copied posts dont. You only succeed in showing more obsession with God and religion everyday of your life.

I know it has to do more with your low self-esteem but your god-man has not even acknowledged you as his subject, i suggest you accord him more worship, that way you might gain some relevance and maybe find out how odd you sound.

Once again, engaging you is like arguing with a tree, Its pointless.

4 Likes

Re: Your God Is Too Small by KingEbukasBlog(m): 2:25pm On Sep 25, 2015
menesheh:
People often refer to the Christian God as the creator of the universe. Most of the time, I do a mental face-palm whenever I hear this and get on with my day. But every once in a while, I laugh. I laugh quite hard actually, if my mood is good enough at that particular moment in time. The idea of Yahweh being the creator of something as vast and as complex as our universe is so ridiculous, so obviously stupid, so blatantly wrong that it's laughable. And don’t call me Shirley.

Why, though? Why is the idea laughable? Billions of people believe it, so why not? It seems only rational if you're one of those people. After all, all those people can't be wrong, can they?

A Lesson in Astronomy

To understand why it's laughable, it's good to have an understanding of what the universe is. Most of what makes up the observable, material universe is matter—or atoms. Each atom has a certain number of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and the number of each determines what kind of element an atom is and how it behaves. The vast majority of the universe consists of the smallest atoms, hydrogen and helium. These elements also make up the vast majority of a star's composition for the majority of it's life, fusing hydrogen atoms in helium atoms. Our sun is a low mass star, which means that in about 6-7 billion years, it will grow into a red giant before collapsing into a white dwarf.

Stars tend to be found in large groups, such as star clusters or galaxies. Our sun is located towards the edge of one of the spiral arms in the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way itself is approximately 100,000 light-years across, and contains about 200 billion stars. The current estimates suggest there are about 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe. That means that there could be as many as 10^24 stars in the universe, or 1 with 25 zeros behind it. The universe itself is thought to be as large as 150 million light-years across, according to current estimates. That’s approximately 9*10^20 miles, or 9 with 20 zeros behind it. Even riding on the fastest man-made object, it would take us about 5 and a half quadrillion years to go from one side to the other.

All-Powerful Daddy

Now why is this relevant, you ask? “Of course, my god could have made all that, he's all-powerful!” Well, you can say that and anything else about your god that you so desire. But let's look at what your holy book says, shall we? After all, it is what you base your faith on, yes?

There are multiple passages in the Bible that talk about the stars and the sky. An example would be Genesis 1:14-18:

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good."


For most Christians, this passage, along with every other passage about stars the Bible, demonstrates that God created the stars and knew everything there is to know about them. But look at the passage again. All it says is that God created the stars, the moon and the sun, and was proud of his work. Why does it not say how the stars were made? Why are the words stellar nucleosynthesis or hydrogen or helium never mentioned in a thousand pages of scripture? It also says the stars, and the sun. Why doesn't it ever make the connection that the sun is a star, just like all the others in the sky? It's quite simple when one thinks about it. So simple that it escapes most religious people when asked about it.

They. Didn't. Know.

How could they? They had no access to telescopes or the math necessary to calculate the motions of our solar system. Algebra wouldn't even emerge until around 2000 BC, a good 2000 years or more after the events in Genesis, (depending on which YEC you ask) and even then it was not understood by all but a few people.


But why? Why


why? Why would an all-powerful, all-loving creator of the universe keep that information from his followers? Surely, such a loving god would want his children to learn about the universe in which they were born so they could have better lives through understanding it. Surely, a god as loving as the God of the Bible would leave a detailed, accurate account of the universe and how it works for future generations to read and learn from, and prosper as a result. Surely, a loving god would help us grow to be more than what we are and not keep us docile and grounded.

Instead, we’re left with a book that was formed by multiple authors who chose to write about such things as working on certain days and wearing different clothes. These concerns were canonized by a small group of people who decided that they were important enough to make the best-selling book of all time a steaming pile of bullshit for other ‘leaders’ to profit from and use to convince people to do their bidding.

What If?

I do sometimes wonder if there is a consciousness guiding the laws of the universe, using people of faith to suit its whim. After all, the second law of thermodynamics states that order and structure tends to decay into chaos and disorder, given enough time. At some point, billions of years from now, our universe will die a slow but certain heat death. There will be no more galaxies, no stars, no planets, no us. Atoms will crumble into electrons and neutrons and protons, and eventually those will collapse into quarks.

And yet, everything I have seen so far seems to defy that rule. Our sun is still burning, converting hydrogen and helium atoms into heavier elements and electromagnetic radiation. That radiation continues to fuel our planet and its ecosystem, and consequently us. Our population continues to grow and learn and discover things about the universe that we didn’t know previously, as well as things about ourselves. We learned that going back to the beginnings of life on our little mote of dust, our ancestors were nothing more than single-cell organisms. Before that, we were dust amongst the stars, and before that, we, along with the rest of the universe, were a blinding explosion of light.

With the sheer number of stars and planets in our galaxy alone, statistics and probability tell us that life likely exists elsewhere in the universe. Perhaps such life exists in our galaxy, if we’re lucky. Unfortunately, I will never know, if the current rate of technological advancement is anything to go by, for I won’t be around when the first ships capable of traveling faster than light are being built. (And they will be built. We are just now discovering that faster-than-light could be possible after all.)

But if life does exist elsewhere, is it possible that whatever civilization there might be could be contemplating some, if not many, of the same questions we are asking as well? And if that’s true, what conclusions have they come to so far? Have they looked to the stars and wondered what else is out there? Or have they buried their heads in the ground in fear of the wrath of a god, like so many of us have before?

It's not the Answer that drives us. It's the Question.

The truth is, that if life does exist elsewhere, then my previous question needs to be changed. The question isn’t if a consciousness is dictating the universe. The question is, are we part of that consciousness? Are we a part of something so vast, so powerful, so beautiful that we simply aren’t capable of understanding yet? It’s one of the few plausible answers to that highly abused, misspoken question about the beginning of the universe and whether the universe has a creator. After all, we aren’t in the universe, we are the universe. Those same elements that I spoke of earlier aren’t some alien substance under a microscope. They’re not just in your body, they are your body, your heart, your brain. We are the product of billions of years of energy, repetition, and variation, guided by the natural laws of this place we call the universe. And we, along with any other sentient life out there, are the only shot at the universe having any kind of intelligence at all.

If, for whatever cruel twist of fate, the God of the Bible exists, I want no part of him. I, along with what I hope is the vast majority of humanity, am better than him. I know more than he ever taught. I see beyond horizons that he could never reach. I love more genuinely than He. I help more than He. I understand myself better than He ever could. I see planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies just on the edge of humanity’s perception. I can even sometimes catch a small glimpse of our universe, and all the wonder and beauty it holds.

Your god is too small for me.



http://www.atheistrepublic.com/blog/tom-hanak/your-god-too-small

Yawn .

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by KingEbukasBlog(m): 2:41pm On Sep 25, 2015
menesheh:



When will you learn bro. Stop copy and paste, it is not good for you.
You are stealing people's write-ups without quoting them or posting the url of the site you copied it from, of which you tantamount to be called a thief.
Start using your brain rather than Google, then copy paste.

You are claiming to be a christian but are stealing online.

Look at your long post. How would you want any sane person to start reading those long things without link to where you extract it, even your fellow Christians can't.


I wish it could be easy for me to impart some knowledge into you so that you can see the world as it is.





Remember, johnydon22 is my personal god. Are you happy now. Ya he is.

and johnydon22 doesn't copy and paste ? If I slap you eh grin .

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by KingEbukasBlog(m): 2:50pm On Sep 25, 2015
menesheh:

If, for whatever cruel twist of fate, the God of the Bible exists, I want no part of him. I, along with what I hope is the vast majority of humanity, am better than him. I know more than he ever taught. I see beyond horizons that he could never reach. I love more genuinely than He. I help more than He. I understand myself better than He ever could. I see planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies just on the edge of humanity’s perception. I can even sometimes catch a small glimpse of our universe, and all the wonder and beauty it holds.

Your god is too small for me.
http://www.atheistrepublic.com/blog/tom-hanak/your-god-too-small

Atheist republic ?

LMFAO

Just like how the fat overweight insecure megalomaniacal NK executioner is building nuclear bombs and threatening small weak neighbour-nations after looking and being overwhelmed by the beauty of the self-created earth and its inexplicably created entities .

Deluded mofos

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 3:10pm On Sep 25, 2015
KingEbukasBlog:


and johnydon22 doesn't copy and paste ? If I slap you eh grin .

He wouldnt dare to go against his god, would he? grin

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 3:14pm On Sep 25, 2015
KingEbukasBlog:


Yawn .
I tell you, wetin we no go hear from them. Switching from a self existing universe to human relevance and significance. Cluelessness at its peak.

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by KingEbukasBlog(m): 3:15pm On Sep 25, 2015
winner01:
He wouldnt dare to go against his god, would he? grin

lolz ... I doubt .... johnydon22 might strike him dead with his long boldly italicly written epistles


Hey Menesheh ... do you worship your messiah johnydon22 on Mondays in the Morning ? grin Just asking

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by KingEbukasBlog(m): 3:26pm On Sep 25, 2015
winner01:
I tell you, wetin we no go hear from them. Switching from a self existing universe to human relevance and significance. Cluelessness at its peak.

I tire oo ! That is exactly what it means to be given a reprobate mind . They cant be articulate in reasoning and amiable in morality .

Romans 1:28

28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper

They are full of hatred for and ridiculing a non existent being . Isn't that madness ?

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Your God Is Too Small by Weah96: 3:48pm On Sep 25, 2015
stephenduru:
[size=18pt]Bros u dnt need a mere knowledge to understand God.You will understand Almighty God better if u are spiritual[/size]

Look closely at this space below:











Can you see a sequence of six numbers written vertically? Look again. Only people in the spirit can. Mumu and LIAR-in-chief.

You represent your deity well. Lying muthafkr.

4 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Your God Is Too Small by freecocoa(f): 3:54pm On Sep 25, 2015
KingEbukasBlog:


lolz ... I doubt .... johnydon22 might strike him dead with his long boldly italicly written epistles


Hey Menesheh ... do you worship your messiah johnydon22 on Mondays in the Morning ? grin Just asking
Yes we do, actually 5 times a day.cheesy
Re: Your God Is Too Small by Weah96: 3:58pm On Sep 25, 2015
KingEbukasBlog:





[size=18pt]They are full of hatred for and ridiculing a non existent being . Isn't that madness ?[/size]

Imaginary friends often annoy parents to the point where they either beat it out of the child or schedule a visit with the pediatric shrink.

If your brain wasn't sealed to reason, you'd understand. Wait until your child begins to talk to Eddie at the dinner table when there is no Eddie there.

1 Like

Re: Your God Is Too Small by winner01(m): 4:18pm On Sep 25, 2015
KingEbukasBlog:


lolz ... I doubt .... johnydon22 might strike him dead with his long boldly italicly written epistles


Hey Menesheh ... do you worship your messiah johnydon22 on Mondays in the Morning ? grin Just asking
Lmao, I guess menehsheh is aiming for the position of chief subject. To bad his god has neglected him. grin

1 Like 1 Share

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) ... (12) (Reply)

The Father Inlaw To Prophet Odumeje Was One Of The Most Deadliest Fake Prophet / God Says We Should Not Kill, But How Will A Professional Soldier Cope In War? / Who Is This Allah? Pdf Book By G J O Moshay

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 166
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.