"What kind of evidence would it take for me to believe God created the universe?"
First of all, let us assume, which most religions do, that the human race, or a specific chosen people are the crowning achievement of God's creation.
If God created the universe with the intention of eventually creating us, I argue that the world would look different than it does today, in the following respects:
- The universe would be boiling over with intelligent life, perhaps more intelligent than us
- There would be many more other inhabitable planets
- There would be no need for war and disease, because the survival of the fittest is not an essential part of a God-designed universe (humans would already be created perfect, and there would be no need for natural selection).
- The earth would not have as many uninhabited areas as it does today. It's a waste of precious space to have so much land nearly uninhabited (Sahara, Northern Canada, central Australia, Siberia, Antarctica, Greenland).
- The would be no evidence for dead-ends of evolution and no intermediate fossils. We would not be able to find bones of Australopithecines, Paranthropus, Homo Erectus, and other such extinct species, whose historical existence is well-established.
4 comments:
Hmm, I disagree somewhat with your view of how the universe would be if God designed it.
First off, let's start with the question: why would God make a universe? Clearly it cannot serve a greater purpose, since he is Greatest. Therefore, the universe is something he created for amusement (out of boredom, perhaps?)
Now, he could create tons of planets with intelligent life, but that would be a hassle. That's like having many aquariums in your house. You can't keep track of all the fishes that way, so why not just make one?
Now, having made that aquarium, how boring would it be if the fishes just sat there in peace and harmony? War and selection are amusing for the distant observer. He can root for his favorite side, or sit back and watch the events unfold.
As far as fossils go, who's to say that humans were first? He could have experimented with other species and found them all too boring to watch. Then maybe he got the idea to make little dudes that look like him and let them loose... give them enough intelligence to wreak havoc on the planet, and leave some space to see if they'll figure out how to colonize it when overpopulation occurs.
How's this for a counter-argument? :)
~Lena
Right, that's a funny argument. Of course it depends on what god's intent was - maybe he's amusing himself indeed. Then we have to assume something about the personality of God. Most religious people would disagree that God is just amusing himself at our expense. They think he has our best interest at heart, he cares about us, and answers prayers. That's the foundation I was building upon.
Hi Aleks
The assumption that humans are the ultimate purpose of creation is unfounded. There is also no reason to suppose that humans are the most intelligent form of life in the universe, let alone on the planet.
Interestingly some religions claim that God did create 'perfect' beings before creating humans, but that didn't work out strictly according to plan and only then were humans created.
Judeo-Christian versions of creation suggest that humans were created as an afterthought, and definitely not the initial intent.
It is more often religious detractors who place humans on a pedestal and not religion; in fact some religions over-emphasise human fallibility.
Regards
Hugh
If God did not intend for the humans to be the crown of creation, then we can infer he is less than omnipotent, as he couldn't see past his own nose. He tried this and that, he failed here and there, he stumbled, he's kind of a klutz really. So what does it really mean for God to DESIGN anything, if he stumbles every step of the way, no better than a human. We might as well discard the idea of God, and revert to trial-and-error of evolution.
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