19 thoughts on “This hits a nerve!”

  1. … and then come all the choices of ways and directions to take to come to God!

    But really, how many people deny God outright like that? Seems a rather ignorant outlook on something none of us can definitively know. Religion on the other hand …

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    • “…. how many people deny God outright like that?”

      Well the guy is a dentist after all, a profession that would largely not exist if there was anything to this intelligent design thing.

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      • Well I really like the way you, as host of the blog, lead by example and with gentle encouragement get the best out of everyone.

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      • If the elements of the universe were programmed to function as they do, decay is part of the programming. Intelligent design as derived from understanding Genesis, yeah, that’s a bit far-fetched. As a general sentiment though, who really knows for sure?

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      • Hye jason,

        google What if Humans were Designed to Last and have a read of the artice.

        There’d be a greater issue than just decay – take wisdom teeth what the heck are they designed for ?

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      • Wisdom teeth are a part of the evolutionary process aren’t they?

        It doesn’t make sense for things to have been designed in the state they exist, I am talking intelligent design on a base level – that base elements are programmed to be able to interact and develop. Then again, maybe intelligent programming isn’t quite intelligent design …

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      • Hi Jason,

        My limited experience of programing is that generally the program works for the conditions that the programmer can foresee.

        If the programmer was God then everything should be foreseeable ?

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    • All Gods laws are mandatory for us to follow. Some we have no choice to follow such as our bodies evolving to suit their environment. All these teething problems are just our teeth needing to catch up with the rest of our body. An intelligent process.

      Before you ask, I believe in evolution within species but not across species.

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      • God’s laws mandatory? That sounds rather subjective. Unless by God’s laws you mean the laws of physics, then I will agree. We do seem to be bound by those.

        I’m glad to hear that you have at least accepted part of evolution. Those who follow religion do tend to be skeptical when it comes to understanding a lineage of physical discoveries that tell a story. If you only believe in animal ‘kinds’, how do you rationalize the animals that straddle such boundaries? The platypus (egg-laying mammal), fish with lungs and/or legs that may or may not be useful, and other such creatures?

        It’s nice to fit everything into tidy boxes of understanding, but it doesn’t reflect the full reality of the world around us when you look more closely at the details.

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      • “All Gods laws are mandatory for us to follow”

        So much for free will then, is that an Islamic thing ?

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      • If God is the planning mind in creation, that doesn’t mean physical involvement. If God uses servants to do His work, human or angelic, I don’t think we can expect immediate perfection.

        It’s so hard to get good servants these days! 🙂

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  3. I think expecting God to be made in the image of mankind is a bit off the rails. God uses others to do the manual bit, to spread thought, to inspire faith, and so on. Are humans without responsibility and excused from doing? Are the heavenly hosts without responsibility and excused from doing?

    Who has seen God? There is no physical description. Who imagines the caricature of Uncle Sam to be really America? Or John Bull to really be Britain? The powers of countries don’t come from such figures waving a magic hand; they come from people doing the bidding of the government.

    Because there is a Divine Person involved with spiritual faith, can we not imagine that is the Leader of such a Divine Government? Don’t please rubbish imagination. Every human invention was first imagined. Proof of imagination is a non sequitur.

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    • I thought after posting the above that ‘imagination’ wasn’t quite the right term to use. However a friend has written the following to me.

      “Imagination is one of the best attributes of humanity. We can and do image God is many different ways. Often we imagine God to look like us, which is rather arrogant of us but a natural mistake. If God is spirit as the Bible says and as many native religions attest (Great Spirit, etc) then we could just as well image God as wind or fire or sunlight. In fact these are common metaphors, especially in art.

      I don’t believe God looks anything like us, certainly not an old man with a white beard living in the clouds but that is what many people imagine, thanks mainly to the mediaeval painters. It’s taken a very long time for Christianity to imagine God as a woman although Jesus in the parable of the lost coin suggests that God is like a woman rejoicing because she has found that which was lost.

      How then are we made in the image of God? Not physically IMO but we have qualities that are very godlike. We are imaginative and creative, we have the power of life and death over much of creation, we can build and we can destroy but most importantly we have freedom of choice and can choose to love or to hate. This makes us simultaneously wonderful and but also powerful and dangerous.

      Whether you believe that Jesus was divine or a man like any other (or simultaneously both) it is from his teaching that we can find a path that leads us towards our better selves and away from our moral destruction. That’s enough for me.
      It’s easy to be human. It is hard to be humane.”

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