we don't see electrons but believe they work to give light, that is science....if we believe that electrons exist, why should it be difficult for me to believe God exist considering the fact that the word of God, the bible, is the only book that have not be changed from generation to generation, and it has the potent effect of transforming human heart from evil to good. God is Love, love is the greatest and that is all we need and is what the bible preaches.
The bible is a horrible example of good morals. The bible often condones rape, filicide, slavery, and discrimination.
Even Great scientist believe in God, not just on fact and evidence. Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)Copernicus was the Polish astronomer who put forward the first mathematically based system of planets going around the sun. He attended various European universities, and became a Canon in the Catholic church in 1497. Copernicus referred sometimes to God in his works, and did not see his system as in conflict with the Bible. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627)Bacon was a philosopher who is known for establishing the scientific method of inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning. In De Interpretatione Naturae Prooemium, Bacon established his goals as being the discovery of truth, service to his country, and service to the church. Although his work was based upon experimentation and reasoning, he rejected atheism as being the result of insufficient depth of philosophy, stating, "It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate, and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity." Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) Kepler was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer. He did early work on light, and established the laws of planetary motion about the sun. He also came close to reaching the Newtonian concept of universal gravity - well before Newton was born! His introduction of the idea of force in astronomy changed it radically in a modern direction. Kepler was an extremely sincere and pious Lutheran, whose works on astronomy contain writings about how space and the heavenly bodies represent the Trinity. Kepler suffered no persecution for his open avowal of the sun-centered system, and, indeed, was allowed as a Protestant to stay in Catholic Graz as a Professor (1595-1600) when other Protestants had been expelled! Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): Galileo is often remembered for his conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. His controversial work on the solar system was published in 1633. It had no proofs of a sun-centered system (Galileo's telescope discoveries did not indicate a moving earth) and his one "proof" based upon the tides was invalid. It ignored the correct elliptical orbits of planets published twenty five years earlier by Kepler. Since his work finished by putting the Pope's favorite argument in the mouth of the simpleton in the dialogue, the Pope (an old friend of Galileo's) was very offended. After the "trial" and being forbidden to teach the sun-centered system, Galileo did his most useful theoretical work, which was on dynamics. Galileo expressly said that the Bible cannot err, and saw his system as an alternate interpretation of the biblical texts. just to mention a few.
The transforming power of the bible can not be compared with any other book in the world. Many people have lives been transformed and more are been transformed, many encourage and comforted, many healed and lot more. The Bible remain the best book have ever seen.
I believe in God more because I have seen scientist pray to God to give them success in their research.
Those scientists you listed all lived before even the 18th century. They believed in god simply because that was the only option in Europe at the time and because they had been indoctrinated to do so. And Galileo still defied the pope because the pope was wrong. And as for modern scientists, less than 7% of eminent scientists believe in any god and less than 40% of less eminent scientists believe in a god. And for the bible's ability to transform, the "transformation" is largely superficial and occurs only because religion can have a strong influence on the weak-minded. Karl Marx once said, "religion is the opiate if the masses", and in that case, he was right. There has been a proven correlation between education and intelligence and a lack of religiosity. In other words, it has been proven that highly educated, intelligent people, are much less likely to be religious than the average person.
I read about a scientist that was a believer, turned atheist, turned believer again. He brought up a good point, stating that he and his peers, in the beginning of their careers, felt pressure in the scientific community to be atheist, but as he got older and more confident in himself, he realized that religion is a personal decision, no matter what profession you are. Many of those who don't believe may be because environment they grow up from, what they have been hearing over time, who their mentor or model his, or they have read too much unnecessary materials that turn their mind away from the reality of the existence of God, or they just choose not to believe because they need scientific evidences and worst still they want to make name for themselves. unfortunately when death come calling they come to realize their is truth is the existence of God, Just like Charles Darwin. Modern View of Scientist who believe in existence of God.. Carl Sagan, “The People’s Astronomer," made many interesting statements about God. “The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard, who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by "God" one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying ... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.” The Genius with ALS Stephen Hawking, the most famed physicist alive today, once wrote that "the actual point of creation lies outside the scope of presently known laws of physics…" Is this a puzzling statement coming from someone who grew up in an atheist household? In a perhaps more telling statement from Hawking he stated that “An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job!
I just want to add this, this examples follows with it consequences and judgement, it tells us man heart is wicked and need to change and that is why Jesus came. take time to read the holy bible about Jesus and His message, I read it and discover that His preachings was that those who do evil, rapist, murderers, criminals, irresponsible people that don't value lives, evil minded people, those that will not do what he say because of their evil mind and those that will not believe in Him, an so on and refuse to change or repent from their evil and wicked ways shall spend eternity in hell fire, if they dies in that condition...but those that do good and show love to all and share the gospel of love and peace to the world shall spend eternity in heaven. for these kind of Judgement the holy Bible clearly disapprove all evil acts and promote good and love among human.
I believe in God. Science is limited and full of errors, fallacy and prejudice that is why we have hypotheses and different editions of textbooks and versions of journals but God is Unlimited, Incomparable and Incomprehensible...the formation of the earth, the nature of water, complexity of the brain, the uniqueness of our DNA, the capabilities of the eyes, and the breath of life all point us to the fact that there is a powerful Creator beyond human comprehension...and that is a mystery..I believe in God.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5) Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. (1 Timothy 6:1-2) Those are from the New Testament of the Bible, clearly telling slaves to do as they are told and to not be disobedient. In Deuteronomy 13:6-10, God demands that you kill your wife, children, and friends if they worship a different god. As for Sagan, what he spoke of is not a god. That was the same as Einstein's "god". He was simply referring to the set of laws that governs the universe, not anything supernatural. You also said this: "Many of those who don't believe may be because environment they grow up from, what they have been hearing over time, who their mentor or model". First of all, most scientists are not religious because of the stark difference between science and religion. Science is based on logic and facts, and draws the best available conclusions from the evidence we have. Religion is based on faith and requires simple belief. Secondly, how can you say that without realizing how it applies to religion. Religion is ENTIRELY based on who you are raised by and where you are. It is a simple accident of geography. No doubt you are a devout follower of your religion. Had you been born in Saudi Arabia you would be a Muslim. If you were born in India, you would be a Hindu. Because religion is not based on facts, and is simply a blind guess about who is right, it is completely dependent on what you hear around you. "the formation of the earth, the nature of water, complexity of the brain, the uniqueness of our DNA, the capabilities of the eyes", yes, these things are truly amazing and the odds of abiogenesis occurring are extremely low. However, are universe is vast and with the billions upon billions of stars and planets in it, the odds suggest that abiogenesis should occur at least once, which it did, here.
For a clearer understanding of what you quote Ephesian 6:5. King James Version put it this way: Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ (Ephesian 6:5). Here Jesus was encouraging those slave (Servant) who were subject to their earthly masters to be obedient, bearing all things for His sake understanding that there is tendency for persecution for slaves who receive Him (Jesus Christ) and believe in Him. the masters of these slave are against Christ teaching..they are unbeliever...so in other word He is saying...those of you that are slaves (servants...just like Isreal was slave (servant to pharaoh in Egypt) endure all things with humility for my sake. you also quote (1 Timothy 6:1-2). Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. (1 Timothy 6:1-2)....slave in that context refer to servants who accepted Jesus Christ Teachings while under a earthly (fleshly) master...Jesus was encouraging them to give their masters (whom they are subject to) full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed....for a better understanding...King Jame Version Put it this way : Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. 2 And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. (1 Timothy 6:1-2). He did not mean Christians are slaves of His. you also mentioned abiogenesis; There is a tremendous amount of proof against abiogenesis. abiogenesis like evolution is just a baseless theory that have no provable evidences. abiogenesis and evolution are man made confusion to keep people in the state of unbelief - that is making people not to acccept the truth that there is a God of Creation. also according to Carl Sagan, “The People’s Astronomer," made many interesting statements about God. “The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard, who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by "God" one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. (Now after making this statement here him in the next line.... below) This God is emotionally unsatisfying ... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.” this last statement is very clear..that segan was referring to God....he says it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.
my belief mirrors some statements here, that religion was created to separate whole groups. however I do believe a God exist albeit the word/name we use to call him by may not be His true name we work with it because that is the english version to jehovah, yhwh/yehweh/yahweh, etc. if we want to get real technical we can go as far as to say this new age language "ENGLISH" that we speak and "CHRISTIANITY" has muddied many a waters because of the many changes that these new age implements brought with them. One of the key things being confusion, if you check earlier languages before english arrived on the horizon they would have few alphabet structure and few words used to express thought. with its introduction comes part of speech, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms and a whole set of other "nyms" to twist us all up. I am not sayin that the Bible which is mostly revised in various english version does not exist in any other language, what I am getting at is thanks to King James they all were derived from his interpretation of ancient scripts that were protected by the mountain dwellers. I do believe that God/YHWH is a science in and of HIMSELF, he should be revered because there is not one thing made that wasn't made because of HIM being the first bringer of life... --my2cents!
Should i put a list of Great scientists who didn't believe in God? We could do a statistical comparison.
I'm spiritual but not religious. I believe in a creator and in science, I don't believe in a person as 'God' as such.
Good one Willmington "I'm spiritual but not religious. I believe in a creator and in science" ....God (Jehovah) is not a person. God is a spirit.
Thanks wealthyprince, I believe wholeheartedly in a creator. I feel that if we break down and look at life at its most basic and primitive level, ie atoms, neutrons and electrons and such, that these components themselves needed creating. Therefore that there had to be a creator to bring the building blocks of life into creation and to 'create' the rules of science (physics).
"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man, living in the sky, who watches everything you do every minute of every day of your life. And he has a list of ten things that he does not want you to do.
And if you do any, any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and ash and torture whet he will send you to suffer and burn and scream and cry forever and ever until the end of time! But he loves you! He loves you and he needs money!" -George Carlin Sorry that the quote got split up. I accidentally clicked 'post reply' before u finished typing.