Why don't you ask these questions of God? I could provide you with an answer, but no matter what I say you would contest it... I don't see you as someone who, like longshot, is actually seeking answers from a power greater than yourself...which is fine by me, but why the silly games? That's a real question, why the silly games if you are not genuinely seeking a higher truth that what you already know?
God is more powerful than Superman! :eek: psst God created Superman, ya know. Superman is real, i swear. Just ask HIM!
a pri⋅o⋅ri  /ˌeɪ praɪˈɔraɪ, -ˈoʊraɪ, ˌeɪ priˈɔri, -ˈoʊri, ˌ¨» priˈɔri, -ˈoʊri/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ey prahy-awr-ahy, -ohr-ahy, ey pree-awr-ee, -ohr-ee, ah pree-awr-ee, -ohr-ee] Show IPA Use a priori in a Sentence See web results for a priori See images of a priori ¨Cadjective 1. from a general law to a particular instance; valid independently of observation. Compare a posteriori (def. 1). 2. existing in the mind prior to and independent of experience, as a faculty or character trait. Compare a posteriori (def. 2). 3. not based on prior study or examination; nonanalytic: an a priori judgment. The people asserting the existence of God are the ones engaging in an a priori argument.
Actually, I wasn't asking you...or are you another of longshot's aliases? Anyway, could you explain what an a priori argument is without quoting a dictionary? i.e. in your own words... Most anyone can quote, few can explain in their own words that demonstrates they really understand...
You are making a fundamental mistake, albeit one that is incredibly easy to make. Cause and effect are logical consequences of the fact that time has an arrow. What this means precisely and why it is true is at the edge of physics research. However, and this is the mistake you are making, physics at the most fundamental level is blind to the arrow of time. The equations of physics work whether time is going forward or backward, and hence causality in the sense you are speaking of doesn't even exist. It is absolutely possible for an entire universe to come into existence from "nothing" through a quantum process called tunneling. This stuff is extremely complicated as it is at the very edge of research and marries cosmology with quantum mechanics and superstring/M-Theory. I do understand your objections however, and I share many of them myself. As you have probably seen from some of my previous posts on the subject, while I do not believe in a biblical God, I do believe in some sort of a creator. How this GOD relates to the Biblical God is still something that is evolving in me. It may very well be that what religion has tapped into is an intuitive leap of the emergent properties of what the GOD I believe in intended.
nitro, you say"is absolutely possible for an entire universe to come into existence from "nothing" through a quantum process called tunneling." yet you hedge here.. "I do understand your objections however, and I share many of them myself" what RECENT evidence have you encountered since that leads you to believe otherwise? where are you in this??
So what's with the believe ? Is there a problem in having the more humble understanding that "some sort of a creator" was a quantum fluctuation? The God you describe is sounding to me no more than an unqualified substitute for the majesty of all natural events which you behold. I'd suggest that with a God idea, the wondrous nature existing around you is being handed off to an invisible anthropocentric fantasy image, for no other reason than inappropriate emotional self-interest and whose corresponding description inevitably leads to complete absurdity. Like the Creationistsâ absurdity for instance. Who believe non-intelligent drops of water cannot make a design unless they implant their unintelligent guess of an intelligent creator onto them.
Years ago, friends and I would discuss these things while ingesting large amounts of bourbon and cocaine. I believe at one point we had solved the question, but then...... Now, everyone has kids and mortgages, etc. Good to see someone has the time and energy to ponder such things.