God was behind Big Bang, universe no accident: Pope

[E-Ann-Hilden]

Interesting is the church coming around a bit? Guess the earth is not that old and Adam didnt ride a dinosaur!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110106/sc_nm/us_pope_bigbang

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – God's mind was behind complex scientific theories such as the Big Bang, and Christians should reject the idea that the universe came into being by accident, Pope Benedict said on Thursday.

"The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe," Benedict said on the day Christians mark the Epiphany, the day the Bible says the three kings reached the site where Jesus was born by following a star.

"Contemplating it (the universe) we are invited to read something profound into it: the wisdom of the creator, the inexhaustible creativity of God," he said in a sermon to some 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica on the feast day.

While the pope has spoken before about evolution, he has rarely delved back in time to discuss specific concepts such as the Big Bang, which scientists believe led to the formation of the universe some 13.7 billion years ago.

Researchers at CERN, the nuclear research center in Geneva, have been smashing protons together at near the speed of light to simulate conditions that they believe brought into existence the primordial universe from which stars, planets and life on earth -- and perhaps elsewhere -- eventually emerged.

Some atheists say science can prove that God does not exist, but Benedict said that some scientific theories were "mind limiting" because "they only arrive at a certain point ... and do not manage to explain the ultimate sense of reality ..."

He said scientific theories on the origin and development of the universe and humans, while not in conflict with faith, left many questions unanswered.

"In the beauty of the world, in its mystery, in its greatness and in its rationality ... we can only let ourselves be guided toward God, creator of heaven and earth," he said.

Benedict and his predecessor John Paul have been trying to shed the Church's image of being anti-science, a label that stuck when it condemned Galileo for teaching that the earth revolves around the sun, challenging the words of the Bible.

Galileo was rehabilitated and the Church now also accepts evolution as a scientific theory and sees no reason why God could not have used a natural evolutionary process in the forming of the human species.

The Catholic Church no longer teaches creationism -- the belief that God created the world in six days as described in the Bible -- and says that the account in the book of Genesis is an allegory for the way God created the world.

But it objects to using evolution to back an atheist philosophy that denies God's existence or any divine role in creation. It also objects to using Genesis as a scientific text.

 

[Ulysses31]

There is more and more scientific evidence coming out regularly that disproves much of what is written in most of the holy books, the more and more people get educated the harder they will find it to blindly follow religion. There may well be a creator and we're still not 100% sure how life began but not in the way these man made religions tell the tale.

 

[mrtrebus]

Nope. There isn't a creator.

 

[Ike Stain]

The way I see it is the Church (capital C) is losing people to the Evangelical Pagan Idolaters, but they figure they're never going to win in the 100% irrational market without fully going to speaking speaking in tongues which they firmly rejected somewhere around 400 C.E., so instead they're taking the opposite tack, hoping to siphon off as many gay-hating Anglicans as they can. If you analyze it, it actually makes a lot of sense. The pope may be a Nazi, but he's certainly no fool!

 

[Red Spyder]

Once is a coincidence, twice is happenstance.... yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't believe in coincidences and there's just too many coincidences, too many variables, for life to have begun just out of nothing or just as an accident. I know, I know, we're all probably accidents around here, but for life to just appear in the cosmos by chance there are probably millions more variables that would need to come together in order for life to be created on some rock than all the variables that would be needed for some guy to meet some chick at some place and time to get it on and having the little accident appear nine months later. For example, one variable would be, if the earth had formed just a few thousand miles closer or farther from the sun, then we wouldn't exist.

Now, scientifically, the existence of God cannot be proven. Belief in anything that cannot be scientifically proven (at least not without manipulating the science, **cough** man-made global warming **cough**) is a question of faith, not science, that's where the pope's job comes in, faith. But of course he should leave science to those who are trained in science. Just like a scientist, whose focus is not theology, would not make a good priest; a priest, whose focus is not science, would not make a good scientist.

But, of course, the pope's "theory" of God being behind the big bang sounds like a good theory from a theological point of view, just as evolution is the best explanation for the origin of man from a purely scentific point of view.

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

"Tell them to only molest the deaf orphans. They can't talk" -The Pope.

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

There is more and more scientific evidence coming out regularly that disproves much of what is written in most of the holy books, the more and more people get educated the ey will find it to blindly follow religion. There may well be a creator and we're still not 100% sure how life began but not in the way these man made religions tell the tale.

Yes, more and more to disprove the bible...yet not a single thing to prove any aspect of it.

Ironically, a Catholic priest, Lemaitre, helped lay the cornerstone of the "Big Bang Theory" (another irony as Hoyle coined the term to ridicule it) and, in my lifetime, two Popes have give credence to "Darwinism", intelligent alien life and now the Big Bang.

I'd love to say that's progress, but it isn't...it's only a crippled attempt to compete with what is becoming accepted without question. Fags still burn in hell, retarded incest babies should still be brought to term and condoms are a no-no even if you're diseased and can't provide food for yourself and your spouse, let alone a child. Those beliefs still reign supreme, so no, no progress.

I wish a Pope would end on a high note and retire the church. 1,700 years is a damn good run, so quit while you're ahead, guys. You can keep all the plundered gold, silver, paintings and jewels and you'll make a killing auctioning off a tenth of the shit that's locked up in your dungeo...er, vaults.

When a Pope admits that their may be other intelligent life out there...possibly born without original sin because THEIR Eve didn't eat the forbidden alien fruit, it's time go bye-bye. And for those of you who aren't aware, the Pope did exactly that: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7399661.stm

 

[DOA82]

Seems like a desperate attempt to regain lost credibility by claiming credit for what has already been proven elsewhere.

Blame what went wrong on others, disavow responsibility for you fuck ups, yet claim credit for everything that went right in the past. Thats the Christian way.

If I want to hear the bullshit ramblings of an old man, Ill hang out at an old folks home as the medications start to wear off.

Idea for extreme sport!

Walk into an indian owned/run business - no shortage there - and shout Mohammed's jesus' bitch! See how far you can run!

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

Seems like a desperate attempt to regain lost credibility by claiming credit for what has already been proven elsewhere.

Blame what went wrong on others, disavow responsibility for you fuck ups, yet claim credit for everything that went right in the past. Thats the Christian way.

If I want to hear the bullshit ramblings of an old man, Ill hang out at an old folks home as the medications start to wear off.

Idea for extreme sport!

Walk into an indian owned/run business - no shortage there - and shout Mohammed's jesus' bitch! See how far you can run!

At least Pope John Paul II didn't mince words. He shot from the hip.

No

wait

Correction, he shat from the hip. You know, as God planned.

:nanner:1st Freeones colostomy bag joke of 2010! :nanner:

 

[vodkazvictim]

As far as I'm concerned it's not inconcievable to say that God caused the big bang, or that she started the spark of life that led to evolution.
You doubt me, talk to a scientist, maybe the same kind as the one that said that "God doesn't exist until you peel back the final mathematical theorem explaining the universe; then he appears andhe's VERY angry."
Or talk to a theologist.

Fuck off, I'm drunk yeah :thefinger:

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

As far as I'm concerned it's not inconcievable to say that God caused the big bang, or that she started the spark of life that led to evolution.
You doubt me, talk to a scientist, maybe the same kind as the one that said that "God doesn't exist until you peel back the final mathematical theorem explaining the universe; then he appears andhe's VERY angry."
Or talk to a theologist.

Fuck off, I'm drunk yeah :thefinger:

The Bible can be discredited, refuted and challenged in every chapter and verse, yet the concept of "god" cannot be disproven. That is absolutely true.

Yet, when the Bible is eliminated from the concept or theory, there is nothing that limits "God". And nothing that defines or categorizes "God" other than the idea that he/she/them/it created the universe. Given that, Mayans, Aztecs, Celts, Catholics, Jews, , Hindus, Scientologists and Branch Davidians are all equally credible.

Giving God the "ability" to think, create, judge and issue law is personification. Another example of that is Bugs Bunny.

 

[Shifty]

What a fucking load of shit.

Nonsense behind a veil of eloquence and prose.

 

[DOA82]

If there is such a thing as a god, what is his/her purpose, what do they do and what is exactly that people believe they owe him/her?

If a god is expected to watch over and protect, given the history of atrocities just this century, wouldnt it be fair assumption to say humans owe them nothing?

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

If there is such a thing as a god, what is his/her purpose, what do they do and what is exactly that people believe they owe him/her?

If a god is expected to watch over and protect, given the history of atrocities just this century, wouldnt it be fair assumption to say humans owe them nothing?

I guess the argument is that we were granted life and if we want it to continue when our hearts stop...only in an eternally blissful state, we best get on our knees.

I like Christopher Hitchens take on it. (Paraphrasing, obviously) God, a supreme being that makes you thank and bless him (and his son) at all times. A supreme being that cannot be at fault, who has no fault and should never be spoken of in negative ways...with death being the consequence for those who do. A supreme being who can never be challenged or disobeyed.

God is Kim Jong-Il.

 

[vodkazvictim]

If there is such a thing as a god, what is his/her purpose, what do they do and what is exactly that people believe they owe him/her?

If a god is expected to watch over and protect, given the history of atrocities just this century, wouldnt it be fair assumption to say humans owe them nothing?

Who said God is to watch over and protect? Not me.
If God exists, she's fucked me over my whole life. This is giving me some serious questions as I convert to Orthodoxy.

 

[Ulysses31]

I remember both a christian and a muslim telling me once (they often unite in the presence of an unbeliever) about how terrible hell is and I simply said what would an all powerful entity like God who could create the wonders of the universe get out of torturing people for eternity, what purpose would it serve, they had no answer.

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

I remember both a christian and a muslim telling me once (they often unite in the presence of an unbeliever) about how terrible hell is and I simply said what would an all powerful entity like God who could create the wonders of the universe get out of torturing people for eternity, what purpose would it serve, they had no answer.

Funny thing is that the bible never mentions suffering in hell until after Jesus was good and dead. Hell, to many Orthodox Christians, hell is existence without the love of God...or not existing at all. Jews had an ever less defined concept. They lived to appease God so that they could have a decent life and escape God's wrath (Job's "reward" was an end to constant suffering on Earth)...the thought of living to enjoy eternity wasn't a Jewish idea at all. Jews borrowed from the Greek concept more than anything.

The Christian fire and brimstone is a concept born more from Dante than Mathew or Revelation.

 

[Namreg]

the pope claiming to know that god exists is like me claiming that jean-luc picard is real: you might wish it to be true, but that does not make it so, number one.

 

[ragincaucasian]

Once is a coincidence, twice is happenstance.... yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't believe in coincidences and there's just too many coincidences, too many variables, for life to have begun just out of nothing or just as an accident. .

do you 'believe' in cellular biology?

 

[KillTheIndustry]

Well, I do believe in something bigger than us. I agree with Red Spyder, it's difficult to believe existence itself was a cosmic fluke. :2 cents:

But I'm not about to get into a debate here. The forum of a porn site isn't exactly a place for intellectual discussion, or a source of moral fiber. (I don't believe sex or porn to be a sin.)