James R. :
dmoe:
Obviously, yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have replied to the thread.
Great. I only asked because it is "obvious" that some Posters fail to fully read and fully understand, prior to Posting responses or replies.
For example, if you're a Christian who believes that God is a loving god concerned with the welfare of human beings, then you'd expect that God would act to prevent various types of evil in the world - you know, bad things happening to good people and all that. Whereas, if there were no loving God, then we'd see bad things happen to good people about as often as good things happen. That is, we'd see innocent people being killed in natural disasters or being the victims of crime, for example.
I only took Theological Studies in college as a source of easy "credits" - it was not one of my Majors.
My response to your "example"...well, there are numerous and various "Theological" answers that could be proffered concerning those observations.
However, being that I lend as much credence to "Theology and/or Religion", as I do to "Cult of Personality" or "Scientific Dogma"...I will leave the addressing of your example to the Posters on this Forum who claim to "Know"...those..."answers".
Grok'd!
I think you're being a bit precious. You wrote about how you thought that asking about the origins of the universe might be a waste of time.
I do not remember anyone ever referring to me as "precious" before. At any rate, I wrote :
dumbest man on earth said:
My personal opinion is that it is a "Fool's Game" to even seriously ponder the "origin of the Universe".
Why, you may ask?
So, okay.This Mr. Sagan, was in my estimation :
1.) - most likely more intelligent than myself.
2.) - definitely more educated than myself.
3.) - absolutely in possession of quite a bit more knowledge about the subject than I ever will be.
After contemplating Mr. Sagan's writings, and admitting to myself the 3 things enumerated above, I honestly find myself accepting, what Mr. Sagan opined :
- "that the origin of the universe is an unanswerable question."
- "why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always existed."
I freely admit that Mr. Sagan knew much more than myself about those things...so I gleaned knowledge from the man.
Mind you, James R., I do not claim to be as Knowledgeable about those things as Mr. Sagan, or more Knowledgeable about those things than Mr. Sagan (as some Posters on this Forum evidently are !),
In essence, i stated that I basically concurred with Carl Sagan's position on the issue - the "Fool's Game" was my condensed version of what I went on to present following my written "Why, you may ask?".
So I asked you whether you want to know the Truth about how the universe came to be.
If you had composed the "question" as you have composed it ^^above^^ - then I would not have considered it at all "insulting"...however, the actual question you asked of me was :
dmoe: I guess the question to ask is: don't you care about what is True?
At any rate, as I tried to express in the OP : If Carl Sagan could accept - "that the origin of the universe is an unanswerable question.", and
- "why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always existed." - then that I, dmoe, had no qualms about accepting it also.
Therefore, I care more about adding to my
knowledge, or Truth of how the Universe actually "IS" - as opposed to engaging in a "Fools Game" by
trying to answer "an unanswerable question" as to how the Universe came to be.
Given what you posted, I don't think that was an insult.
...see above...
I'm sorry if you took my question the wrong way.
If, indeed, I "took" your "question the wrong way" - then you have no need to be "sorry".
If, indeed, I "took" your "question the wrong way" - then I extend my most sincere apologies to you, James R.!
BTW, since you like having your questions answered. May I request that you may possibly see fit to answer the following question from my previous response to you? :
Would you care to "elaborate" on how those "likely" differences "in fundamental ways from one that doesn't have such a being" would be discerned?
James R., thank you for your time and consideration.