Comment by aprilthird2021
2 days ago
The fundamental basis of theism is that this world and everything in it was created, and it has some higher purpose, being planned. While that may be unsupported, the alternative, nihilism, is equally unsupported and also very negative for people and most people who claim to believe that, don't actually act like their life is worthless. They don't practice what they preach
There’s a mountain of evidence that everything we experience is the product of a hot, dense universe evolving according to a set of unthinking laws of physics.
The only place for any purpose or plan would be in the creation of that early universe. In what sense could there be said to be a purpose or plan if it has had no visible effects for a dozen billion years or more?
If we’re going to talk about people practicing what they preach, let’s talk about all the Christians who are sure they’re going to heaven and yet fear death. All the Christians who are certain their loved ones have gone to heaven and yet still grieve for them.
> In what sense could there be said to be a purpose or plan if it has had no visible effects for a dozen billion years or more?
I mean, the idea of a "higher" purpose implies it is "higher" than our reasoning faculties right? If it was clear to us the purpose or the plan, it would not be "higher".
So again, no evidence for either. And both sides don't practice what they preach. Why is it "logical" to believe one and not the other?
Do you apply this reasoning to everything? Maybe the apple fell from the tree because of gravity, or maybe it was caused by some higher being that purposefully moved the apple along that path in a way that exactly matched what it would do if it were falling under the influence of gravity. Who knows, could be either one!
I posit that there's an elephant in your living room. You can't detect it because it's invisible and doesn't interact with ordinary matter so you can't feel it. But it's there. Is it equally logical to believe my claim as it is to believe that there is, in fact, no elephant present?
This is a tiresome argument. Nobody thinks this way until you start talking about gods and then suddenly you turn basic reasoning on its head. "Some incomprehensible entity has a purpose and a plan for the universe but you can't detect it" OK and why should I take this claim seriously?
1 reply →