DBT

Yes it is, but the question is - why do you have a need to fill the gaps in our understanding with myths?
Be honest with yourself and just live with the mystery.

Not entirely, we know the processes underlying stellar and galactic formation. The basic principles of physics, gravity, orbital dynamics...

As above.

As above.

curbyIII

supersport, have you ever been to Auschwitz? Have you ever looked at the heaps of shoes and the heaps of hair? I have.

Sometimes I wish that god were real, so that I could spit in his face.

Before you give me any BS about free will, let me ask you this: suppose you had a 4 year old son who was boiling puppies alive. Would you stop him, or would you let him exercise his "free will"?

And to completely sidestep the free will issue, what about the 2004 tsunami? 200,000 people dead.

You can keep on worshipping a monster, I'm certainly not going to.

supersport

goodness. Why are you blaming this on God who gave people free will to do what they want?

God could not have a true, loving relationship with humans if He did not give them free will.

Your anger is misdirected. S

DrugFreeAlcoholic

Using your own logic:

Things that are mysterious are things that are intelligently designed.
God is mysterious.
Therefore God is intelligently designed.

DBT

Oh please, not the "free will" BS again. :banghead:

Avatar

Head to Badastronomy.com for information on this. It's not as great a mystery as you seem to think.
Partly. There are, however, a number of valid hypothesis floating around. Check with chemistry experts.
Not that much of one. It had to do with the development of the cerebral cortex, see...
Once again: Not really. See my above post about hypothesis.
You really need to take a class in biology.
A natural result in gradually increasing cognition.
You need to take a course in basic palentology, then.
Back to cosmology and astronomy.
Natural properties of physical matter.
Take it to a chemist specialized in abiogenesis.
An emotional development that comes with higher cognative ability.
Another biology question.
And another.
If our taste buds did not identify tasty food, would you eat it?
The human ability to recognize and appriciate patterns.
Because if it didn't, our reproduction rate would be much less.
You do have nerves in your body, yes?
Well, what can I say? There isn't any faith involved, "Godlessness" is a logical conclusion when examining the evidence. Besides...I'm not average.
Your incredulity does not make any of your assertions so. It works like this: If a process survives, then it continues to exist. If a process fails, it eventally ceases to exist. "Creation" is made up of the survivors.
In other words, scientific study got too hard for you, so you threw it out in favor of the easy answers of superstition. Fine for you, I guess. Just don't try to push your superstitions into science classes or laboratories, and don't try to rewrite history.

Veovis

So, God creates suffering and evil so that people can have the ability to love him? That's real selfless.

CreamFilledGiraffe

Do any of your 16 mysteries point to the existence of a creator/god? Would any of them be less of a mystery if god did 'em. At best they just leave the possibilty open. None of these mysteries are as mysterious as they were a century ago BTW.

Does something have to be understood with absolute certainty and in the greatest detail in order not to be a mystery?

Can you give any evidence of this? Are we more cherrished than puffins or tulips or dragonflies?

Then you should have been able to better anticipate the counter-arguments you would run into on these forums. Can you give us a quick synopsis of what you thought evolution was before your enlightenment? You seem to be a prolific typest so 500 words should be a snap.

This seems to me to be an emotional responce.

fishbulb

Creatures that are revolted by the taste of food are less likely to survive long enough to produce offspring and are therefore less likely to pass on this trait to future generations.

However, it is not universally true that food tastes good. Many people dislike the taste of many things that are healthy and edible, and many people find some highly toxic substances quite tasty. There is considerable variation among different people. Generally speaking, though, things that taste good tend to be those things that are good for us--though due to our recently acquired ability to procure huge amounts of food, it is often now possible to consume to excess tasty things such as fat which were once hard to come by.

Music is composed by human beings. Some of it sounds good and some of it sounds bad, and different people make different judgements regarding which is which. Generally speaking, composers of music are more likely to compose music which they believe sounds good. There are all sorts of possible musical compositions, but we tend not to compose the ones that we would deem to be unpleasant.

You might as well ask why is it that buildings don't fall down. Some do, most don't. There are many conceivable ways to construct a building, but we tend to use the ones we have learned result in sturdy constructions and avoid those we have learned do not work well.

Creatures that find sex unpleasant are less likely to have sex and are therefore less likely to pass that trait on to their offspring. However, as with food, the extent to which people enjoy sex varies considerably. Some people do not find sex pleasant at all. Most people find sex pleasurable under certain circumstances and with certain people, but would find sex under different circumstances and with different partners to be highly traumatic.

The answer is similar to the answer regarding food and sex, as the formation of intimate human bonds are important to human evolution. And, as before, not everyone finds hugs and massage equally pleasant. In addition, most people who find hugs and massages from certain people to be pleasant would find the same hug or massage given by certain other people to be downright creepy and extremely uncomfortable. If you don't believe me, try going up to random people on the street and try to massage them. But be sure to retain a criminal lawyer first, as you will eventually end up getting arrested.

Calling it creation begs the question, but I am sure you can easily think of many natural things that you find extremely unpleasant to look at. For example, what about the rotting carcass of a fawn that has been half devoured by wolves, or how about a writhing ball of maggots, or perhaps the sight of a blazing brushfire heading directly towards you? How about the sight of a family member's corpse, after an accidental fall onto some jagged rocks that split her head open, causing her brains to spill out? All part of nature or "creation."

It seems the opposite to me: the smaller the scale at which you observe the universe, the simpler it is. A human being is an incredibly complex machine made up of an enormous number of parts and consisting of a large number of interdependent systems as well as an interdependence on the environment and other organisms ranging from simple bacteria to other humans. All of this is directed by simple DNA molecules.

None of this implies any kind of intelligence. There is simply no evidence that there is any purpose to the way nature works. Instead, nature appears to follow a fairly small set of universal and essentially arbitrary laws which have resulted in the universe we see before us. Had the laws been different, the Universe would have been different. Maybe it would have been less stable or interesting than the one we now live in, or maybe it would have been more stable or interesting. But there would have to be laws. A universe without natural laws would be hard to conceive, and impossible to understand.

Miracle is just a term used by someone who doesn't understand what he is looking at and assumes that, because he does not understand, it must be a work of divine magic.

knotted paragon

Goodness. Why are you blaming this on mankind? How does free will spawn a tsunami or volcanic eruption or virus or mudslide or heat wave or any other natural disaster?

If biblegod exists, how can you characterize subjecting mankind to misery and suffering as a loving relationship?

Your gullibility is unfortunate.