The Homo Sapien Species and God

Before I start thinking structurally here about the things I've started to read, I thought I'd put a few ideas forward.


1. It's ignorant to ignore evidence.

I can't pin point any particular example at this time, but in my experience I've found that some Christians just blatantly ignore, deny, or try to make excuses for evidence which does not initially seem to click with the Bible. One such area is science. The response to evolution, at least in it's dawn, is one classic example of this pig-headedness. Remember the classic debate where the Bishop denied Evolution and the scientist said he'd rather have an ape as his grandfather than an ignorant dude like him...or something like that. It's been a while since I did Biology back in year 12.

Hey, I love science. I think it's great, and I already decided that if I ever get over this animation gig or if it doesn't work out, I might re-train one day in something Biology related - maybe working with animals.

I digress. I'll be talking about and looking at scientific things and ideas later down the track. Quite frankly at this point, back from my Science and Religion course I decided to agree with the idea that science and religion do not clash. Main reason being that the Bible doesn't claim or intend to explain scientific things. It's purpose is the relationship between human beings and God.

So then how I've resolved a lot of the seeming conflicts between science and religion is to read it as 'yes the scientific evidence said it happened like this - so it probably did; and God oversaw/drove that process'.

But science is huge, and I wanna explore a bunch of distinct areas separately and in a lot more detail later. All I'm trying to get at through this point 1 is that some people don't open their minds to the challenges and just plain and simply ignore them. I can never be like that. I've always been and plan to stay broad-minded. And the main thing I wanna say is that if there is evidence there - you can't ignore the implications. Facts can't be disregarded. Theories may change with more evidence, but it's important to consider them. If experts in a field all agree on a hypotheses about certain facts, it's arrogant to hold your own opinions and conclusions above that.

In short, experts' finding on things are valid for consideration.


2. Humans are arrogant

I think that the Homo Sapien species, with our big brains, has become rather arrogant. We seem to think that we can know everything, and that what we conclude in our minds will impact the world around us. Don't believe me?

Anyone who's studied or read about the arts is probably familiar with the idea of relativity of truth - 'what you believe is true for you, but doesn't have to be true for me.' That kind of thing.

Well this is my response to that. An idea I put forward back in my science and religion course days. If something outside the system exists or is true - then it does not matter what you decide in your mind - that thing will still be there. It's like saying I don't believe there's life on any other planet in the whole universe and that's true for me - but if there actually is life out there then the truth is that there is life out there.

So in the case of God - if there is a God - deciding to believe that God does not exist, won't make him not exist. Our minds aren't that powerful. And that's the challenge I'd like to put forward to anyone who has never considered the possibility of a God.

Okay, let's play out this hypotheses further. Supposing there is a God, and that he oversaw and directed the creation of the universe - then:
a) anything is possible for him
b) it's completely up to him what he lets us know about him and how he reveals that information
c) it's arrogant to think that by human power alone we can test or prove him. We're just puny creatures in this universe after all.

So I think it is safe to conclude that:
a)There is definitely a possibility that a God may exist; and
b)Humans need to learn a bit of humility regarding what they think they're capable of.

You might be thinking - 'hey, but aren't u trying to prove God?'. Nah, not really. I don't think you can - unless he let you. My mission is more examining Christianity to see if it's the possible means through which this possible God has revealed himself to/communicated with us homo sapiens.

3. Is the concept of a God archaic?

And just one last idea I wanted to put out there. It ties back to science a bit. Some people (I'll be more specific when i research it) have suggested that the idea of God was made up by people to explain things they didn't understand. They go on to suggest that now that science explains these things, we don't need this God concept.

Well, my knowledge isn't broad enough yet, but I think this is true of some more 'tribal' religions. For example religions of the past where human sacrifices were made to say make it rain, or to keep the sun happy so it'd rise the next day. But I don't really think it's true of the surviving religions of today. Like I said earlier, from what I gather the Bible doesn't claim to try to explain the scientific hows of the world.

Some would suggest that no, what the Bible is trying to do is encourage people to be good. Well if that's the case, the elders over many generations managed to do a pretty good fluke job of getting a consistent message across the Bible. More exploration of these sorts later.

And the other areas I was thinking about where someone might suggest that God is being used to 'fill in the gaps' are:
1. In response to the argument that there must be a God because otherwise this would all be chance.
2. In response to someone saying that God oversaw/sees something like evolution. For example I have a big issue with the Evolution theory. While I observe the facts and agree that the current theories are the most logical, I just find it hard to picture so many mutations conveniently occurring across whole species. I mean, little things are easy to imagine - but seeing as the mutation has to be genetic and exist within the reproductive organs eggs/sperms to be carried across to the next generations, it's hard to imagine young born with drastic changes that would over time change them completely. I have no problem with the Galapagas island birds etc, it's more the like how did a fish manage to ultimately turn into a human.

One answer that seems possible is that God oversaw it and drove the right mutations at the right time - but that's the part I though 'fill-in-gap' types might attack....

Anyways, I've run out of time, so I'll leave it at that for now.