Disney Duster wrote:And just for the record, I believe in God but do not fully believe in any one religion. I'm currently confused and unsure of things, like many young people.
That's part of my religious beliefs as well. I follow one set religion, but I don't believe that any one religion is the be-all end-all religion. In theory, I believe that God created it all (you know, the universe, the planet, other ones besides ours that have life, etc.), but he came to people in different incarnations. Going back to my "other planets with life", did they have a Jesus Christ? Probably not. They had an incarnation of Jesus Christ, as all under the stars (and all the stars) are part of God, he created it. It'd be stupid to say that life on a planet 30 million light years away will be damned to hell because they don't follow Roman Catholicism. They follow whatever religion THEY built around God.
Now, going back to our world, all religions lead to a Higher Being. It's like an umbrella. God as "Higher Being", is the deity of nearly any religion you come across. Every religion has the belief that there is a higher being, and that there may (or may not) be a Judgement Day in which our souls either move on to another plane (Heaven or Hell), or our souls are revitalized, and come back again in another form (reincarnation). I have no problem with other religions because despite the fact that Roman Catholicism may be different in practice to Buddhism, or radically different in ideals to Wiccan, and even remarkably similar in Judaism, all religions follow a Higher Being, which I firmly believe is God.
Julian Carter wrote:For example, the Bible says that Moses (with God's power) split the Red Sea, and that God gave the Egyptian chariots a hard time to get across with the mud.
As rational beings, we all should know that this didn't happen! (Not that God couldn't split the sea in two if he wanted too)
(snip)
In reality, Moses did not divide the Red Sea. Studies reveal that in the area there is a shallow sea with lots of mud and bamboo and cane sticks. THIS IS WHAT MOST PROBABLY REALLY HAPPENED! Moses must have crossed this shallow sea with the Jews. And then we can also see why in the Bible it says that the Egyptians were slowed down: Because it would be hard to ride chariots through bamboo and canes!
Katherine Orrison goes into some detail about this during her commentary for The Ten Commandments. She basically explains (and I believe it), that God works through nature. That low tide allowed Moses and the Hebrews to cross the sea, while high tide didn't allow the Egyptians.
Another example she gave was the plagues, which Ramses talks about too, saying "all these things came on their own" (paraphrasing), and that no God (be it Egyptian or Hebrew) brought it upon them. I can't remember offhand what she talked about with that one, but it was another argument that God worked the plagues through nature (a volcano that spewed red mud near the mouth of the Nile caused the whole river to look like blood, for example).
slave2moonlight wrote:I mean, if we happened by chance in the universe, where did the universe come from? What was here before that? Where does anything come from? You always have that question of where something came from.
Consider this (I think it was Newton): For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
For every beginning, there is an end.
For every "live" universe...there was a dead one.
But who says one has to come after another. I don't remember what the theory is called, but there's a theory that for every idea, variation, change that can happen in the universe, there's a whole alternate universe where it does or doesn't happen. There's a universe where UD doesn't exist. There's a universe where it does. There's a universe where you wore a blue shirt today. There's one where you wore red instead. There's a universe where you just blinked your eyes a second ago, and one where you let it stay open another second. For every possibility, there's an alternate...reality/universe, where it does or doesn't happen.
So, keeping that in mind, just as there is a "live" universe right now, at the same time, though we're not in it, there's a "dead" universe right now. Just as our universe started with a Big Bang or Creationism (whichever you wish to believe), there's one that ended at the same time.
slave2moonlight wrote:Only one planet in the right distance from the sun, only one species devoloping to the level we are at. Still no DEFINITE signs or contact from any alien life-forms, etc... I think of how complex everything is, and there's just too much design involved.
Time is a big pain in the ass.
As far as our scientists have determined, the universe is around 4.2 billion years old.
We've been on Earth for the past 65 million years.
We've only been communicating verbally for the past 100,000 years.
We've only had a written language for the past 10,000 years.
We've only had what we consider modern technology for the past 150 years.
We've only had objects in space for the past 50 years.
And we've got a whole lot more years ahead of us.
For all we know, life forms from other planets have already gone through the rise and fall of their civilizations. 100 million years ago, there was probably a dominant empire in a star system not too far from us, but they died out 50 million years ago.
For all we know, 70 million years ago, life forms from another planet visited Earth, found no one to talk to, and turned around to head home.
For all we know, 30 million years ago, life forms from another planet visited Earth, found us in our primitive form, took a few pictures, made some t-shirts ("My friend visited a planet with primitive life forms and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!"), and left, figuring that they'll check again in another 30 million years.
For all we know, right now there may be a great galactic empire just observing other planets, waiting for us to advance our technology to a point that they feel our civilization has matured enough to be able to meet them. (Think the "Prime Directive" from Star Trek, where they don't interfere with a planet of inferior technology).
It's enough to make one's head explode.
Escapay
I didn't see as much because I was taking part in a youth experience, so sightseeing was not the priority. I did not go up the TV tower, but was right underneath it when we went to Alexanderplatz.
