|
Post by pim on Oct 16, 2020 20:00:24 GMT 10
I’ve always found the so-called “First Cause” argument to be unsatisfactory because it presents the origin of life in a binary either/or way with one side taking the “godless universe” position and the other side taking the “divine first cause” position. Personally I see “First Cause” as an extension of the “god of the gaps” argument where God kicks in where science peters out. I’ve been over that ground before and have no desire to plough that field again. Instead I look at the news reports in reputable scientific publications on bio signs being detected in the atmosphere of Venus and wonder if we’re not seeing on Venus a case study of abiogenesis in action. If that is indeed the case it resolves nothing in terms of “does God exist?” I’m quite comfortable with the notion of abiogenesis while at the same time taking theology seriously and respecting its insights. If there is a God there has to be a lot more to Her than just being the Agent that presses the starter button. Read the article. It’s worth it www.universetoday.com/148345/astronomers-report-theyve-detected-the-amino-acid-glycine-in-the-atmosphere-of-venus/amp/
|
|
|
Post by pim on Oct 17, 2020 14:31:06 GMT 10
If abiogenesis is a “thing”, and I don’t see why it shouldn’t be a “thing”, then the question it poses isn’t and shouldn’t be the “First Cause” question. The “God-as-starter-button” question is immaterial unless you can establish that abiogenesis, or biogenesis with the Big Fella Upstairs pressing the starter button, can happen once only. Establish that it only happens once, and maybe, just maybe, it lends more weight to the First (divine) Cause hypothesis. It’s said that abiogenesis happened on planet Earth when a few proteins mixed in the primordial soup and started replicating. Fine and let’s hear it for the Great Protoplasmic Ancestor. Just that one felicitous fortuitous event, never to be repeated, and if it had never happened at that moment and in that place and under those circumstances would it have happened at all? Is abiogenesis inevitable and if so what’s to stop it from happening repeatedly? Is abiogenesis happening now? On Earth if not elsewhere?
|
|
|
Post by pim on Oct 17, 2020 14:51:02 GMT 10
|
|
|
Post by Occam's Spork on Oct 21, 2020 1:42:51 GMT 10
Personally I see “First Cause” as an extension of the “god of the gaps” argument where God kicks in where science peters out. Fair enough, but then aren't you then invoking 'The science of the gaps" argument, thus removing the supernatural as a possible alternative? (By supernatural, I am referring to any process that exists outside of our known universe.) I find that view limited. It'd be hard to convince me. The existence of germs hardly accounts for the complexity found in what we know as life. If there are planets in our own solar system in which we must scour to find even a semblance then the earth has indeed won the lottery when it comes to 'life'. And it still doesn't explain the origins of conscious thought. Quite right... although it seems the Godless must depend on it as an escape hatch. If life doesn't self-start, someone must have started it. What if He is much more involved than that. (I wish I could share my experiences with you in a way that you could experience it for yourself)
|
|