There is so much evidence for the Theory of Evolution it's pretty safe to take it as fact. As I said, the origin of life is still something that's being researched, but scientists do have some pretty solid theories (yes, still theories) as to how life might have begun on Earth, and thus at other places in the universe under the right circumstances. I've read this in a pretty interesting article in a magazine (might've been an online article as well, though). I don't remember exactly, but I think scientists had created very primitive amino acids and cells in what could have resembled Earth around the time the first life originated. They were still unsure about some parts, but the fact that they managed to create those few cells is very exiting...at least to me. I have to admit I'm not too sure about what I said is true, I'd need to look up the article again to verify it.
When did I ever claim there was? There's no need? It doesn't matter whether or not you think it's necessary, it's entirely consistent with a view of God.
I meant that if you say God(s) are the cause of natural phenomenon, you would make as much sense as saying it's invisible unicorns. As for my last sentence, I wasn't directly talking to you, but meant it more as a general statement. Consistent as in they're unrelated and don't disprove one and another, I assume? As for the last two examples I gave, I personally find it very relevant. It really irks me when someone takes medicine or undergoes surgery, comes out alive and claims it was God who saved him. No, it was the scientists and doctors who discovered the medicine and performed the surgery who saved you. I don't mind religion, but when it gets to a point where it denigrates human success, and attributes human achievements to a higher power we can't even tell exists, it really annoys me.
People say that because it's a miracle that they are alive because of the high fatality chance of the surgery and the questionable potential of the medicine used. Yes, it's the doctors that performed the surgery and the medicine that helped with the disease, but they can't guarantee that you will live to see another day.
Chance is based on pure coincidence. The rate of success of any surgery mostly still depends on the capability of the surgeon, and medicine used can have varying effects on different people. If prayer and faith help someone get over their anxiousness before a high risk surgery, then by all means pray and believe. But if you live because a surgeon performed a highly dangerous surgery on you flawlessly, not giving him all the credit is an insult. Not to the surgeon, but to the ability of mankind.
I'm not going to argue with you about this. People obviously thank the surgeons who operated on them and so on and so for. But just seeing the next day after the fateful event that could have ended your life, people thank God for that.
That's all well and good, but there's a reason for "God of the gaps" arguments, if there aren't any gaps then as an explanation God becomes superfluous, that doesn't mean he doesn't exist, he could be the glue holding the causal chain together, but the point is from an empirical basis the idea that God is unnecessary is extremely relevant. That doesn't philosophically rule out God, even if you assume empiricism but what it does do is make God a rather odd belief for someone who claims to be an empiricist. Of course deny empiricism, heck deny the law of non contradiction for all I care. I suggest you look up what a scientific theory is, evolution isn't an idea that Darwin came up with after eating a few endangered species and decided to pass off as fact we have bucket loads of consistent evidence from all walks of scientific enquiry. Everything is a theory, you can't know much at all (if anything). If the cogito indeed works as it seems to you can know you exist but the fact that I exist is very much a theory. Of course it would be rather odd to believe I didn't exist. The point is "just a theory" isn't really a compelling reason for anything, God is also "just a theory".
Meh. I don't like the word "god" simply because in common usage it refers to some fatherly figure above us who either plans, controls, or meddles with our lives.
But they're essentially the same thing. Because the surgeon performed a successful operation on you, you live to see the next day. The same goes for praying before eating. Isn't that meant to thank God for putting food on your plate? Which is actually done by farmers and everyone else in the food industry?
It's more like thank God that you can afford food for another day, thank God that you live to see the days after your surgery, thank God that you are not starving on the streets.
The thing is that the reason you have the money is your boss (and yourself), the reason you're alive is your surgeon, and the reason there's food is the people that work in that industry. You can thank God for it, but when you think about it, He's got nothing to with it. Not to mention "thank God" and other such lines have kind of lost their meaning, as people randomly say them for everything and nothing anyway, but for the sake of discussion it's probably best to leave those cases out.
The think is, those doctors who did surgery on you, or those farmers who grew the food, they were paid to do that. They make money of of that. When you think about it, all that they are doing is trying to get their next paycheck. The meaning behind the thank you to them becomes less meaningful.
Yes, of course, they get paid for it, and in the end, it's their job. However, without these jobs, we'd all be dead. Not to mention if they'd be doing it for free, they couldn't live themselves. The fact that what they're doing is their job has little to do with the fact they're the reason we're alive.
