And now, we go live to the C of E in the 17th Century...

[Aituk7]

Gervais needs to go back to his bible and reread it. Light was created on the first day.

The Creation of the World

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, ”Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

I was paraphrasing, the joke was he created the heavens and the earth in the dark.

 

[Keawyeds]

Gervais needs to go back to his bible and reread it. Light was created on the first day.

The Creation of the World

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, ”Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

So I'm guessing you're not a fan of "The Big Bang" side of the argument

 

[LondonBlackCat]

Technically that was Henry VIII

True, but it's not as funny.

 

[Mickdundee]

I think most of us believe in gay people

Plenty on the SMB still believe it’s a choice though!

 

[Mercia Blackcat]

Gervais needs to go back to his bible and reread it. Light was created on the first day.

The Creation of the World

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, ”Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

John 1.1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In the beginning was the Word, the Logos, the Primordial Vibration
And then there was wave function collapse

 

[jaxaxe]

Gervais needs to go back to his bible and reread it. Light was created on the first day.

The Creation of the World

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, ”Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Reading that, God created the Heavens and the Earth in darkness, then he commanded that there be Light at a later point in proceedings.

Which was Gervais' point, really.

 

[Mercia Blackcat]

Reading that, God created the Heavens and the Earth in darkness, then he commanded that there be Light at a later point in proceedings.

Which was Gervais' point, really.

Because travelling at the speed of light it took light one planck unit of time to travel one planck unit of length. There was a time delay before light had an effect.

 

[Mickdundee]

Of course the church came to see this as something they could control further and even make a canny prophet on but you know, power and corruption.

I see what you did there!

 

[jaxaxe]

Because travelling at the speed of light it took light one planck unit of time to travel one planck unit of length. There was a time delay before light had an effect.

So he created the Heavens and the Earth in darkness, then.

 

[Manny F]

The C of E was best summed up in the film If in the scene where the school headmaster keeps the chaplain in a drawer in his office.

 

[stapler]

If every religious person in the world woke up tomorrow, realised it was all bollocks and became an atheist, the world would be immeasurably improved for millions of people.

Good people who became non-religious would continue to do good things (effect=neutral), bad people who use religion as an excuse for their evil would use some other excuse (effect=neutral), but people who use religion to convince otherwise good people to do bad things wouldn't be able to (effect=massively good).

And when it dawns upon these people that they are nothing but transient bags of meat, whose only purpose it is to reproduce and maximise the pre-programmed "positive" neural stimulus while minimising the "negative" neural stimulus, what happens then? Will they sit and docilly perform their allotted evolutionary function?

And will the bad people of whom you speak put down naughty sticks for good, shorn of their only means of persuasion?

Does it trouble you that your predictions about what would happen in the absence of religion are untestable, unfalsifiable, and otherwise unscientific hokum?

Anyway, I'll keep believing that Jesus Christ has redeemed mankind and that I should try (not always successfully) to live by His two commandments. I'll do that safe in the knowledge that there is mounting evidence from this "science" you like so much that aspects of living a good Christian life (generosity, gratitude, forgiveness, etc) are hugely beneficial to my wellbeing and that if I am wrong in my belief, it won't matter a jot.

 

[Occam's Razor]

And when it dawns upon these people that they are nothing but transient bags of meat, whose only purpose it is to reproduce and maximise the pre-programmed "positive" neural stimulus while minimising the "negative" neural stimulus, what happens then? Will they sit and docilly perform their allotted evolutionary function?

I've accepted that we're nothing but transient bags of meat, and I haven't performed any "evolutionary function". I just try to enjoy myself as much as possible without harming anyone else.

And will the bad people of whom you speak put down naughty sticks for good, shorn of their only means of persuasion?

I said in the post you quoted, "...bad people who use religion as an excuse for their evil would use some other excuse (effect=neutral)..."

Does it trouble you that your predictions about what would happen in the absence of religion are untestable, unfalsifiable, and otherwise unscientific hokum?

No.

...and that if I am wrong in my belief, it won't matter a jot.

Unless there is a God but you've picked the wrong one, and He is a vengeful one who really punishes heretics.

 

[stapler]

I said in the post you quoted, "...bad people who use religion as an excuse for their evil would use some other excuse (effect=neutral)..."

You also said "but people who use religion to convince otherwise good people to do bad things wouldn't be able to (effect=massively good).". As I was talking about the bad's people's "means of persuasion", it should have been obvious to you that I was referring to the class of people you said use religion to convince otherwise good people to do bad things.

 

[Mercia Blackcat]

So he created the Heavens and the Earth in darkness, then.

In the beginning was the Word, the Logos, the Primordial Vibration, Quantum Foam
And then there was wave function collapse and the universe self actualised
It was a bit dark to begin with.

 

[Sir Lancelot]

So he created the Heavens and the Earth in darkness, then.

define darkness from Gods perspective.

So I'm guessing you're not a fan of "The Big Bang" side of the argument

I have the ability to both believe in the Big Bang theory and in the bible. I’m a Catholic.

It comes down to what you think happened before the Big Bang really. There is very little difference between saying before the Big Bang there was nothing and after it the whole universe existed, and saying God was there and then he said let there be light. They both give the same result. Scientists say we don’t know what was before the Big Bang, or that nothing existed before the Big Bang. Religious people say God was there. Who is right, who knows, possibly both!

 

[Mercia Blackcat]

.....Scientists say we don’t know what was before the Big Bang, or that nothing existed before the Big Bang. Religious people say God was there. Who is right, who knows, possibly both!

Or maybe neither.

The problem with Absolute Nothing is that it has absolutely no potentiality. So no potential for a big bang. Therefore what was before the Big Bang must have been something with potentiality. As it was infinite (non finite). not limited, not defined it must have been unbounded potentiality, infinite potentialities, the ground state of the universe, which is not Absolute Nothing. If we examine a microscopic area of space, rather than Absolute Nothing, the vacuity is bristling with virtual sub atomic particles and their opposites constantly coming into and out of existence, Quantum Foam.Therefore the most likely candidate for what was before the big bang was Quantum Foam of unbounded potential. Then all of the infinite potentialities collapses except for one and the universe came into existence with a big bang. So there can be no such thing as Absolute Nothing.

Surely, we must accept that everything necessary for reality is contained within reality. Anything necessary for reality that was outside reality would be a part of reality anyway. So there can be nothing outside of reality. Therefore it is impossible for there to be an external creator god that is outside of reality/the universe. If there is neither Absolute Nothing nor an external Creator God the only logical conclusion is that the universe self actualised.

Each moment the universe collapses all potentialities except for one that we call reality. Therefore the universe initiates wave function collapse which could indicate that the universe is inherently cognitive.

 

[jaxaxe]

define darkness from Gods perspective.

It will be non-existent darkness.