Does it matter whether a god exists or not?

Question

We can now describe very accurately the motion of the stars and galaxy, the formation of stars, the chemistry of life e.t.c. There are things we still do not know of course, such as the origin of the universe e.t.c. but it seems if there is a god it must play a very small part in the day to day running of the universe.
Is it that this once omnipotent being has been relegated to only having influence over the unknown?
It has occured to me that if the known universe cotinues perfectly well ( and in a predictable way I should add) without a god, then this god is no longer neccessary.

Anybody else ot any thoughts?

I should add that I used to believe in a god untill I saw the truth, and the answers so far have been very uninteligent indeed.
This is not a question about faith but a philosophical question on religion.

Answer 1

I don't think anybody has given you a proper answer yet.
Its a good point, like the story of some rainforest tribe living in the Amazon who believe in a god of the river- explain to them the laws of pysics and how gravity and precipitation e.t.c. all combine to create the river and make it flow downhill, and they will say "yes that makes sense, but I expect ther is still a river god!", even now they can see a river god has no inflence over the river, they continue to believe in it.
There is no difference.

I have to add that I think most of these other answerers are trying to reaffirm thier own dodgy beliefs by deriding someoe they see as being ignorant or stupid, maybe it takes a little inteligence to see inteligence in others if you know what I mean.

Keep up the good work

Answer 2

It doesn't matter or at least not to me,

In the dark ages when man didn't understand something, he superstitiously accredited it to the deities of his religion. The stars in the sky became warriors and chariots. The Erupting Volcanoes and Earthquakes became angry Gods. The failing of a crop was again put down to angry gods, while a good crop meant the gods were happy.

I am not going to make many friends saying this, but i think it is still the same today, all be it a bit more sophisticated. At the minute we can't provide concrete proof for certain things, like the big bang and the origin of life. So, Many people turn to the bible and "faith" for answers. Faith is simply believing in something that can not be proven, who's to say it isn't a lie? The Bible was written hundreds of years after the death of Christ, he appears to have been a wonderful man, but over the hundred or so years that the Bible took to come out, isn't it possible that there was some embellishing of the story's as they were passed down from father to son?

We no longer believe in the Greek gods or the Norse gods, why should the Christian god be any different?

HOWEVER, some people are unable to live their lives without the idea that an omnipotent being is watching over them, if it makes them happy, who am i to judge?

Finally, the creation theory of Adam and eve is still taught in school across the UK. Even though the "origin of species" was published in 1859, describing the Theory of Evolution. It is generally accepted by the scientific community that life evolves over time to suit its needs. This proves that the creation theory is wrong and yet religious people Still can not let it go of the idea of God.

Answer 3

How can you know? What if the universe functions by the rules only because God keeps it that way?
I strongly doubt the only (or the most important) role God is supposed to play in the life of humanity is to fill in the blanks of scientific theories. As you are probably aware, scientists gave up this kind of hypothesis (as in: "what keeps earth from falling into the void? Must be God's hand!") a long time ago. That's fine with me, because their mathematical models would work just as fine with or without a God behind them. What bothers me is that scientists think their successful theories could disprove God's existence and persuade people to become atheists. I don't know even a single person who believes in God because they lack an explanation of how the world functions. I only know people who believe in God because this faith explains why the world exists, why humans exist, and what is the purpose of their life and death. This kind of "God hypothesis" has been proved correct through the experience of many people whom we call saints, so I honestly see no valid reason why some atheist scientists would think their theories disprove God's existence. Maybe they haven't been exposed to true faith yet.

Answer 4

Necessary? Unknown. I guess I'd say that you don't really know what you
don't know.

We have some pretty complex models for how the universe runs, and they
have the virtue of actually being able to predict what's going to happen
next, unlike most religions.

However, they are always being revised, and it is simply not known if
there can be human complete understanding. Most would think not.
That is, the species will probably have exterminated itself by the time
it even begins to really understand its own biology.

Clearly the perception of God effects us socially, every minute of the day,
whether he/she/it exists or not. I personally do not take account of any
sort of deity to predict things to run my life, and I get along as well as
the next person - so, no, perceiving God probably isn't required.

However, if he/she/it exists and therefore by definition is the reason for
everything, including your question, clearly the actual being is required.

We can not know that - we could potentially know of beings greater than
ourselves some day - but would they be gods?

Semantically, could there be a God that fits the traditional definition?
Can he devise an act that cannot be performed and then perform it?

Dunno. At this point, since I know that I will *NEVER* know for sure,
Don't care, either.

By the way, I think you can safely ignore comments about having
humility: Descarte's FIRST premise was "Cogito ergo sum" (I think,
therefore I am). It was not any sort of reference to God, but merely
trying to establish his own credentials.

You are a human being - you perceive your universe. You can't help it.
NOTHING exists from your point of view without your perception. If you
have no experiment that proves God exists, it doesn't mean that you can't
believe in him, or must believe in him - it just means that he is unknowable.

As a God should be.

The answer to one divided by zero will not have meaning. The existance
of God is equally meaningless.

None of the above will pay the rent or put food on your table.

Answer 5

This is from a non-believer.
There is a problem with the way you portray the term "necessary" and "matters." A deist might well say the sum of God's actions have been the creation of the universe and its laws. In short, he has absolutely nothing to do with the myths created by man, or how they feel about them - except as much as the creation of those myths are a "lawful" consequence of human existence. In the deist view, God doesn't matter in the sense that he is not involved with our existence in terms of ethics, or behaviour in general.

But that is a special sense of "not mattering." After all, it may be absurd to think of the creator of the universe getting angry because you didn't worship him, but you do posit his existence - if you are a deist.

I am not a deist, but my point is that removing the deity from the day to day practise of humans does not by itself remove the deity itself from the universe. If he indeed created the lawful universe, and left it at that, it would be enough to make him a necessary part of our approach to reality.

Personally, I see no conceptual need to introduce a deity at all.

Answer 6

Personally i don't believe and to me it doesn't matter. Science is a fantastic tool that allows us to discover and answer lots of questions. But there are people who hold religion very dear to their heart and to ask the question you have to them is the biggest crime you can commit.
Lets look at the evidence for religion, how many different ones are there and how many gods. Yes if there is one creator how comes that creator has proven itself to be real. For the love of god.... or Allah (don't shoot me) if religion is so good why does it cause the death of so many through conflicts and wars.
Personnaly I think it is a control mechanism for the masses and the truth will only be discovered if time travel is ever made possible. No it doesn't matter if there is a god.

Answer 7

Yes. No God, no universe. Scientists have shown that all sub-atomic particles can be expressed as vibrations. How ever, the source of these vibrations would have to be at right angles to the universe. In other words, outside it. Now, when in Genesis it says that the Spirit of God moved over the face of the Deep, moved caould also be translated as vibrated. The Bibile also says "In him we live, breathe and have our being." You can only take your next breath because God permits it.

Answer 8

Sir Isaac Newton, who is considered the best scientist of all time, said very clearly in his book "Mathematica Principia" in the section titled "General Scholium" that God must necessarily exist. "This most elegant system of the sun, planets, and comets, could not have arisen without the design and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being." -(page 940) LOOK IT UP. I DARE YOU. He goes on... "It is agreed that the supreme God necessarily exists, and by the same necessity he is always and everywhere." -(page 942) This book, also called "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" is arguably the most important book in the history of science. So who am I going to believe? You? Or Isaac Newton? I'm going to believe Isaac Newton. I think he knows what he's talking about.

Answer 9

God is a notion in our genetics. It is the obscure feeling that we belong to something.
It does not matter at all whether god exists or not.. We will never be able to make the way back through our genetics to see where we came from? and how were we created.
So the best solution is to observe and understand and live in harmony with what we SEE from this universe. Our main target is to UNDERSTAND. God or not, nobody else than us will give us answers.

Answer 10

lol This is cute! I always get a kick out of it when someone writes something like this, but you don't know and you're just asking huh!
I've been a christian for over 20 years and the awe and respect that I have for God is unbelievable and difficult to explain in a few words. He is the Beginning and the End. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is El Roi, the God who sees. He is eternal, He has always been here and always will be. He needed nobody but He created us for fellowship with Him.
To question is really healthy, the Scriptures say that if you look for God "with your whole heart" He will be found by you, but it's a heart thing. Be careful thinking you can figure God out of the picture, you have no idea about whom you are speaking. He is the Creator of everything, including your universe, and He's much bigger than that. The Scriptures say we will fall to our faces when we meet Him, be diligent in searching both sides of the story. Find out about God too.