I would like your thoughts?

Question

on this quote from Albert Einstein:

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. It is the concept of a "personal" god that is the main source of present day conflicts."

Is the mystery of the universe a religous concept?

Would we be better off believing in the mystery without the "personal" god?

Source: "Quotable Einstein" Princeton Press
The questions are mine....

Right... Einstein was a bright boy... but didn't theorize everything exactly right...

Morgetheyne: you are correct...he was against organized religion, but was a dieist in terms of science and nature... what are your thoughts?

Nexus: Synchronicity?

Rythm: ya had me right until Pascals Wager...

Nana: Right on!

Dorkmobile: Thank-you...

Swordark: Right on...

Crow: You're a good parent and a bright man.

Answer 1

Yes very much so. Many of the greatest minds were
Deists and Einstein was one of them. If you don't
know what Deism is it's the belief that god does
exist but doesn't show itself through religion and
the supernatural but through science and nature.
From what I've read Einstein was against organized
religion. I've always said if I wasn't an Atheist I'd
definitely be a Deist after all I see Deism as making
much more sense than a personal god which I see
as more of an opposer of science.They can work
together but only with total acceptance of each
other.

Answer 2

Hi Smarty Pants. Any scientific fact God gives us in the Bible has never been proven wrong. The Bible is not intended to be a science book, but no scientific fact has ever disproved the Bible in any way. One example is 3000 years before Christ God tells us that the world is round. In Job 26:7 God tells us:

"He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing."

Job 26:7 is supported by Isaiah 40:22:

"He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth..."

This description is in sharp contrast to the fantastic imaginary notions which the rest of the world taught or believed, at a time when most people thought the world was flat.

The earth would appear as a "circle" to all those who lived on it only if it were a sphere. Isaiah 40 matches the description in Job 26 and supports its accurate statement, which is what we can expect from the Bible. After all, who knows better than the Creator how the universe is designed and built?

-Edit-
Hi Knowledge Seeker. Actually the Bible tells us the earth is a little more than 13,000 years old. Defiantly not billions of years old.

We need to remember that that written history only goes back to about 5,200 years ago. There is no proof of anything older than that.

Some people try to rely on carbon 14 dating, the problem is, if you are using carbon 14 dating, you have to assume that the carbon reservoir remained constant all the way back through history. This cannot be proven. Their conclusion will be a guess at best.

Carbon 14 dating is very accurate up to about 13,000 years. After that it varies, and it varies wildly.

I was at a museum a while back and there was a display of dinosaur bones. The sign said the bones were between 60,000 and 100,000 years old. That's a margin of 40,000 years for mistake. That is not science my friend, that's guess work.

For those who say that days or nights were thousands of hours long, that would be impossible. In Genesis 1:11-13 God tells us He created plants and fruits on the third day:

"Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so...13 So the evening and the morning were the third day."

On the forth day He created day and night. In Genesis 1:14-19 God tells us:

"Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and year...16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day."

Now if the days were a thousands of hours long all of the vegetation on the earth would have burned up because of all the sunlight. If the nights were thousands of hours long all of the vegetation on the earth would have died because vegetation needs light to grow, but too much sun or too much darkness will kill the vegetation. God created 4 seasons and He created 24 hour days, just like it is now.

Answer 3

To keep it within the framework of your question:

"science is blind without accounting for spirit, religion without science is lame and blind (static). Having a "personal" spiritual life would possibly end the main source of present day conflicts."

I don't think the Mystery of the Universe is a religious concept as much as an occult one (occult in the original meaning of the word:that which is hidden or unknown).

I hesitate to call it "personal" god, but, yes, to some extent, our relationship to spirit is very personal and no one else's business. If some of us kept it that way, rather than expecting someone else to say the same prayer you do, we would most certainly be better off.

And thank you thank you for asking an intelligent question. I was getting bored and punchy.

Answer 4

I personally think that an Intelligent Designer created the universe and it's laws or science if you will. The intricacies of the universe are so complex that it would be harder to think that it happened by chance.. of course one may argue that having an Eternal God would be just as mind boggling. Pascal's wager is an analagy that says that at the end of time there is a coin spinning - on the one side there is God and on the other Nothing. He says it is better to choose God and have the chance of Nothing than choosing Nothing and having the chance of there being a God. Because if there is God - your screwed.

Answer 5

I don't know, you are the one with the Einstein avatar, why don't you tell us what it means?

.... I do think though that God's most important feature is that he MUST transcend nature. If he is finite, and was "created", even if he is greater than all the stars, but was still created, then he is not supernatural and not, in the strictest sense, "God" by any means. He must transcend nature, and once you see that there is something that is greater than nature, you will have great secondary evidence for the existence of God. (The most primary evidence you can get is being acquainted with his Holy Spirit and personally feel his presence. Everything else is just secondary to that)

Answer 6

i believe in logic. the thing that has struck me is that bible has no logic. but i believe in god. a supreme being.

one reason y i think einstien didn't believe in reliegions is because it dson't add up in a lot of holy books. I do not want to offend anyone n if I have.......I m deeply sorry. But my opinion was asked and I gave it

ps. Fisher of men:- there r many things disproved in the bible.
for eg. As per the Bible, in the first book of Genesis in Chapter One, the universe was created in six days and each day is defined as a twenty-four hours period. The creation of the universe has taken billions of years, which proves false or contradicts the concept of the Bible which states that the creation of the Universe took six days of twenty-four hour durations each.
The Bible says in chapter 1, verses 3-5, of Genesis that the phenomenon of day and night was created on the first day of creation of the Universe by God. The light circulating in the universe is the result of a complex reaction in the stars; these stars were created according to the Bible (Genesis chapter 1 verse 14 to 19) on the fourth day. It is illogical to mention the result that is the light (the phenomenon of day and night) was created on the first day of Creation when the cause or source of the light was created three days later. Moreover the existence of evening and morning as elements of a single day is only conceivable after the creation of the earth and its rotation around the sun.
i can go on n on...........

Answer 7

Yes our existence is a mystery. I feel religions stand in the way of discovering the truth by claiming to know the truth already. I don't need a religion to look for answers. I need facts not fables.


What is weird i read that quote in a meditation book before i came on here.

Answer 8

Bismillah Hirrehmaaan Nirraheem With the name of ALLAH (swt) -The Bestower Of Unlimited Mercy, The Continously Merciful

The Glorious Qur’an is the last and final Revelation which was revealed to the last and final Messenger Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him.

any book to claim that it is a Revelation from Almighty God, it should stand the test of time.

Previously in the olden days, it was the age of miracles - Alhamdulillah, the Qur’an is the miracle of miracles.

Later on came the age of literature and poetry, and Muslims and Non Muslims alike, they claim the Glorious Qur’an to be the best Arabic literature available on the face of the Earth.

But today is the age of science and technology. Read Holy Qur’an and let analyze by your ownselves whether the Qur’an is compatible or incompatible with modern science.

Albert Einstein said… ‘Science without Religion is lame, and Religion without Science is blind’. Let me remind you that although the Glorious Qur’an is not a book of Science…S-C-I-E-N-C-E, It is a book of signs S-I-G-N-S…

There are 6666 Ayats (Arabic word) which means signs … Ayats in the Glorious Qur’an out of which more than a thousand speak about science.

I am not speaking about scientific hypothesis and theories, which are based on assumption without any proof, because we all know many times science takes U-turns.

there are two types of approaches, one is a concordance approach - which means a person tries to bring compatibility between the Scripture and science

and the other is the conflict approach, in which a person tries to bring a conflict between Scripture and science, like how Dr. William Campbell has done very well in his book and many other fanatic Christian, jews, hindus professors/orientlist did as well, those critics intentionally twisted the meaning of Qur’an, mischievously do wrong interpretation of Qur’an and spreading misconceptions about Islam among the innocent people.


If there are some misconceptions bear in your mind it doesn’t mean that Qur’an is wrong as many non Muslims misguided by their critics/orientlists.

If you are a logical and intelligent person then u must think and use your own brain and try to find out the truth.

It is very interesting attitude that exists in the Qur'an repeatedly deals with its advice to the reader. The Allah (swt) informs the reader about different facts and then gives the advice: "If you want to know more about this or that, or if you doubt what is said, then you should ask those who have knowledge." This too is a surprising attitude.

It is not usual to have a book that comes from someone without training in geography, botany, biology, embryology etc., who discusses these subjects and then advises the reader to ask men of knowledge if he doubts anything.

as far as the Qur’an is concerned, irrespective whether a person uses a conflicting approach, or a concordance approach – As long as you are logical, and after a logical explanation is given, not a single person will be able to prove a single Verse of the Qur’an in conflict with established modern science.

For example the Astronomers, a few decades earlier, they described, how the universe came into existence - They call it the ‘Big Bang’.

And they said… ‘Initially there was one primary nebula, which later on it separated with a Big Bang, which gave rise to Galaxies, Stars, Sun and the Earth, we live in.’

This information is given in a nutshell in the Glorious Qur’an, in Surah Ambiya, Ch. 21, Verse No. 30, which says “Do not the unbelievers see… ‘That the heavens and the earth were joined together, and we clove them asunder.’

Imagine this information which we came to know recently, the Qur’an mentions 14 hundred years ago.

Read Holly Qur’an….believe me it has a power to remove your all doubts/misconceptions bear in your minds.

Answer 9

I think that technically both religion and science are the same thing. They both attempt to explain the same questions. The difference is in the method in which they attempt to explain the natural universe and the reasons why things are the way they are. Personally, I think they can work together.

Answer 10

The mystery can be a religious concept.
If you have experienced the Mystery, you might possibly believe in a 'personal god'.
Note; Einstein has since changed his mind.
Another note; I'm not Christian or a physicist.
I'm mystic.