Think of it: we are one planet of 8, around one star of 300,000,000 in our galaxy, and our galaxy is just one galaxy out of 300,000,000 or so. That is a LOT of chances -- think of each star system as a dice roll to get a planet with the building blocks of life. If Earth did come about randomly, then how many stars would one expect to need to get one system that has an Earth? How does 3 x 10 to the 25th power star systems sound? Maybe that's enough for the physics governing our universe to create one or a few Earthlike planets that develop life? The alternative is that God created a universe like ours with hundreds of millions of galaxies, each with hundreds of millions of stars, each with several planets.... all for the purpose of creating one planet with humans? Why would he create so much, just to put us on one relatively insignificant little orb?
2007-04-25 10:17:44 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Clarification: I'm not an atheist. I have come to believe in God. I just have somewhat of a different concept of what God is. And I think it's just fine to be a Christian. Your faith is not under fire from me. Having faith is good.
2007-04-25 10:19:49 · update #1
You are correct -- my figures for the number of stars in the galaxy and universe are off by 1,000,000 times! There are 300 to 400 BILLION stars in the galaxy -- and hundreds of BILLIONS of galaxies. I knew that -- when I was typing the question I goofed. Thanks for the correction.
2007-04-25 10:28:44 · update #2
Biological evolution is not random.
Cosmological evolution (changes in the matter that forms the stars and planets) is not random.
All are stable, workable, forms built from other stable, workable, forms. There is a degree of randomness but not enough to call the whole process random.
You know the analogy of an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters given an infinite amount of time that they will eventually write the entire works of William Shakespeare... well, that isn't exactly how it works. Using the analogy, suppose a monkey types "th" .. two letters commonly seen side by side in the english language. That this is a stable configuration of the two letters would be "saved" and the monkeys wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel everytime the word "the" appeared. Likewise, when a soliloquy was finally formed, that soliloquy wouldn't have to be written again. The anology isn't perfect, but it's better than the original analogy.
2007-04-25 12:36:30 · answer #1 · answered by Tao 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Em, I think you have your facts wrong.
I've heard there are 400 billion stars in our galaxy, and 100 billion galaxies in the known universe.
According to Richard Dawkins, even if life only arose on 1 out of every billion planets, that would make 1 billion BILLION planets with life on them. And depending on Carl Sagan's input on the Drake Equation, which speculates on the possibility of intelligent life in the universe, there could be between 10 and millions of civilizations in the Milky Way at any particular time. Cool stuff, eh?
I personally think that life evolved from natural, non-intelligent processes. This seems to be what all the evidence points to, especially evolution by natural selection.
I also think that seeing the scale of the universe and our tiny, fragile place within it is quite humbling. I just wish that more of the religious folks had the same opportunity, instead of relying on young earth claims or imagining that our species has some exalted place the whole picture. This doesn't necessarily mean you; I'm simply speaking of the fundamentalists who go for pseudosciences like intelligent design.
2007-04-25 17:24:42 · answer #2 · answered by Dalarus 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why do we do this guessing game, is there some sort of dysfunctional mechanism at work that has to try to neatly explain and tidy up the handiwork of the Creator?
God for me has shown His power and generosity in the lavishness of His creation,how would it be if all He had created was the Earth,Sun and Moon and the rest nothing but empty darkness,surely the question then would be,`If God made earth,sun and moon why didn`t He create more.
What parent in all truth doesn`t spoil their child by buying it an excessive amount on it`s birthday or Christmas etc.
2007-04-25 17:37:47 · answer #3 · answered by Sentinel 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
o yes we could be a random occurance, and the odds would back up your theory, I believe there are multiple planets with life as intelligent or more so as us humans, but i would not be suprised to find out if they had a similar view of God.
2007-04-25 17:29:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it's selfish, not to mention arrogant, that some think we are the only ones in the universe.
2007-04-25 17:24:00 · answer #5 · answered by Millie 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you know, i had never really thought about that...however, looking around and seeing some (a select few) of the people on here i would have to say yes ;) who would do this on purpose?
2007-04-28 12:38:04 · answer #6 · answered by Cinna 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ofcourse we are random, the latest physics is based on quantumtheory there is randomness in it, so why not us ?
2007-04-25 17:24:18 · answer #7 · answered by gjmb1960 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes...
2007-04-25 17:20:55 · answer #8 · answered by Afi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not.
Cheers :-)
2007-04-25 17:33:40 · answer #9 · answered by chekeir 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋