Something made the universe. The whole "we did the math and it says something will spring up out of nothing" that does away with a creator doesn't make sense to me. Aquinas' 5 proofs make a lot more sense to me even if some are shakier than others.
Whatever that creator is calling it "God" is a convenient shorthand, whether that creator consists of chance or inevitable physics or a supernatural source.
From there you have to make a bunch of assumptions about the nature of God and His intent, if any. I choose to make the assumptions that make my life possibly have a meaning and purpose if they are true. Starting with the premise that part of putting my faith in God is trusting that He will steer me right if I allow myself to listen to His guidance, rather than just relying on my own reasoning and judgement, even if God's guidance and my own reasoning use the same "channel".
An example of an assumption is that free will has to exist because if it doesn't there is no way to exist in an ordered manner. The purpose of free will is to give me a choice to serve God or not, because the freely chosen service is where Good comes from.
Anecdotally I can say that my life became better when I internalized the switch from doing what made me "happy" to trying to figure out how to best serve God.
Please do share your thoughts in the other thread too - beyond the starting topic, I think you’ve attached multiple very interesting directions of further discussion to branch off into!
I'm not committed enough to argue on more than one board, but if you are motivated enough to copy and paste me then I relinquish all copyright claims and grant you that permission.
Something made the universe. The whole "we did the math and it says something will spring up out of nothing" that does away with a creator doesn't make sense to me. Aquinas' 5 proofs make a lot more sense to me even if some are shakier than others.
Whatever that creator is calling it "God" is a convenient shorthand, whether that creator consists of chance or inevitable physics or a supernatural source.
From there you have to make a bunch of assumptions about the nature of God and His intent, if any. I choose to make the assumptions that make my life possibly have a meaning and purpose if they are true. Starting with the premise that part of putting my faith in God is trusting that He will steer me right if I allow myself to listen to His guidance, rather than just relying on my own reasoning and judgement, even if God's guidance and my own reasoning use the same "channel".
An example of an assumption is that free will has to exist because if it doesn't there is no way to exist in an ordered manner. The purpose of free will is to give me a choice to serve God or not, because the freely chosen service is where Good comes from.
Anecdotally I can say that my life became better when I internalized the switch from doing what made me "happy" to trying to figure out how to best serve God.
Please do share your thoughts in the other thread too - beyond the starting topic, I think you’ve attached multiple very interesting directions of further discussion to branch off into!
Likewise to you u/SR388-SAX
https://communities.win/c/Atheist/p/17s5toTs7J/1-if-god-did-not-exist-the-appli/c
I'm not committed enough to argue on more than one board, but if you are motivated enough to copy and paste me then I relinquish all copyright claims and grant you that permission.