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It's interesting how they never question anything past that. That answer just kicks the can down the road. Sure, let's assume it's true. Where did God come fro

It's interesting how they never question anything past that. That answer just kicks the can down the road. Sure, let's assume it's true. Where did God come from?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lucidone 5y ago
That's similar to asking where infinity starts and ends. I like Spinoza's bit about a self-causing cause for this.
- typeofhuman 5y ago
  (function () { new Infinity().start() }());
prmph 5y ago
Well, where did the universe come from? Where did time come from? When did it begin? There are certain things the answers to which goes beyond the bounds of the naive logic we are familiar with. The Bible says that God has no beginning (or end), he exists outside the bounds of time. Though it is hard to wrap our heads around that concept, there is no reason to think it is not possible, considering the rhetorical questions above.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  One thing I've noticed is that there is huge spectrum of beliefs about what God is: On the one end God is just some kind of vague abstract energy that acts akin to some force fate and ends up not being that different to an agnostic or scientific viewpoint of the world. On the other end you get a highly personified God that thinks in a human-like way with highly specific wants and desires who acts as a moral authority in addition to being a creator (although the rationale behind them being a moral authority never seems to be explained) I think God as a metaphor for the unknown needs little justification (as you say nobody really has a better explanation). But God as a human-like moral authority doesn't in any way follow from that, and there is lots of reason to think that there is no such God.
  - dane-pgp 5y ago
    > although the rationale behind them being a moral authority never seems to be explained Isn't that a consequence of the is-ought problem?[0] Where can "oughts" come from? Perhaps this is the same sort of question as "From where does the state derive its authority to impose laws?". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem
- tshaddox 5y ago
  > There are certain things the answers to which goes beyond the bounds of the naive logic we are familiar with. I don't think answering any of these questions are beyond the bounds of our abilities to inquire rationally, form explanations, improve those explanations through criticism, etc. It's true that there will be no "ultimate answer," because for any current best explanation we have about the origins or workings of the world we can ask the question "why is it that way rather than some other way?" And if we later develop an explanation that answers that question, we can ask the same question of that new explanation. That process will never end, but that doesn't mean any one instance of that question will be beyond our abilities.
- pixl97 5y ago
  I mean science says the same thing about the big bang. That 'outside' of our universe that it's completely possible for time to have no meaning. It's also possible for the universe to be infinite, yet have a very recent beginning.
nicoburns 5y ago
I had a very good conversation with a Christian friend about this. For him using God to explain the more immediate questions was a more satisfying answer even if God itself was left unexplained, whereas I found it more satisfying just to leave the immediate questions unexplained if no explanation was available. We ended up agreeing to disagree, but I think we both learnt something from each other's perspective.
- dane-pgp 5y ago
  If your Christian friend is correct, then he'll have an eternity to spend studying the question of where God came from, with the added advantage of having God readily available to answer his questions. Solving just the immediate questions in this life has a nice parsimonious feel to it, actually, like dropping hints for a sequel in the first movie of a (potentially infinite?) series.
  - gridspy 5y ago
    It seems a huge pity to drop an interesting question during your life because "Oh well, God will clear that up for me after I die."
    - dane-pgp 5y ago
      "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?" https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884 https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884
  - adamredwoods 5y ago
    Assuming eternity allows question forming or 'thinking' of any sort.
homonculus1 5y ago
Where did the big bang come from?
- gridspy 5y ago
  Hard to say. It appears to have eradicated all evidence. That's why we study the microwave background so much.
adamredwoods 5y ago
>> Sure, let's assume it's true. Where did God come from? We can also assume it's false. Where did God come from? A human social construct to provide comforting answers per geographic or cultural associations.
vlunkr 5y ago
As another commented said, the bible says God has no beginning, so there you go. More importantly though, religion is meant to explain the meaning of life, not that the chain of events that lead to it. It has fundamentally different, though not necessarily incompatible, goals than science. So in short, the answer is that from a religious perspective, it doesn't matter.

It's interesting how they never question anything past that. That answer just kicks the can down the road. Sure, let's assume it's true. Where did God come from?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

lucidone 5y ago

That's similar to asking where infinity starts and ends. I like Spinoza's bit about a self-causing cause for this.

typeofhuman 5y ago
(function () { new Infinity().start() }());

prmph 5y ago

Well, where did the universe come from? Where did time come from? When did it begin? There are certain things the answers to which goes beyond the bounds of the naive logic we are familiar with. The Bible says that God has no beginning (or end), he exists outside the bounds of time. Though it is hard to wrap our heads around that concept, there is no reason to think it is not possible, considering the rhetorical questions above.

nicoburns 5y ago
One thing I've noticed is that there is huge spectrum of beliefs about what God is: On the one end God is just some kind of vague abstract energy that acts akin to some force fate and ends up not being that different to an agnostic or scientific viewpoint of the world. On the other end you get a highly personified God that thinks in a human-like way with highly specific wants and desires who acts as a moral authority in addition to being a creator (although the rationale behind them being a moral authority never seems to be explained) I think God as a metaphor for the unknown needs little justification (as you say nobody really has a better explanation). But God as a human-like moral authority doesn't in any way follow from that, and there is lots of reason to think that there is no such God.
- dane-pgp 5y ago
  > although the rationale behind them being a moral authority never seems to be explained Isn't that a consequence of the is-ought problem?[0] Where can "oughts" come from? Perhaps this is the same sort of question as "From where does the state derive its authority to impose laws?". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem
tshaddox 5y ago
> There are certain things the answers to which goes beyond the bounds of the naive logic we are familiar with. I don't think answering any of these questions are beyond the bounds of our abilities to inquire rationally, form explanations, improve those explanations through criticism, etc. It's true that there will be no "ultimate answer," because for any current best explanation we have about the origins or workings of the world we can ask the question "why is it that way rather than some other way?" And if we later develop an explanation that answers that question, we can ask the same question of that new explanation. That process will never end, but that doesn't mean any one instance of that question will be beyond our abilities.
pixl97 5y ago
I mean science says the same thing about the big bang. That 'outside' of our universe that it's completely possible for time to have no meaning. It's also possible for the universe to be infinite, yet have a very recent beginning.

nicoburns 5y ago

I had a very good conversation with a Christian friend about this. For him using God to explain the more immediate questions was a more satisfying answer even if God itself was left unexplained, whereas I found it more satisfying just to leave the immediate questions unexplained if no explanation was available. We ended up agreeing to disagree, but I think we both learnt something from each other's perspective.

dane-pgp 5y ago
If your Christian friend is correct, then he'll have an eternity to spend studying the question of where God came from, with the added advantage of having God readily available to answer his questions. Solving just the immediate questions in this life has a nice parsimonious feel to it, actually, like dropping hints for a sequel in the first movie of a (potentially infinite?) series.
- gridspy 5y ago
  It seems a huge pity to drop an interesting question during your life because "Oh well, God will clear that up for me after I die."
  - dane-pgp 5y ago
    "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?" https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884 https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_browning_108884
- adamredwoods 5y ago
  Assuming eternity allows question forming or 'thinking' of any sort.

homonculus1 5y ago

Where did the big bang come from?

gridspy 5y ago
Hard to say. It appears to have eradicated all evidence. That's why we study the microwave background so much.

adamredwoods 5y ago

>> Sure, let's assume it's true. Where did God come from? We can also assume it's false. Where did God come from? A human social construct to provide comforting answers per geographic or cultural associations.

vlunkr 5y ago

As another commented said, the bible says God has no beginning, so there you go. More importantly though, religion is meant to explain the meaning of life, not that the chain of events that lead to it. It has fundamentally different, though not necessarily incompatible, goals than science. So in short, the answer is that from a religious perspective, it doesn't matter.