Nature does not prove god

[Pete]

I keep being told the wonders of nature prove a creature god.  They then pick on those things that are amazing about nature but deselect much of what is not amazing and horrible.  I call this the happy bunny argument. 

I say nature does not prove that there is any deity and its chaotic characteristics suggest it was not.

Just for fun I give you Monty Python:-

All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.
Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom.
He made their horrid wings.

All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.

Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid
Who made the spikey urchin?
Who made the sharks? He did!

All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small,
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.

Amen.

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

Well done.  The people who think that Nature is sweet and gentle and harmonious -- never saw a wasp fly into a spider's web.  The spider won, but what a battle.  That kind of mayhem is going on all around us.  What kind of sick, twisted, depraved, deity --  enjoys that constant level of violence?  Actually -- the God of the Bible.          

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by Jonathan H. B. Lobl

[LeopardBoy]

This isn’t a dilemma for polytheists. Apollo the healer is also the bringer of plagues and disease.  Demeter brings a bountiful harvest as well as famine.  Even in the realm of human civilization, Hermes is the patron of both merchants and thieves.

 

I hold a sense of spiritual awe even for the destructive power of nature.  It’s part of the natural order, and I believe in gods that are an intrinsic part of that same order.  The world needs hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and earthquakes as part of the creative process.  There are also creatures that require what we would consider pests as part of their diet.  Circle of life and all that.

 

I do actually look at nature and see gods, but I also have a different understanding of what a god is and hold the belief that human comfort and wellbeing isn’t necessarily at the center of their attention.

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

1 hour ago, LeopardBoy said:

This isn’t a dilemma for polytheists. Apollo the healer is also the bringer of plagues and disease.  Demeter brings a bountiful harvest as well as famine.  Even in the realm of human civilization, Hermes is the patron of both merchants and thieves.

 

I hold a sense of spiritual awe even for the destructive power of nature.  It’s part of the natural order, and I believe in gods that are an intrinsic part of that same order.  The world needs hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and earthquakes as part of the creative process.  There are also creatures that require what we would consider pests as part of their diet.  Circle of life and all that.

 

I do actually look at nature and see gods, but I also have a different understanding of what a god is and hold the belief that human comfort and wellbeing isn’t necessarily at the center of their attention.

 

 

True.  Then again, nobody is making silly claims about your gods.  That they are all good, all wise, all loving, etc.  No.  Your gods are presented as having complexity -- and their own concerns.  I get that.

 

 

 

 

 

[cuchulain]

I have a friend at work who hurt his back.  For those who suffer that, the design flaws are obvious.

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

2 hours ago, cuchulain said:

I have a friend at work who hurt his back.  For those who suffer that, the design flaws are obvious.

 

 

Why stop with back pain?  Neck; shoulder; wrists; knees; ankles -- it all has braces and supports.  The perfect mind did a crap job.