Now to start this off, I have but one request: I will respect you as an individual and as a human being as long as you will give me the same respect. Too many times have I debated over this topic in the past with atheists, and not to be bias but, most times in the PC world of today if you believe in theism or creationism you instantly become ridiculed for being an unintelligent imbecile. I took debate all four years of high school, throughout all of undergrad at KU, and I'm currently enrolled in Stanford for a double major in Law and Spanish. Now I have no degree directly in science but in no means am I unintelligent. I have studied this subject personally and have done my own research and have attended many seminars on the subject so I do know what I am talking about the subject. I do not want this to turn into a flame war of mind numbing mudslinging and dehumanizing of a person of an opposing view. So again I ask that this remains simply an intelligent debate over the topic.
Note:I wrote this all in Word then cut/pasted onto AG so if any format problems occur I apologize up front and I will try to edit and fix them as they arise.
Alright now for the exciting stuff. So here is the case.
How do you explain the beginning of a universe without intelligent design?
Alright now let me lay the foundation and boundaries for this case. 1. The most important out of all of these is what the case entitles. This is not a debate on if an INTELLIGENT DESIGNER exists at all (because there are plenty of threads on the forums that encompass this debate) , but how the universe came about in the first place WITHOUT intelligent design. 2. This being said it entitles that a world that was created by intelligent design is the status quo. Whether you believe it or not for the purposes of this debate it will remain the status quo making the defense against this case: the negative, and leaving the affirmative challengers with the burden of evidence. 3. If evidence is claimed be sure to back it up not using sole opinion and analytics to prove your point. (i.e. "Evidence proves that this happened!!" ....what evidence are you citing?) 4. Neither side can claim FIAT in any fashion. It either happens or it doesn't. 5. Keep it clean. 6. **IMPORTANT** To all mods reading this, as I said this is not a debate on rather or not an intelligent designer exists or not so this is not a repeat thread, rather a thread that is from a different point of view so please do not lock this thread for that purpose. Also I am aware (from a few years ago) that a majority of the mods are atheists and again I please ask that you do not use your power to make the debate unfair and you work with me to keep it on the right track as to not let it just become a giant hate flame war. I know mods in the past have, well to be blunt, have been flat out rude when it comes to topics like this which in turns creates an atmosphere for unintelligent debates. So let's just keep this one on the right path.
Alright now on to the second part of the resolution: To fully win this debate the following answers must be answered with compelling evidence or at least a substantial amount of them. I have made a wide scope of logical questions to be answered and I don't find a single one of them ridiculous even if you disagree they still must be negated.
1. Explain how some eternal random chance of quantum physics which would have to schematically predate time itself randomly burst forth such a force to create a start to everything out of nothing 2. How did we get something out of nothing 3. How did we get the carbon to form to start the building blocks of life 4. How did earth randomly become the only suitable place for a human being to live and how did it become so perfectly adapted to an orbit around a G2V superstar that would freeze us into an ice age if we were simply 1 or 2 light years further away or burn us to death if we were simply 1 or 2 light years closer. 5. How did the random chance of Earth being the only sustainable place for life occur, and if 6 billion years or more have passed why haven't we seen the same occurrence in other planets or at least the start of it? 6. How do you explain the beginning of time itself? 7. When, where, and how did the laws of the universe form and come about? (gravity, inertia, etc.) 8. Where did the matter come from to make life? How did life come to form from dead matter to living matter. 9. How did the matter get so perfectly organized and where did the energy come from to organize it? 10. What did the first cell capable of sexual reproduction reproduce? Since it would be asexual reproduction how do several single cell organisms develop into something completely different? 11. Why would any plant or animal want to reproduce more of its kind since this would only make more mouths to feed and decrease the chances of survival according to Darwin's theory of natural selection. 12. Does the individual animal or plant have a drive to survive, or the species in whole? How is this explained? 13. Natural selection only works with the genetic information available and tends only to keep a species stable. How would you explain the increasing complexity in the genetic code that must have occurred if evolution were true? 14. When, where, why, and how did single-celled plants and animals become multi-celled? Where are the two-and three- celled intermediates? Where has the REAL missing link been found and not already disproven? Wouldn't there have to be several hundreds of missing links for each species to develop (from fish to amphibians, amphibians to reptiles, reptiles to birds or simians) and if there are so many that wouldn't it be simple to find at least a few? 15. When did eyes or ears evolve and from what did they evolve from?
Satirical humor might seem funny to you such as "Oh you are very smart aren't you! I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster/Invisible Pink Unicorn/Cold fire-breathing Garage Dragon too! It makes just as much sense as your invisible God! You're unintelligent and ignorant and I can't debate with someone as stupid and crazy as you because you believe differently than I do and I am significantly smarter than you." But the truth of the matter is; it's very offensive to me and I believe all the other Christians or theist on these forums that have to endure troll comments like this. I have not insulted you (maybe my views have) but I have not made fun of you or ridiculed you for your beliefs or commented on your intelligence. I hold myself to be a respectable man, and I won't stoop to the level of insulting a person for their beliefs. I am judging no one for their beliefs and I agree that every single individual is entitled to their own opinions and it does not make them any more unintelligible than me for believing something different. So making a remark about being a Pastatarian or challenging my intelligence is just rude and uncalled for and I hope no one will go to such lengths as being unprofessional over a complex debate.
As I am completely aware (being a Christian over the years) the biggest thing creationists are antagonized for is their "blind faith" for their religion of "gaps". I agree that I have much faith in God as a supernatural being that I cannot see who created everything we see today, but the evidence is purely in statistics and although this debate is not encompassing that directly; it's leading to my next point. That what it is that amazes me the most is the total denunciation of faith by the scientific community when they so do it themselves. How so? The fact that they try to just take it a step further past a divine creator, and look at the beginning of time an unanswerable question that just has to be assumed as a theorem. That alone, takes a great deal of faith to believe in something that honestly can't be proven or any logical argument would lead to an infinite loop that is really just not rational either. The argument will presumably take a turn to who created a creator which is not the main focus of this debate but to make this clear. The reason there is no need for a creator of the creator then the reason the creation needs a creator is like this example: Leonardo Da Vinci created the Mona Lisa in 1519. Yet according to this same exact theory, who created Da Vinci? So "let's just take it a step further and say" that the Mona Lisa created itself out of nothing. Whereas actually if we DO have evidence of design then it doesn't matter where did that object come from. Since we know that the Mona Lisa painting is designed and likewise we can't avoid the design inference by asking who made the painting. Similarly *IF* we can show that universe has design then you can't escape the inference by asking "Who made the designer?". Thus "who made god" may be a good counter to the cosmological argument but not so a good in the case of design arguments. Thus as stands a world created by intelligent design will remain the status quo for the entirety of this debate.
Also, you do realize that America is a Christian nation founded on freedom. What Atheists are not trying to eliminate Religion in State, they are trying to eliminate Christianity and state.
But seriously, America is NOT a Christian nation, nor was it founded on Christianity. It was founded on the hope for freedom, certainly. Oh can you get your persecution complex checked out? It's rather annoying and seems to blind you to the truth.
@314d1 Abortion is more of a issue on choice and morals...
@ Avorne Lol'd at WRONG... persecution complex, little harsh don't you think :/?
All im really sayin' is that there is no proof for the Atom being there by the hands of Homer Simpson or the Kool- Aid guy or Spongebob. Any theory must be acceptable for the placing of the atom because there is no way to prove it otherwise.
1. Explain how some eternal random chance of quantum physics which would have to schematically predate time itself randomly burst forth such a force to create a start to everything out of nothing 2. How did we get something out of nothing 3. How did we get the carbon to form to start the building blocks of life 4. How did earth randomly become the only suitable place for a human being to live and how did it become so perfectly adapted to an orbit around a G2V superstar that would freeze us into an ice age if we were simply 1 or 2 light years further away or burn us to death if we were simply 1 or 2 light years closer. 5. How did the random chance of Earth being the only sustainable place for life occur, and if 6 billion years or more have passed why haven't we seen the same occurrence in other planets or at least the start of it? 6. How do you explain the beginning of time itself? 7. When, where, and how did the laws of the universe form and come about? (gravity, inertia, etc.) 8. Where did the matter come from to make life? How did life come to form from dead matter to living matter. 9. How did the matter get so perfectly organized and where did the energy come from to organize it? 10. What did the first cell capable of sexual reproduction reproduce? Since it would be asexual reproduction how do several single cell organisms develop into something completely different? 11. Why would any plant or animal want to reproduce more of its kind since this would only make more mouths to feed and decrease the chances of survival according to Darwin's theory of natural selection. 12. Does the individual animal or plant have a drive to survive, or the species in whole? How is this explained? 13. Natural selection only works with the genetic information available and tends only to keep a species stable. How would you explain the increasing complexity in the genetic code that must have occurred if evolution were true? 14. When, where, why, and how did single-celled plants and animals become multi-celled? Where are the two-and three- celled intermediates? Where has the REAL missing link been found and not already disproven? Wouldn't there have to be several hundreds of missing links for each species to develop (from fish to amphibians, amphibians to reptiles, reptiles to birds or simians) and if there are so many that wouldn't it be simple to find at least a few? 15. When did eyes or ears evolve and from what did they evolve from?
I'm just gonna answer all these as a pack... ASK SCIENCE science is the what i think is one of the main reasons atheism is still around. God made us first...(christianity) science proves that this is wrong because we EVOLVED. Then there is the saying the "gods love pulls us back to earth when we jump" i think that gravity solved that one for us. religion is more or less another king up there telling us whats right to do and what's wrong to do. Some people need to know that wrongdoers get punished eventualy so that made hell. and i'm fresh outa arguments so ima post
@314d1 Abortion is more of a issue on choice and morals...
So those guys standing out front of the abortion clinics holding signs with Jeebuz on them are Muslim then? Or those guys who attacked the abortion clinic did it for Jewish reasons?
All im really sayin' is that there is no proof for the Atom being there by the hands of Homer Simpson or the Kool- Aid guy or Spongebob. Any theory must be acceptable for the placing of the atom because there is no way to prove it otherwise.
You don't accept a theory for the lack of evidence of others. You accept a theory for its own merits.
But the idea itself is mind-blowing, that our universe was once smaller than small... Any scientific idea for the placement of the atom i would love to hear, it is so mystifying and is the main flaw of the Big Bang theory, how did the atom get there?
* Also this thread isn't about abortion but, i personally don't think it is right to destroy the unborn
* Also this thread isn't about abortion but, i personally don't think it is right to destroy the unborn
Revive the old abortion one if you wish, as it is perfectly morally to destroy non human life.
But the idea itself is mind-blowing, that our universe was once smaller than small... Any scientific idea for the placement of the atom i would love to hear, it is so mystifying and is the main flaw of the Big Bang theory, how did the atom get there?
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I think the current theory is that it was always there. Now tell me, if there was a god, how did it get there?
The answer seems too obvious, as he just created it. It had to have had a beginning, everything had a beginning. In fact, I think that God would be more qualified to do such a thing as anyone...
The argument will presumably take a turn to who created a creator which is not the main focus of this debate
Looks like you knew where your failing was before you started. If this is not just another is/isnt creator debate then why is it aimed at atheists? Surely this could be a challenging question for all involved.
Your tone is infallible, for that I salute you. Your method is not. Seeing a learned man try to argue why blind faith is ok and then accuse scientists of the same leap of faith speaks volumes to me about your attitude to a debate.
The answer seems too obvious, as he just created it. It had to have had a beginning, everything had a beginning. In fact, I think that God would be more qualified to do such a thing as anyone...
Didn't start with one tiny atom, it started with a singularity. As for how it got there or even if it was always there, we don't know. however not knowing doesn't mean "God did it" is the default position. Just because we don't currently have an answer doesn't mean you get to claim it was by magic.
Where's your proof that god doesn't exist?
You can't prove a negative. You can't prove something does not exist, you can only prove something does. If something doesn't exist there will be no proof to find. So if there is no proof than it's reasonable to assume it doesn't exist.
Ahh, because scientists knows what causes wind. You are not answering my question, how do you think that one tiny atom got there?
At one point we didn't have such an explanation and the wind was attributed to "God did it". Inserting "God did it" when ever we run into an unknown is called a god of the gaps argument and is a fallacy.
they are trying to eliminate Christianity and state.
Yeah it's not like we have a legal and political principle separating church and state or anything... >_>
Any theory must be acceptable for the placing of the atom because there is no way to prove it otherwise.
A scientific theory is based on observation and evidence, and repeatable testing. So if there is nothing for us to go on then there would be no theories. We can however have hypotheses, which is an educated guess. Again not just accepting any claim 'just because' but again based on observation. Current observations have yet to yield a deity so a hypothesis claiming "God did it" wouldn't really be an acceptable one right now.
The answer seems too obvious, as he just created it. It had to have had a beginning, everything had a beginning. In fact, I think that God would be more qualified to do such a thing as anyone.
Then you think God had a beginning? If God is more qualified to answer these things then he is more then welcome to come over to my place for a visit and answer those questions. Until God decides to show himself I will stick to the stuff that is demonstraitable and is yielding answers to the best of our abilities.
Well, if you think about it, when God created the earth, he also created time, logic, and everything else we take for granted or refer to as "laws of nature". so God lived and lives outside of time itself so he could never have a beginning or an end because se is not apart of human time.
Well, if you think about it, when God created the earth, he also created time, logic, and everything else we take for granted or refer to as "laws of nature". so God lived and lives outside of time itself so he could never have a beginning or an end because se is not apart of human time.