Ok that's fine. On a separate note, let me ask this question and while it may come off as sounding mean, it is not how it may look. Do you think that such a person in Hawkings state would be simply angry about it and therefore by his own quote that a Heaven "probably" doesn't exist (which he is admitting that even he himself doesn't know) is because he doesn't want to believe that a god of some sort would allow him to be in his very sad physical state? Is it perhaps just slightly possible?
From what I have read I would say categorically no Hawking views his physical condition as being one of those things. He was equipped with one of the most formidable minds ever so his advice of "make the best of the one life you get" is him practicing what he preaches
Or maybe he's just not so gullible to believe in a fairy tale. The entire idea of heaven/hell is one of the most obvious religious fabrications. It's just so manipulative - if you do what we say, you get to spend all eternity in a wonderful paradise, where all your dead relatives will be there to greet you. And if you don't do what we say, you'll burn for all eternity. It's like when you tell a kid their dead dog has gone to a farm where he can have lots of room to run around in. Except people grow up and realise that their parents were lying to them about the farm.
As finite creatures we will always have a tricky time grasping the infinite...but we keep striving nonetheless. As a VERY simple example look at disease. Taking a dogmatic view from any religion you can say "it is the will of *deity of choice*" and spend your time currying favor with said deity. Taking an atheistic view and you look at the cause of the disease and how to cure it and in many cases prevent it altogether Which approach benefits society and humanity more? Obviously there is not always an "either or" situation in these cases, but for all the decrying of "science" and "ignoring God" that is shouted from between gnashed teeth they overlook the fact that it has done more for the benefit of humanity than ANY religion (mine included)
On what Hannibal said about Noah, here is a link about the ancient greek myth of Deucalion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deucalion . It's basically the same story. Zeus wasn't satisfied with humans and he decided to kill them and only Deucalion and his wife made it thanks to Prometheus inside information about the catastrophe that was to come. The thing is that the ancient nations of this area (Southeast Europe-Western part of Asia) where in touch with each other for many years through trade and immigration and so their cultures had many cross overs. The story of Noah, the belief of the existence of paradise and heaven, even the story of Christ is based on myths of other cultures. God Horus of Egypt ,god Mithra of Mesopotamia and Greek god Dionysus are all parallels to Jesus of Israel.
Flood stories are common throughout the world. The local native tribe here, the Lakota, have a flood story. They had no contact with the middle east in ancient times so it isn't borrowed from another culture. To me it seems logical that these stories arise because throughout history there have been occasional flooding that wiped out vast areas. If the world known to you consists of a few hundred square miles then from the survivors perspective the "whole world" was flooded.
SIB, google the Hubble deep field images. Each of those images covers a section equal to the area that would be covered by holding up a quarter at arm's length. They look like pictures with a whole bunch of stars. The cool thing is each one of those stars is really a galaxy. And you thing this one little planet orbiting one small star out in the boonies of one average galaxy is home to god's chosen people. Wow.
Which also begs the question "why make all the other planets?" - were they the bits left over? Like piles of cosmic play doh?
I just thought of the one (highly unlikely but not unthinkable) event that could convince me God might exist. If Aliens from another star system show up and they look exactly like us, I might start buying into the 'made in His image' crap.
awake without faith... so you're actually still asleep... stuck in the great matrix of what all the little science men tell you lol.
See this is exactly why people get annoyed with you SiB - you can't just go ad hominem when there are pertinent and relevant points that need addressing for the purposes of discussion. It's another reason christianity gets a bum rap Science does not claim to have all the answers; religion does There is again no harm is resting in the "I don't know" position - scientists do it all the time. When the leap goes from "I don't know...therefore God" you are entering into logically dangerous territory Religion is a journey of personal gnosis; science is a method use to benefit all regardless of belief
Why don't you tell us what reality is? Since you yourself seem to have all the answers. How do you know this is reality. Ask a schizophrenic what reality is, ask someone who is deemed mentally retarded... they don't know, nor care what reality is... they make their own reality. I love how people just condemn the whole religion thing comes up and people just love to jump all over it with no real proof of their own. Did anyone ever think that the Flood "stories" might all be what the Bible is speaking of? How do you know if not?
So the bible is allegoric then and not the literal word of a divine being? It seems like we are jumping on you - well in a way we kind of are - but the problem you have is that you are being definitive without any reason to be so.
