Life on Mars?

 

It’s likely you would have heard about the great excitement about the discovery of a large body of water under the surface of Mars, and the possibilities it creates for there being life on Mars.

But what is the reason for the great interest in finding life beyond earth?

Maybe to some people it would legitimise their belief that given the right conditions and enough time, life could spontaneously come into existence without the need of a Creator?

If life could spontaneously start on earth without the need for Divine involvement then surely it ought to have started elsewhere too.

The more widespread life is out there in the universe, the more it could seem to legitimize the possibility that life doesn’t need a God to create it.

On the flip side – a completely barren universe (apart from earth) would tend to legitimize the Bible account of Creator God. If life can spontaneously come into being, why hasn’t it done so elsewhere? Why earth only?

Therefore scientists with an atheistic bent are desperate to find life elsewhere. It NEEDS to find evidence of widespread universal life.

But from a Christian point of view there’s no need to discount the possibility of some kind of life elsewhere. God could very well have created life beyond the earth for purposes of His own.
An account of that life beyond earth isn’t necessarily relevant to his relationship with mankind so didn’t need to be revealed in scripture

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How Could a God of Love Allow…

This is a comment I saw on a news website in which the reality/identity/nature of God was being flippantly addressed in a featured article. Not surprisingly the following comments included a lot of snide, crude, “smart” and bigoted content; as well as the usual arguments trying to “prove” God’s non-existence.

I thought the following comment was worth addressing.
First the initial comment, then my reply to it.

Let’s take the Boxing Day tsunami, countless children ripped from their mothers arms, god could have stopped it if he wished but decided it was a good thing to let it continue.

I think it is impossible to reconcile this with the idea of a loving god.

.

That’s quite a leap isn’t it – projecting a moral determination onto God – that He decided it was a “good thing” merely because He didn’t stop it.

You also assume that a loving God SHOULD have stopped it.

But where do you get the idea that God is “loving” and that His love requires Him to wrap every single human being up in cocoon of safety so that nothing bad could ever happen to anyone?

Also, what makes you think that human safety ought to be His number one concern? And that if HE allows anything bad to happen to any human, then He’s either not loving or He doesn’t exist?

–

In addition to my original reply, I’d like to add the following:

Why should this particular event (the Tsunami of 2004) be considered as a greater challenge to our understanding and expectations related to God than any other event involving human tragedy?

Clearly the matter of scale makes it stand out, but bringing it down to the individual level, is it any more tragic for a family to lose a loved one in a large scale disaster than “merely” losing them in a smaller domestic accident?

How many (or how few) casualties do there need to be within a single event for God’s existence (as a loving God) to be widely questioned? And how relevant are those human expectations that lead someone to raise those questions?

Why is it that so many people can go through their day to day lives giving God no thought at all – but when something bad happens, He springs to their mind, often in a dismissive, accusatory way:

“How could a loving God allow… ?

Stephen Fry and “blasphemy”

I saw an article this morning: “Stephen Fry investigated by Irish police for alleged blasphemy” * and thought it appropriate to draw attention to two articles I posted in 2015 after Fry had made similar rants.

https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/self-aggrandising-foolishness-from-stephen-fry/

https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/the-calvinistic-athiests-attitude-to-god/

Personally I ‘m opposed to blasphemy laws. God is more than capable of facing the rants and ravings of wilfully ignorant fools.

 

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.

But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.
The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;

but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.

 

_____________________________

* https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/may/07/stephen-fry-investigated-by-irish-police-for-alleged-blasphemy

“The Bible’s Opinion of Atheists” a recommended article from Jeff Weddle.

A few months ago Peter Fitzsimons, former Rugby star now journalist and author, included a joke in his Sunday newspaper column. From memory it went something like this:
“How do you know when there’s an atheist in the room?
Don’t worry; he’ll soon let you know.”

The atheist Fitzsimons followed the joke with the exclamation “Ouch”, as recognition of his own guilt in that area.

Part of Jeff Weddle’s recent blog post “The Bible’s Opinion of Atheists” addresses this trait of so many atheists, while giving an insightful look at what the bible says about those who deny God’s existence.

Quotes from Jeff’s article:

I’m not too troubled by atheists. They rarely keep quiet about their atheism, which shows that even though they deny God, they can’t stop thinking about Him.

The wicked guy has to continue to tell himself and others there is no God, so he can appease his guilty conscience. He can’t shut up about denying God because his conscience continually reminds him of God and this forces him to deny God’s existence.

Complete article here:
https://antiitchmeditation.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/the-bibles-opinion-of-atheists/