I'm in my mid-thirties, and I was reading earlier about what we learn as we age by decades. Science says that in our thirties we are "learning who we are? Why we are here? Asking the purpose in our lives." Forties is pretty much grounding that purpose as it grows. Fifties we found it but finding ways to cope with our decline, and so forth.
I learned a lot of things from both Catholicism and Buddhism when it comes to purpose of life and "the need for a god."
With Catholicism, I learned the purpose of life is through community and sacrifice in servant to others. In Buddhism I learned that we need to accept things change, we change from one generation to the next, and our values change as we get older. We need to be comfortable (core teachings) with suffering: birth, age, sickness, and death.
We have to understand that in life we are not
given a purpose from an outside party. We are taught, raised with, adopted, or grown into a purpose we developed for ourselves. Whether it be through the Bible or self reflection, but everything comes from us, how we interpret life, and how we connect the dots.
With that said...
There is nothing wrong with science itself. The Creator is the originator of science and everything that science studies. It is evolutionary science that is at issue. This is pseudo-science IMO. It takes what science knows to be true and stretches it to the most unbelievable limits. It isn't what science knows that is the problem...it is what it suggests beyond the boundaries of what it knows.
Evolutionary science (the study of change in environment and species) is just the study of change and things growing or evolving from one stage to the next. When I was in geology class, we touched on "coming from aps" but it wasn't put that we came from aps. It was put that we evolved from what is called a lower species and we graduated to a higher more intelligent species. As human beings, we need to understand we, our flesh, are not spirits. We should stop attaching ourselves to our flesh (if one likes).
That's what I see you're doing with the accusation on evoluntary science. The fact is, we evolve. If the Creator made it be that we evolve from one species to another, however, interesting that is, who are we (to believers) to question how god created you and how you formed into who you are today?
What about your human body is so divine that you put down
theories of where our
bodies are from when science does not address who we are as spirit. Spirits always exist. They never die.
You're trimming the legs off the snake not addressing the entity possessing it.
What I learned in Catholicism is ditch all of that. Sacrifice (as what Jesus did) isn't about pointing fingers on how god created. In the Bible, take it literal or not, it isn't about the tools god use to create the world but how and more important the message you get that your
origin comes from god. Science is just a study of that origin. Evolution means nothing in comparison.
What I learned from Buddhism is that we do change, we are born, live, age, and we die. We need to stop being attached to our form/bodies and be more concerned with our spirits. I believe we came from water. That's what I've been taught. That's one of many
other theories science has came up with regarding our origin. I agree with it.
However, how does that put a threat to god when your origin, in my opinion, is only known by god. Once you seek out to know what god knows (climb to the sky to find god) you do the opposite of what god wants you to do and not do.
Buddhist taught me to be comfortable with
not knowing. On that note of not knowing...
No, science itself is marvelous! What is 'sinful' is to make science compete with God as to the reason for our existence.
If we simply evolved by a mindless undirected mechanism that has led us here.....what is the point of all this life?
I don't understand how science competes with god. If god is the creator of everything, nothing can compete with him not even in concept. It sounds like a form of attachment to human theories. Science has a lot of theories. Believers claim their beliefs are facts. That's why they conflict (in my head, at least).
Not knowing we need a purpose is actually a beautiful thing. In my 30s, I'm trying not to get trapped into "needing a purpose" because if that be the case, I'd be thrown on everyone else's purposes (god's included) without reflecting on who I am and my wants and needs. How do I identify with myself and so forth. That is the purpose: self-reflection. When you sacrifice yourself as Jesus (to translate), you reflect on his passion.
But if there is no god, that doesn't mean we have no purpose. It just means you have to use more brain energy (no pun) to understand life and what you cannot know. It means "giving up the ghost" and finding who you are by where you live, who you interact with, your blood, your ancestry, yourself. It means putting the "higher power" as a service to humanity as that is what the church is.
The purpose of life shouldn't have to be spoon fed. I know my ex friend would die without god and the church. She
needs to be spoon fed a belief in god that will take care of her. My co-worker is the same. Many people are. (Probably why people don't like to be questioned their beliefs here on RF).
You don't have to divorce your beliefs but if you can think of a minute what it would be like to think for yourself, can you think of something that defines you that is not sinful?
What is the purpose of the universe and our place in it?
This goes with above. We don't know. We have to accept that. Some of us need to be lead others are leaders. When it comes to science, I don't see that as part of the equation. I depend on my environment; and, to many who do, we do see our physical natural environment as "God" because our environment takes care of us. That's where we find our place. Not looking up at the stars but finding your grounding where you stand.
If this is all there is...."let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die".
Fun. Ain't it?
Do what the Romans do. Some people can live and find meaning in just these things others can't.
On the other hand, if there is a purpose in our existence and for the universe itself, then we need to know about it. The Creator has provided a manual so that we can know what happened in the past, explain the situation we are experiencing at present, and understand how to fit in with his plans for the future.
In my opinion and belief, the manual is life itself. It's here. It's me learning more about you and people on RF. It's me going into my career and working with people in the language I love and express myself in. It's my family. It's my ancestral spirits. It's my prayers. It's my depression. It's my illness. These things are all my "manual" for lie. When I reflect (as mentioned above) and understand these things, I am more grounded.
I tried reading the Bible and it made me physically sick. Not just because of the deaths in it. I rather read the Buddhist sutras if I went off of life and death morals, but because I am given life when in reality, I already have it to begin with. I don't need someone to die for me when everythign comes from me.
I use myself as a placeholder for some people in general. A lot of us don't have that need for a physical manual.
In regards to science, it just is. It is beautiful, I agree. I just find you're putting more emphasis on the people's flesh rather than the people's spirit.
