Dear Neil deGrasse Tyson – Mother Nature exists, but God doesn’t?

 

Most scientists say that there is no evidence that “ GOD “ exists, including Albert Einstein, whose many statements regarding God have been documented. I truly respect what Einstein has contributed to our collective (a yucky word!) knowledge of the Universe. But anyone who thinks that he was a believer is uninformed. I won’t clutter this article with his quotes. However, I might quote other true and also alleged scientists.

For instance, a tweet from a modern day progressive science-hero, Neil deGrasse Tyson:

“Mother Nature has been genetically modifying organisms for nearly four-billion years. Farmers for ten-thousand years.”

Really? Can Mother Nature be seen with a telescope? Microscope? Oscilloscope?

[“Sure! Mother Nature can be seen in everything.”] But, God can’t?

Mr. Tyson, according to Patheos, a progressive secular humanist web site, in a “CBS web exclusive”:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2017/05/neil-degrasse-tyson-says-no-evidence-gods-existence/

Neil deGrasse Tyson Finds No Evidence For God’s Existence

            Tyson replied:

The more I look at the universe, the less convinced I am that there is something benevolent going on…

… I look at disasters that afflict Earth, and life on Earth: volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, disease, pestilence, congenital birth defects. You look at this list of ways that life is made miserable on Earth by natural causes, and I just ask, “How do you deal with that?”

So philosophers rose up and said, “If there is a God, God is either not all powerful or not all good.”

I have no problems if, as we probe the origins of things, we bump into the Bearded Man. If that shows up, we good to go! Okay? Not a problem.

There’s just no evidence of it.

And this is why religions are called “faiths” collectively. Because you believe something in the absence of evidence. That’s what it is! That’s why it’s called “faith”! Otherwise we would call all religions “evidence,” but we don’t, for exactly that reason.

Watch the full segment in the video below:

This is not the first time Tyson has gently and diplomatically denied the existence of God. Indeed, Tyson has made an art form out of quietly denying God’s existence while never outing himself as an atheist.

Oh, really? “…quietly denying God’s existence…? “…while never outing himself as an atheist…? Does CBS actually think that Christians and Jews do not recognize atheistic, humanist, and anti-God speech and journalistic bias? How about the Huffington-Puffington Post?

In an interview with Huffington Post in 2014, while promoting his then new television series Cosmos, the celebrated scientist gently argued that there is no evidence for the Judeo Christian god. At the time Tyson gave a remarkably similar answer to his recent response to CBS:
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2017/05/neil-degrasse-tyson-says-no-evidence-gods-existence/#ytwYoetbmPlK7J3u.99

Tyson’s “remarkably similar” response is also remarkably similar to the beliefs of another popular expert on science—who really isn’t a scientist:

Bill Nye On Belief In God: Explains How And Why He Is Agnostic …

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/bill-nye-on-belief-in-god_n_4645891.html

Jan 22, 2014 – Host Josh Zepps relayed a question from a community member that asked Bill Nye if he believed in God. Watch the video above to see Bill …

Bill Nye, “The Science Guy”, is not a believer. I, personally, hope and pray often that there is a God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus Christ Yeshua Ha-Mashiach –

I wouldn’t mind seeing proof of “MOTHER NATURE’, but she isn’t mentioned in The Bible, the Pentateuch, or any other ancient documents, as far as I know. Does she fit into the physics’ Standard Model? Where is she, Mr. Tyson?

Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, seems to constantly speak in the kind of generalities favored by astrologers. Scorpio: Today you will have an opportunity to make an enemy or a friend. Your attitude may be the deciding factor.

No kidding? I’m in trouble, then.

I prefer physicists who talk about classic and quantum mechanics, and non-locality, because they’re the ones who will never say that God doesn’t exist. They are incredibly intelligent people, but they will admit that there is a whole bunch of stuff (technical term) that remains outside observable qualia.

As I have previously stated, my research for my third novel, Spectrum and Principalities, led me into the venues of physics, neurology, anatomy, philosophy—and, theology, of course. I already stated that “Science” has convinced me that there is no observable-measurable evidence of spirits, paranormal events, miracles, near-death experiences, a survivable soul, or of, in Mr. Tyson’s words, “The Man in a Beard.”

Does “Mother Nature” have a beard? Mustache? Regardless, here’s a preview of one of the premises in my #4 novel:

If God doesn’t exist, then what is the value of a man’s life? George Washington has many statues—which may be destroyed by those who hate our country and its history. But, I digress. If there is no survivable soul, no eternal resurrection, and only ashes, dust, and worms’ meat, then what good are statues? How does Mr. Tyson and history judge George Washington’s next door neighbor? (What was his name?) George’s pets? His slaves? The first soldier lost under his command? The last one?

I appreciate statues honoring history, including those of Dr. Martin Luther King and Thomas Jefferson. Their lives had and have meaning. I also believe that the only way their lives have eternal meaning is if there is an eternity. Are the lives of unknown soldiers, unknown neighbors, unknown pets, and all unknown deceased human beings without eternal value?

If this life is all there is, and if Mother Nature has the final say, then why…? I can’t decide what question to ask. What difference does it make? Oh, maybe that’s the question.

Nope. There has to be a question which either proves God’s existence or proves otherwise. I need to find that question. Any suggestions?

 

 

Big Bang and Predestination – a layman’s opinion

 

Boom!

Without any Critique of Pure Reasoning-like preamble, I will start by stating that I believe that it is possible—perhaps probable—that our Universe is a wholly predestined, super deterministic, living Creation.

Simply put, I believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is omniscient—and all of those other omni attributes—and he exists in and around our 4-Dimensional Space-Time Continuum. He is not subject to the Arrow(s) of Time, Classic or Quantum Laws of Physics or Mechanics, or any other Standard Models. God is the only First Cause. He is own Material (Formal), Efficient, and Final Cause—although I personally question the “change” or “changing” aspects of these last three causes as espoused by Aquinas and almost everybody else.

Since many Christians agree with the above, why is there not a consensus as to cosmological, eschatological, and theological ramifications? A systematic theology sheds a lot of burdensome baggage when the starting point is total deference to God’s Will, and, His Plan.

If God exists around the Universe, He sees the beginning, middle, and the end. In fact, I’m assuming apriori that He created the whole mess. That super piece of something-or-another which exploded into…well, everything, had a pretty amazing design and fabrication process. The DNA of the Universe did, is, and will determine each and every event, right up until the final curtain.

If all of this is true, Free Will must be an illusion, right? My answer: Yes! And, no.

You see, the thing is, it cannot be denied that Man enjoys choices every waking moment. However, it is possible—probable, in my opinion—that God so precisely designed this Big Bang bundle of joy that even human nature was/is mapped. Characters in this unique “living” novel are never going to actually surprise the Author and change themselves, much less the ending. Like an alcoholic who tells himself every morning that he will not take a drink tonight, it is a futile fantasy. However, if God chose to program some means of intervention and (hopefully successful) treatment, then that is exactly what will happen. If not, then it won’t happen.

“Then why should we bother trying to_____ [fill in the blank], if everything has been decided already?”

Of course I could ramble on and on about the implications and immediate questions, but I’m simply offering, as have others before me, something to think about. Maybe my/our idea is the Grand Unification Theory of Physics and Systematic Theology. This concept certainly claims an explanation for “everything.” Everything is wholly, and Holy, God’s Will (or, His Plan).

I will conclude by addressing one of those immediate questions—maybe two. Why in the world would God do that? What’s the point?

My answer is this: Because He can, first of all. Secondly, right before He does it all again, He will first gather everyone together and say, “Do you see me now? Do you understand why I only gave one commandment in the beginning? A few more wouldn’t have made any difference, would they? Do you see what is important, and what is not? So, if I give you a new-improved body, plus true free will, now, and an eternity to exercise it, what will you choose? How will you live? Or, would you prefer, because of your obstinate pride and anger, to not be a part of My Kingdom? Would you rather take the second death? This time, you really get to make the decision.”

Human nature is never changed by Humans. Never.

Before you get all huffy and make your list of examples which say otherwise, think about whether or not any one item can be said to have surprised God. Also, for those who rely heavily on God’s ability to “foresee” or “predict,” both imply “not really knowing.” In Mark 3:14, Jesus didn’t just predict that Peter was going to really mess up. He stated the hour of the day, the number of times Peter would deny Him, and the exact number of times that rooster would crow. That is “knowing” and “seeing” that hour, not predicting what could happen. Jesus didn’t arrange for an angel to go kick the rooster at 9:45 A.M. on Friday morning, or, as soon as Peter denied Jesus three times.

Wait! Then again, maybe He did. But, if He did, he arranged it before the Big Bang.

Just my opinion. And, I was predestined to give it.

Addendum: To hopefully appease a friend(s), I’ve realized that I need to speak more about this post.

Heck, I don’t know.  My Super-Deterministic Predestination sounds cruel. I can dig that. The number one, two, and infinite questions: 1 – Then what good is Prayer?

Well, what good is eating broccoli if you might die in a head-on crash with some Liberty Mutual auto insurance customer? What good is taking a shower if you ain’t goin’ anywhere? My stupid dog don’t care–I think. The point is, there are a whole bunch of things God tells us to do because He knows they are good for us, and, he knows we need guidance. So what if He already knows who, which of us will listen?

My reason for positing this theory of mine, and of many Christian scholars, is simple. Either God is transcendent of Time or he isn’t. Either He is is Omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, or He isn’t. If He is stuck in our Arrow of Time, watching His Creation develop, and having to periodically nudge the bowling ball back onto the lane, then please be advised that He must not “know” how many pins we are going to knock down. [“But He is in control! He’ll knock down how ever many pins He desires.”] Or, [“We have Free Will. It’s our game. When He gets tired of our poor bowling skills, He will turn off the lights.”] Nope, and nope.

Biblical and Divine prophesy isn’t like Madam Marie Deveaux’s crystal ball or tarot cards. It isn’t like Washington, D.C. and MSM pundits predicting a Hillary victory, or a stock market crash if Trump wins.

If God exists outside and around Time, then He sees the beginning, middle, and end. Moreover, He created all of it/them. It’s a done deal. God isn’t constantly checking His watch to see how much longer He has to put up with this nonsense. He doesn’t have a watch.

Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

And that whole Jacob and Esau thing, before they were born. My JW friends told me that it was because God could look into and at their DNA and predict everything they would do. Really? Predict? He created their DNA. He also designed and created their entire lives. He sees the end of their lives at the same time He sees them in the womb–before that, actually.

Lastly, scientists say that there is no evidence of spirits, souls, angels, demons, or anything that can’t be explained by natural processes. I believe them, up to a point.

However, they, and me and we, live in a 4-D Space-Time Continuum. It’s a pretty incredible and really Yuge place. “Science” continues to do an amazing job of mapping it all out-almost all of it. There is still some dispute as to what happens in the end.

I think God doesn’t need to predict. He knows. He wrote the Book. That’s Predestination, I think. I don’t know.

The working title of my next novel-a direct sequel to #3-is Proof of God. I have two ideas. The first is related to all of those ontological, teleological, and Aquinas’ Five Ways-kind of stuff. But the second will be a plain old logic sort of premise. If anyone has any suggestions (positive, kind, serious, non-profane), I’d be happy for help.

 

 

Non-locality

In Spectrum and Principalities I wanted to feature a concept that served as a subtle backdrop in River Spirits and Ocala Spring, namely spiritism. ‘RS’ had two angels appearing in the beginning, midway point, and the end. ‘OC’  had the two eagles, representing the victims of a senseless double homicide.

While researching Spectrum‘s premise–J.J.’s neurological architecture–I had to learn as much as I could about the human brain and central nervous system, the human visual spectrum, and the body’s chemical and electromagnetic processes. That was expected going in. But I quickly realized that, in order to have J.J. see auras around people and independent energy fields, which could be spirits, I also had to study physics and paranormal accounts–an odd couple, for sure. I had no expectation of becoming a theoretical physicist who could discover the Grand Unification Theory for Classic and Quantum physics. That will happen in my fourth novel, Proof of God. Nor did I intend to try to drive around LA and score some LSD. But I had to read several books on The Mind-Body Question, a few more on near-death accounts, out-of-body experiences, visions, premonitions, religious or other epiphanies, hallucinations, and all paranormal topics. In philosophy, it was necessary to revisit past interests in Free Will vs. Predestination and Proofs of God. In physics, I knew I had to dig deeper into one of my OCD pet subjects–Bell’s Theorem. Specifically, if I wanted to hang my premise on a scientific hat rack, I had to pursue nonlocality, wherever it might lead me.

I enjoyed the chase! I did not become an expert in anything. But I learned a whole bunch of cool stuff! One of the things I learned is that most neurologists, neuron-anatomists, and, most scientists, academicians, and intellectuals believe that everything that happens can be explained in terms of natural electromagnetic and chemical processes. Never, they say, has anyone demonstrated observable or certifiable proof of any paranormal experience. All of those passionate accounts of near death experiences, or ghostly visitations, visual premonitions, telepathic communications–all of that psychic nonsense!–are nothing more than hallucinations created by and within the human brain. There is no independent reality attributable to those events. Nada.

I became convinced that their arguments (against) were unquestionably valid.

Worse, “science” says that if there were something (substance or medium, atomic or force) in the human brain–or anywhere else in the body–which might survive death, then they would be able to know it, see it (in the Large Hadron Collider), or, at least come up with possible new Standard Model of physics. They can’t. It ain’t there. So, where does that leave us, we people who talk about spirits and souls and resurrection?

There are two categories for laws of physics: classic physics (classical mechanics) and atomic physics (quantum mechanics). Angels and demons and ghosts and bright lights at the end of a tunnel are nowhere to be found, neither in observation nor in theory. Darn the luck! And theories (and beliefs) never turn into scientific laws just because folks want them to. It has to be experimentally observable, or, mathematically calculable.

Everything in the Universe is discussed in terms of fields, waves, forces, particles, dark matter, black holes and worm holes, locality and nonlocality, Closed End or Open End. Not much time, these days, is spent on trying to figure out where God is hiding, if he exists. A shame.

But I’m telling you, that nonlocality thing is big trouble for the scientists. They had discussed the idea before Einstein. And Einstein, himself, said something like (I’m paraphrasing here), “Oh, hell no. That ain’t happening, dude.” But it did happen. John Bell proved it in 1965. Now, first of all, nonlocality essentially turned classical Newtonian physics on its head. Even the quantum people didn’t know what to do with it at first. Most of them tried to ignore the threat. Now they spend a lot of time trying to see if nonlocality can be used to transmit signals, data, something useful. Meh.

What is nonlocality? It is, as Einstein called it, spooky actions at a distance. It is an entanglement of particles, which once developed, continues to exist when separated, regardless of distance or time. It proves superluminal speeds, although the concept of “speed” doesn’t even really apply at that point. If a particle turns green in Miami, then its entangled particle-mate, floating somewhere a thousand light years away, turns green also–instantaneously. Try and explain that by laws of cause and effect.

In my learned opinion, or rather, in my humble and naive opinion, this nonlocality thing is a glimpse of how God works–in a completely Closed End, super-deterministic, predestined, and precisely created Universe. But that’s a whole ‘nother story, a horse of a different color.

My point is, these scientist and physics types are incredibly smart people. Try reading a book about theoretical physics. Sheesh! But there are some things they don’t know, yet–like: What links the Quantum Arrow of Time to the thermodynamic arrow?  That will have to wait until Book #5.

Maybe the Universe, the 4-D Space-Time Continuum, the Arrow(s) of Time, and all creatures contained within, represent an incredible science project designed by God. When the End comes, as planned, He will have no problem reassembling the parts and pieces. elements, and DNA again. It’s all in His mind. Only this time, He can gather everyone together and say, ‘Do you now see Me? Do you now get what I was trying to tell you?’ Plus, this time He incorporates some new, really cool everlasting materials into his creatures. No shelf life and no more unavoidable design flaws. *They were unavoidable because the ‘creature’ is/was necessarily imperfect. But Jesus provided the mechanism for reconciliation–the only way the Perfect could exist forever with the imperfect. He can invite anyone whom He chooses.

*True Free Will begins at that point in time–although, Time sort of loses its powers.

But I have digressed. Do angels and demons exist? I think so. I saw one (angel), a long time ago. I have met a few demonic spirits. In every case, their presence was my fault. Entanglements come in many forms–and spirits. Some are local. Some are, I hope, non-local. They’re the one’s which will last forever, regardless of Time and Space.

*(recommended for you) “How Great Thou Art” duet by Carrie Underwood & Vince Gill