Discussions on God and the universe

My views are that God created the universe, and that He is active in its day to day functioning.

heehee, it is discussion

What is so funny about that?

 i like saying hehe, is that a promblem?

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

'Beginning' implies the begining of time.

'heaven' is all space.

'earth' is all matter.

God is outside of time, space, and matter, and therefore, untestable by science.

Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Since God is untestable, the only way I can learn about God is by direct revelation.  I must decide is God truthful or not and therefore can I believe his revelation or not.  I have trusted God many years.  He has never abused my trust.  In fact, he has done things I never imagined for my greater good so that I have learned to trust him more and more.  I believe God is truthful and I trust his revelation. 

Moses asked basically who are you.  He actually asked who do I say sent me.  God reveals he is self-existant.  No one created him.  I AM says it all.

John 8:57-59 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?  58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.  59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Jesus revealed that he was God by calling himself 'I am' also.  Jesus was not created but is self-existant.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The Word is God.  The Word made all things.  Keep reading John...

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

...and we see the the Word is another name for Jesus.  Again, he is self-existant and created all things.

To non-Christians this is a mystery:  Jesus is God manifest in the flesh.

 I Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Universe is a combination of 'uni' meaning single or one and 'verse' meaning spoken sentence.  Literally 'the universe (everything) is a single spoken sentence.'  The structure of that sentence is revealed in Genesis chapter 1.  'And God said let there be...'

Interesting.... you make a good argument.

I still don't like the idea that there is only God, heaven and the universe in all of existence. It's too simple.

I agree with Po218 on all his points.

D_Plew, how can you say that the only having the universe and God is simple?  We can't even begin to comprehend either of them.  The universe is so so large and dynamically diverse that scientists can't explain it, and God is so amazing and mysterious that our simple logic can't possibly comprehend Him.  This is more than enough to convince me that the existence of the universe and God is infinitely greater than simple.

I believe that in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, and that God is functioning in the welfare of the earth today, just like Seth (snprook).

D_Plew, my argument is this: how can it be "too simple"?  What are the justifications of how simple and how complicated the universe and the creation should be?  What are the requirements?  Exactly when does a theory become too simple?  The answers to these questions are your justifications and the foundation on which your ideas of simplicity and complexity are based, and yet they are unanswerable.  Your logic is unsound.  The Bible says God made the universe with a word.  You disagree with the Bible.  If you don't believe a certain part of the Bible, how can you be sure of any of it?

snrprook: God and the universe may be infinately complex, but they are still only four words\ 3 words and a name.

edsnotofthisworld: give me one example of a machine that works containing only two elementary components. You will undoubtedly argue that these are inexact parrellles, but all that is contained in this universe must be based on some sort of fundamental concepts of metaphysical existence.

You are talking about machines and science-God is not a part of nature.  He is supra-natural and omnipotent, and thus can create the universe however He sees fit.  Please re-read Po128's first comment.

Again I ask the question, if you do not believe one part of the Bible, how can you believe any of it?

Yes, there are only 4 words in the area in question, but while they are only 4 words in breadth, their depth can not be possibly described in words.  Also, with regard to your machine comparison.  Yes a machine may only have two visible working parts, but the inner workings are relatively mysterious to people.

Firstly, what part of the bible is it that you say I don't beleive? Secondly, just because there is more to existence than God and the universe doesn't mean that God is any less than omnipotent, etc. Thirdly, there are not really any logical steps that I took to reach my conclusion. It is mostly based on intuition. Two steps does not feel like enough.

What else do you think there is?

something big.