Main Entry:
1faith
Pronunciation:
\ˈfāth\
Function:
noun
Inflected Form(s):
plural faiths \ˈfāths, sometimes ˈfāthz\
Etymology:
Middle English feith, from Anglo-French feid, fei, from Latin fides; akin to Latin fidere to trust — more at bide
Date:
13th century
1 a: allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1): fidelity to one's promises (2): sincerity of intentions
2 a (1): belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2): belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1): firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2): complete trust
3: something that is believed especially with strong conviction ; especially : a system of religious beliefs <the Protestant faith>

Your point? I'm not trying to be rude. I just didn't understand why you posted that.

I take it that "the universe is endless" means our universe undergoes cycles of expansion and contraction, birth and rebirth (because the universe is still expanding according to our latest theory that has been supported by observations).

The common response you'll get for "Who created God?" will be something like "He's beyond our understanding, so we don't question where He came from because we will/can never know". It's faith as Pedobear cited.

I am an agnostic who believes there is a higher being but doesn't follow an established religion because of that ignorant and vague explanation of God's origin. You can say I'm sitting on the fence and that my approach will be "when you discuss science, don't bring up God". For me, science is about using what we know to explain phenomena, not invoking something/someone that we can only believe exists without further support apart from conjectures and speculations. I no longer have a strong belief against "God" but I don't cite "God" in explaining something.

In science, apart from mathematics-related areas, I was taught not to "prove" a hypothesis, but only to "support" or "refute" it. That the experimental designs give overwhelming support for something doesn't mean it can't be overturned later. That something as wonderful as quantum mechanics has in it many mysteries kind of amuses me when I study it. There are just things you should not ask, or bother to ask in quantum mechanics. It's sometimes nicked "shut up and calculate" physics (but don't take it literally).

You may be interested in The Flat Earth Society that advocates biblical descriptions of the world by turning the modern scientific tools onto themselves (Einstein will rise from his grave if he read what they did to his relativity). Marvellous minds in the wrong can of thoughts. Seemingly convincing but fallacious at its core. Read and don't fall into their trap. It looks real. You just have to know where it's wrong. Enjoy. :D

That's the wonder of quantum mechanics. We know all of the answers until we are asked the questions.


(Just a joke, of course, sort of a Schrödinger's exam...)

I just like all your jokes. Seriously. LOL

Last semester, we studied the wave model of particles. In calculating the phase speed, the maths told us that it was faster than the speed of light, which our current understanding says is impossible. However, the group speed, which is consequential to that phase speed, turned out to be correct, which is the observed speed of the particle in classical physics. Quantum mechanists usually don't question why we have such an odd phase speed because all of the experiments conceivable (in order to see if this is true) will be affected by Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and rendered useless. We have the correct group speed and everything works, to a remarkable level of precision. We're happy. :D

EDIT: No, not really (in case people didn't see my sarcasm). We aren't happy but there's not much else we can do. Because quantum mechanics works and gives us results, we still use it until another better comes along.

Right now what believers suggest is since we cannot understand the universe i,e it is beyond our understanding, and because Science cannot (as of this moment) explain it, God created it. So, if the universe is beyond our understanding, why are you questioning it's existence? I can just as easily hypothesise the existence of a gigantic spaghetti monster that hides behind Jupiter in such a way that we cannot track it, and you cannot disprove me. But we know it's false, simply because it's so damn improbable.


Don't worry, I have no danger of falling into that trap. Stupid really, I was like :zomg: when I saw that website. Those people are still in their caves, scratching on their walls with blunt stones.

I worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

:D

/jk

P.S.: Please visit the site, it has some backgrounds on Intelligent Design and why it should not be taught in science classes. Loads of fun.

I've already been there :laugh:. I didn't coin the flying spaghetti monster on my own.

I know that, when you mention the FSM. :laugh:

Just for those who haven't. LOL

The FSM? Living on Jupiter? Heretic. He lives in heaven, with the beer volcanoes and stripper factory.

On topic: Would causing a black hole and sucking the Earth in really be a bad thing?

i see i'm not the only who's been touched by his noodley appendage

if it happened, i really doubt we'd care very much.

To tell you the truth, if we found out the truth an instant before we all got sucked in, I wouldn't mind at all.

I would love to say "neither would I"

but

I know there's more to life than having all the knowledge:

it's when you apply it and see inventions grow.

Though, yes, at least dying knowing everything is good enough. LOL

Hrm... I heard blackholes rip you apart atom by atom...

>_<

sounds painful.

Even if it did do that, it'd happen in less than a second. Your brain might be able to form a "What...?" before you were gone. About as painless as one could get.

it'd happen so fast you'd be gone before your nerves could even send a message to your brain that you should feel pain.

BTW, here's a funny comic I came across:
http://www.fiestafan.com/forums/phot...holy_ghost.png

lol

btw, the missing entity in the mentioned trinity is the "Holy Spirit"

^ Yup, or in other words, god.

yes, and God's identity is the trinity.

So the complete identity of God is composed of: the Father (someone out and up there), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit (the omnipresent spirit that resides in each of us)

/no joke. it's what i was told.

You're about as young as me which is why you probably understood my post LOL. Anyways, yeah, Big Bang isn't infallible, and neither is Creation, but of the two, I think the Big Bang will win out eventually. Even if it doesn't, the Church has been losing ground steadily. When it said that the solar system was geocentric and it was proven wrong, it didn't make a whole lot of people give up on Christianity, in the same way, if science makes a mistake, it can't be denounced completely.

(emphasis mine)

There is no such thing as being "too skeptical".

That is indeed an interesting point.

I'll come back when I recoup some sleep and clear my mind. =P