Creek walker, and bandit: trust me, I know the concept of God is deeply rooted and complex. I have studied it, not only from a Christian perspective, but from a Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist perspective as well. Buddhism is an atheistic religion anyway. My parents were Hindu but they never forced me or indoctrinated me into religion. It was always my choice.
The concept of something coming from nothing... Technically, nothing (truly nothing) cannot even be defined or shown. One cannot say "Something cannot come from nothing", because no one can define or show what truly "nothing" is. If one were to say "God" created it, then what created God? Is he "nothing"? We truly cannot comprehend it, but my approach isn't to just put it on faith, I'd rather just say I don't know, but if we will ever find out, we'll find out through science. Not sure it will happen.
Most scientists advocate the big bang theory because it is the closest thing we have to an explanation, based on scientific observations and mathematics. I can accept it.
You know, if we want to actually understand why we are here, we should consider the 4 universal forces - strong, weak, EMF, and gravity. Without gravity, the galaxies and stars would not have formed and there would have been no life. Gravity truly created us.
I'm not a spiritual guy in the religious sense. I do medidate daily and it's excellent for health purposes and to clear the mind. I don't believe in faith, destiny, an afterlife, or that "everything that happens has a purpose". I think the universe works on cause and effect, and everything has a beginning, is preserved, and ends. Everything. I don't think humans are any more special than any other form of life. I don't think that we're all that important in the grand scheme of things. Some of the philosophical concepts behind Hinduism do ring true with me, but I don't subscribe to the higher power aspects of it.
Maybe the whole thing is just a big ass experiment.
Well said Nut. Allow me to put it in very simple terms. People are afraid to die. They want to believe life does not end beyond all reason, logic, evidence. The most devout Christians will often say (paraphrasing) "life is tough, but it is better than the alternative"... in other words I don't think anybody is all that sincere in their faith, but they want to believe, and undoubtedly some are convinced.