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August 27th, 2012
11:31 AM ET
Bill Nye slams creationismBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN)–Famed TV scientist Bill Nye is slamming creationism in a new online video for Big Think titled "Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children." "Denial of evolution is unique to the United States," Nye begins in a YouTube video posted on Thursday. The video quickly picked up steam over the weekend and as of Monday morning had been viewed more than 1,100,000 times. Nye - a mechanical engineer and television personality best known for his program, "Bill Nye the Science Guy" - said the United States has great capital in scientific knowledge and "when you have a portion of the population that doesn't believe in it, it holds everyone back." "Your world becomes fantastically complicated if you don't believe in evolution," Nye said in the Web video. Creationists are a vast and varied group in the United States. Most creationists believe in the account of the origins of the world as told in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories In the creation account, God creates Adam and Eve, the world, and everything in it in six days. For Christians who read the Genesis account literally, or authoritatively as they would say, the six days in the account are literal 24-hour periods and leave no room for evolution. Young Earth creationists use this construct and biblical genealogies to determine the age of the Earth, and typically come up with 6,000 to 10,000 years. Your Take: 5 reactions to Bill Nye's creationism critique The Gallup Poll has been tracking Americans' views on creation and evolution for the past 30 years. In June it released its latest findings, which showed 46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution. During the 30 years Gallup has conducted the survey, creationism has remained far and away the most popular answer, with 40% to 47% of Americans surveyed saying they believed that God created humans in their present form at one point within the past 10,000 years. Survey: Nearly half of Americans subscribe to creationist view of human origins "The idea of deep time of billions of years explains so much of the world around us. If you try to ignore that, your worldview becomes crazy, untenable, itself inconsistent," Nye said in the video. "I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, that's completely inconsistent with the world we observe, that's fine. But don't make your kids do it. Because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need engineers that can build stuff and solve problems," he said. Creationists' beliefs about the origins of the Earth are often a narrow focus, based in large part on religious beliefs, and while they reject evolution as "just one theory," they often embrace other fields of science and technology. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter In "The Genesis Flood," the 1961 book that in many ways help launch the Young Earth creationism movement in the United States, the authors write: “Our conclusions must unavoidably be colored by our Biblical presuppositions, and this we plainly acknowledge." Their goal for the book was to harmonize the scientific evidence with the accounts in Genesis of creation and the flood. The idea of creationism has been scorned by the mainstream scientific community since shortly after Darwin introduced "The Origin of Species" in 1859. By 1880, The American Naturalists, a science journal, reported nearly every major university in America was teaching evolution. "In another couple centuries I'm sure that worldview won't even exist. There's no evidence for it. So..." Nye ends his video. soundoff (14,640 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 Next » |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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I think Christians who are stuck on Creationism should think about this: Jesus said "I am the truth." Jesus is truth, so don't be afraid to seek the truth and don't be afraid of others who seek the truth, even scientists who might not believe in God. Be open minded. If you are Christian you should know that the Pharisees had Jesus – the truth – standing right in front of them, but all they could do was look at their writings and deny the truth. Don't do the same thing yourself. The Bible is not the inerrant word of God, but it is a very valuable guide book. Remember, Jesus told the disciples before his death "I will send you a counselor." He didn't say "a book," he said "a counselor" and he was speaking of the Holy Spirit. He was not speaking about a book. When you have TRUE faith, you don't need to blindly believe everything in the Bible. But when you use it as your crutch and you refuse to think critically using the brain God gave you, then how are you different than those Pharisees?
i would believe the truth if science could prove it. thats their job. they cant prove evolution through the same standards they created. so to me its still a theory. and i could care less because it doesnt make a dam bit of difference to my belief in god. i dont really care how people were created.. i know they were created and not "formed from nothing".. but if scientists claim it was from evolution, then i demand proof
Troll alert!!!!!!!
Well, maybe Jesus said "I am the truth", but *I* said "I am the best s¢xual athlete you will ever meet."
Yeah, I was lying, too, and it didn't work for me, either. But hey, maybe J got luckier than I did.
Believe what you want but the fact remains: the bible is the inerrant word of God. Too many prophecies fulfilled to deny it. Yes, I'm all for using your brain. Looking at an exhaustive list of historical facts there is more evidence to support creationism than evolution but you must be willing to see.
@RichardSRussell – Maybe you could try to contribute something meaningful to the discussion. Your "athlete" comments are really pretty pointless.
@Fact – I'm sure you want to be faithful to God, but you've latched on to the wrong set of requirements. Even the Bible doesn't say you have to believe everything in the Bible. Jesus said "Who so ever believeth in me...", right? He didn't say "...oh, and also this book that's going to be assembled about 300 or so years after my cruxifiction." The Bible is a record of our attempts to understand God. It can be a helpful guide, like on the idea of who created the universe. The answer is God, but it doesn't matter how or how long and believing in evolution does not mean you deny God. Truthful scientists will tell you that evolution does not rule out a God. And there are plenty of scientists who believe in God. If you REALLY believe in God and trust in God, then you can leave all of this to God. God doesn't force us to believe, why should you force others to believe in Creationism or deny Evolution? As a Christian, it's enough simply to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. NOTHING says you have to think of the Bible as the inerrant word of God. That's just a belief that grew from man, not from God. Letting go of that and acknowledging how wrong Christians have been about many, many things throughout the centuries lets you move to a better place that is closer to God. I'd say that God wants us to get the big picture and stop sweating – and arguing over – the details. Christians have been very wrong on the details in the past and there is no reason to assume we have it all figured out now. That'd be quite arrogant!
""In another couple centuries I'm sure that worldview won't even exist. There's no evidence for it. So..." and in another couple of centuries, no one will know bill nye existed.. so.....
Between the two of you, I think Bill has you trumpped.
bill nye is the laughing stock of heaven
@Chris – So that's your idea of heaven? It's a place where they make a laughing stock out of people? A place of love, compassion, mercy . . . but they spend their time laughing at Bill Nye? Maybe you should read the article again. He's not attacking the belief in God, he's merely saying that Creationism is not defensible and teaching it and denying Evolution is holding us back. I don't think he's saying Evolution rules out God, either. So if God used Evolution – an amazing and powerful process (which I'd also call wise and intelligent) – then maybe Bill is just thought of as observant and as someone who's just looking for the truth. No harm in that, right?
People are too conceited to want to believe that when they die, they cease to exist, so viola, in their pea brains God exists to satisfy their own sense of self importance through an afterlife and continued existence beyond life. By extension, evolving from less advanced life forms is distasteful to those same individuals, as that necessitates a point in evolution at which humans are not really humans at all in the modern sense, which then brings up problems such as "do slugs go to heaven?", a concept which seems quite at odds with the importance of humans regarding heaven. So at which point in evolution, then, is a person "human", and bound for heaven, or merely a slug with no afterlife? Some mother, the slug, and the daughter, to heaven? For too many people, it's simply better to just deny scientific fact and play ignorant than address logically some serious questions regarding the validity of human scientific achievement.
Oh ye of little faith.
Since faith is the world's all-time champion WORST method of arriving at conclusions, I'll take that as a compliment.
Did you ring?
faith, believing in what you can not see. Amen
Faith: blindly believing what you are told even though there is no proof
If I were to go back in time and tell everyone about what we know today about the creation of the universe, everyone would think I was a nutball. So, I guess I can understand the credulity of everyone who only understands what they're told and don't feel like learning anything about math or logic.
What I can't understand is why the science that keeps their kids from getting polio is all of a sudden invalid when it superficially contradicts their silly book that they don't really follow in its entirety anyway.
"Denial of evolution is unique to the United States"? REALLY BILL? How about every real Christian, Muslim, and Jew (followers of the Abrahamic religions) believe in creationism. That equates to over 3 billion people, just going by those numbers, not including hundreds of millions more around the world that are not believers of a religion yet do not believe evolution to be the answer. I have met many people like that and I live in northern Europe, not the United States. Evolution is not cut and dried and everyone knows it. I remember watching his science videos in elementary school but now whenever I see him on the news talking about science it seems like he is politicizing science (when it comes to climate change) and promoting evolution as the only option to the creation of the world to try and discredit the religious community.
I always laugh when Christians tell other Christians that they're not "rea" Christians.
You suck, dude.
I always laugh when Christians tell other Christians that they're not "real" Christians.
You suck, dude.
Sorry for the duplicate. You still suck, though.
Well exactly Abishai, if you consider the number of Christians and Muslims in the world and where the live geographically, one could estimate over 75% of world states do not believe in evolution. The Middle East, north Africa, South and South East Asia are full of non-evolutionist Muslim believers, while Central and Southern Africa, North America, and many countries in South America, the Pacific rim, and a few countries in Europe (Europe is where the most evolutionists/non-religious are found) are mainly Christian.I do not know where Bill gets his facts from. Sounds like he makes things up on the spot to push a political or anti-religion agenda.
Real Christians, Jews, and Muslims DO believe in Evolution. You do understand what evolution means, don't you? I think you get caught up in cosmology which is different than creationism. Those scientifically illiterate, like yourself, are prone to such.
Technophobe,: Christians, Muslims and Jews do believe in micro-evolution (the evolution inside species) but none of these religions believe in evolutionist macro evolution, the evolution of organisms changing species (ie, fish turning into reptiles, then turning to humans)
There is no micro or macro evolution, there is just evolution. You have bought in to a huge red herring argument brought up by creationists.
That's because they choose to remain stupid, ignorant, and wrong.
There is no such thing as macro and micro evolution? Really!? It seems you have never been in a biology course before. While both under the umbrella of 'evolution', not 'atheistic evolution', they are different. You are trying to create a straw man argument right now and distort an intelligent discussion from taking place.
Not every christian believes in creationism, so your 3 billion is a massive stretch. Also, what he is doing is working against the politicization of science, not contributing to it. Intelligent Design and climate change 'skeptics' are both political takes on science.
"Atheistic evolution"? Are you serious? LOL do you want to know what the so-called "theistic evolution" states? It states, "science is right, but god was behind it all. Evidence for it? Well evolution can't happen on its own. How do I know this? Because the probability is really really really low. How did I come up with the probability? *runs away*".
Common descent (so-called macro-evolution) has been confirmed through DNA testing, even by the evangelical christian and former head of the human genome project Francis Collins.
There was a time when I was, independently, reading Behe and all about intelligent design and was thoroughly involved in debating "evolutionists" and arguing with people accusing them of thinking only within the "trance" of science. I read all of the books and articles, listened to all of the tapes and seminars and I was COMPLETELY devoted to fully understanding the topic.
And then I went college and learned what a fool I had been.
You're my new anonymous hero.
Kudos.
who is this guy? sounds like a huge nerd lmao
compliments are awesome. .
Bill Nye is a typical scientist who believes that a once dead hostile planet just coincidently happened to spring forth life with all it's intricacies. What a faithless person he is.
Faith is bad for you. It's another word for gullability.
That's why he is smart and you are...
bill nye is the dumbest guy ive ever met. how can you say god doesnt exist when you have no proof. lol what a dummy
.... I'm pretty sure that's A) Not what biochemists ever even remotely claim, and B) Not what Bill Nye would ever even remotely claim to believe.
I think he might say "my belief is that this once dead hostile planet had a reducing atmosphere, which facilitated the formation of organic molecules. These organic molecules can then form nucleotides, which could generate original RNA, some of which able to self-catalyse and replicate. We also know that submerged in water, lipids naturally form a bi-layer, providing protection for early protocells. I should note, I am not a biochemist, but that seems to be the most popular current hypothesis".
It's a bit more nuanced than your statement, I believe.
There's also no evidence that Zeus doesn't exist, or that Thor doesn't exist, or that the Easter bunny doesn't exist. Hmmm.
Hey Chris,
Can you leave this discussion to those who've been through the first grade please?
@chris
Non-belief, or assuming non-existence is the only intellectually honest position to take when a group has not met their burden of proof.
Yes, indeed he is faithless. Faith the precisely what science is not, and vice versa. Science is about evidence and testing hypotheses, not blind belief without a shred of evidence. You know that computer you're using right now? It's the result of centuries of science and engineering. There was exactly zero faith that went into creating it.
The story so far: in the beginning the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. Many races believe that it was created by some sort of god, though the Jatravartid people of Viltvodle Six firmly believe that the entire Universe was, in fact, sneezed out of the nose of a being called the Great Green Arkleseizure. The Jatravartids, who live in perpetual fear of the time they call ‘The Coming of the Great White Handkerchief’, are small, blue creatures with more than fifty arms each, who are therefore unique in being the only race in history to have invented the aerosol deodorant before the wheel. However, the Great Green Arkleseizure theory was not widely accepted outside Viltvodle Six.
look how mad you are becuz you know god exists.. til you prove me wrong you're just retarded
@chris
So shifting the burden of proof fallacy. Got it. What's your next one?
@chris – at first I (maybe we) thought you were being sarcastic ... um after 2nd post not so
@GOPer – ... love it!! I really hope you didn't come up with all that yourself tho lol!
Since you don't know how it happened then an invisible, imaginary guy in the sky must have made everything.
Chris is living in a magical fantasy land and all of the sane, reasonable people have to prove that he/she is wrong.
Life is really not that difficult to create. You just need a few ingredients and time.
post
Dinner for Schmucks.
i'd bring you.
I learned a very long time ago to not listen to anyone who wears a bowtie
Wow, such critical thinking. How could you ever go wrong.
heres the deal. evolution isnt the answer either. its simply another theory. no matter how much it may seem to make sense, many many peices are missing and as far as im concerned, science usually changes its mind every ten years or so, so ill wait this one out. i remember being in school and science proved smoking ciggys were harmless.
That was not science that was tobacco marketing departments pretending to be science.
Guess what, science allows you to see the thing in front of you convert electrons into images that you can understand. It allows you to communicate with millions of people with your post, among zillions of other things.
Isn't the answer to what? Also, you're likely confusing Theory with Hypothesis. A theory actually is fairly synonymous with "fact". Basically a theory explains the facts that we observe. Hence when we observe an apple fall off a tree we use the "Theory of Gravitation" to describe how that observation occurs.
I should have said, science facilitated your ability to see the thing in front of you do all that. Smart people were able to construct a lot of the things like your computer screen by implementing knowledge from science.
Evolution is absolutely provable. A "theory" in science does not mean unproven. It has been tested for over a century without fail. How do you think we've managed to streamline species of dogs and horses? Through human aided evolution (where we choose the mates, rather than the animal choose its mate). That's evolution we've gotten to watch over a few hundred years. How about bacteria that can evolve in front of our eyes (much shorter life cycle)? Even if the current theory of evolution turns out to not be 100% correct, it is a FAR better assumption than that some Beard Man or Zeus or whatever made us out of magic dust or something.
I don't think you understand the difference between a scientific theory versus it's common usage in the English language. The notion of gravity is scientific theory, and if people would look at you sideways if you said you didn't "believe" in it. Evolution isn't mere hypothesis and it's time people stop treating it as such. Go Nye.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory
Evolution is a theory and a fact. Fact, organisms change over time. Theory, evolution by natural selection explains how all life came to be in its present form. To be a scientific theory, this explanation must be supported by a HUGE body of facts and be able to predict new phenomena. Gravity is also a theory and a fact. Given that natural selection has held up since Darwin's time and wonderfully explains what we see and do in the lab and things like why it's hard to treat viral infections and why there are an increasing number of antibiotic resistant bacteria, I don't expect it to change much in the next 10 years.
This is an indirect attack against the Romney campaign and the right wing. Just in time for the RNC
Yes it is.......and it's great timing!!!!!
Jesus invented the heavens and the earth, unless you are Muslim or Jewish or Hindu or brighter then the little bulb in your fridge.
Jesus??? Wow....sorry you are so misled. If you want to worship things in the sky.........
@Chris...Read it AGAIN, S L O W L Y 🙂
So if creationism is crazy how is evolution so fact based? How can something come from nothing if not supernatural? Has any scientific experiment created something from nothing? The whole idea of evolution wouldn't be discounted if it was not just as much faith based as creationism. Any anthropological teacher teaches that "evolution" had to be random adaptation that happened rapidly. Otherwise there would be massive fossil records to show the missing links. I am amazed at how people believe in evolution when there is literally just as much evidence as creationism. Creationism is based on a creator taking nothing and turning it into something. Evolution still does not explain origin...
you show a complete lack of understand of evolution. honestly, go the thousands of websites that provide information on evolution. there is a MOUNTAIN of evidence, hard proof, for evolution - there is ZERO evidence for god. ZERO.
"Evolution still does not explain origin..."
If anyone ever does tell you this, they are wrong. Evolution explains how change occurs within living creatures from one generation to the next. Science does not have an answer for origin yet, but abiogenesis is the path their on at the moment.
You obviously know nothing about evolution. It's like you can't add 2+2 together, but yet you go around telling people that trigonometry is just a theory. Learn what you're disagreeing with so you don't look like such a fool.
Then why has evolution been taught in our universities since 1880 and not creationism?
Post by 'Jean Paul' contains several False Analogies.
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/glossary.html
ROFL!
The origin of something from nothing is the job of the physicists at CERN, not we poor evolutionary and molecular biologists and geneticists. Evolution is merely observable, heritable change in the genome. Evolution by natural selection is an explanation for the diversity of life based on observable facts. It is not an explanation of God or the universe. Stop blaming us and go blame the physicists.
" The fool has said in his heart,there is no God".
Oh nooess! Does it say that in your widdle book that has talking snakes and light and days before there was a sun?
The wise person hath said so right out loud.
Nobody was there when Man started up, whether it be by god, aliens, natural selection or radiation bursts. If evolution is what happens, then why are there some creatures on earth that have evolved, while others chose not to? And how did man undergo so much evolution in such a short period of time?
Korny, why would you expect species to change at the same rate? In fact, a broad distribution of rates would be expected.
This is discussed in many basic evolution texts.
Sounds like you have some research to do, it's quite fascinating. Be sure to go the source not a religious bias source.
It's not individuals that evolve, it's species.
Nobody CHOOSES to evolve. It happens or not, depending on the conditions you were born into. If you get lucky, you leave descendants who inherit whatever traits contributed to your survival. If not, not.
Humans aren't evolving at all fast compared to species with much shorter lifespans, notably bacteria. That's why we have antibiotic-resistant bacteria these days — because we killed off all the ones that the antibiotics worked on and selected for the ones with some resistance. Since bacteria go thru several dozen generations PER DAY, it doesn't take long for tiny little differences in hardiness to get magnified up to outright invulnerability.
3.6 billion years is not so short. BTW, we're not done.
Answers to your questions are readily available with a little research. Selection pressures and ability to respond to those pressures vary. If you have no selection pressure (you perfectly fit your niche), we wouldn't expect much change. If there's a large pressure (such as antibiotics), you adapt or go extinct. I'm not sure what you mean by man evolving in a short time. We are still changing – our heads are getting larger as C-sections are becoming more popular and that selection pressure eases, for example.
I think some people (especially in the South) have a sense of pride in defying certain conventions if they associate them with people they don't like. Science happens to be one of those things they associate with the other side. I heard some caller on NPR preface his question about regulations on agriculture with, "I'm a 4th generation Southerner who doesn't read books or believe in science." What in the holy heck did that have to do with the subject? It seems like there's a certain sense of pride in being illogical and near mentally challenged. Spirituality and logic are not always one in the same. These people need to make that distinction.
I really wish people would stop feeling the need to tell everyone the truth. I remember how it felt before I caught my dad putting the toys out at Christmas. Children enjoy believing in a jovial mystical figure.
Other than the wars that we engage in to persuade others to share a phatasmagorical view, it's pretty harmless. Our curiosity eventually corrects any nonsensical beliefs shared by the less informed. The earth is not flat!
So, grownups, continue to move us forward and let the children be children – regardless of age.
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake
Why not!
Merle, that's all good except over 40% of Americans believe the fairy tale well into adulthood after being brainwashed for the first 18 years of their lives, often on a weekly basis. In contrast, they get maybe a few days of education about evolution (assuming they weren't home schooled or sent to a religious school).
exlonghorn
But that's exactly the point. 99.9 % of the populace are fully content to be members of the flock. An original thinker, in any discipline, is rare. The evolution is typically: someone has an original thought then followers critique, pervert, explore and expand upon that thought until someone says, "the evidence doesn't support that (Buddha, Jesus, Muhammed, Copernicus, Newton, Einstein, Planck, etc...)."
The weekly gatherings are no more than a social construct where the like minded can pretend to support a view that's usually outdated, but no new original thinker has come along to displace it, so it's simply "believed" and passed along.
Any original thought will be fought, tooth and nail, no matter what the evidence shows, until a synergy can be obtained by suffiecient number of secondary thinkers. At that point the masses will shift whether or not they have the slightest understanding. It's just easier to be a member of the flock than a shepherd.
1. God is not a jerk just because you believe that He owes you and everyone else a comfortable life. Truth is you deserve Hell but yet He chose to die in your place and make a way for your adoption into His family.
2. Life didn't not magically start from dead matter [slime]. Read up on cells and the complexity of life and you'll see that Bill Nye the faith in slime guy doesn't know what he's talking about. We know that nothing comes from nothing, so life must come from something and that something must be at least powerful and intelligent enough to start something (i.e., the complex universe we live in). Evolution is a theory and a smoke screen for people who don't want to acknowledge God. But God and your conscience will find you out.
Thank you for responding so eloquently.
god is a jerk because he murders countless people according to his own book. he drowns literally millions in his great flood - including newborn babies, pregnant women, the elderly, the disabled, the physically challenged, those with mental disabilities and retardation, etc. god is a disgusting, murderous maniac.
Why can life not magically pop up from "dark matter" or whatever, but it can pop up from a "god"? Where did "god" come from?
Your point has no logical consistency. Or rather, I should say, if life can't magically come to be, then you've disproven Christianity, which believes in pure magic. Some sky-beard-guy-thing that magically created everything in an instant. Where did sky-beard-guy-thing come from? Who/what made that? Just accept that religion is a drug to calm your worries about this very intense and complex existence.
Bootyfunk, I know where you're coming from. As a follower of Jesus I have wrestled with those thoughts. Even though it isn't a happy thought, I am convinced that God's holiness, which encompasses His justice and righteousness demands punishment for those who break His laws. Since we all break His laws either in thought or deed, we are all deserving of complete separation from God, which is the definition of Hell. The amazing thing is that there are people who deserve Hell will enter Heaven. Not by their merits but by the merits of the One [Jesus] who came to this world and lived a sinless and righteous life in the place of all who trust in Him for eternal life. God bless you bootyfunk.
Your idea to "Read up on cells and the complexity of life" just points out your lack of education. Cells formed from four basic ingredients...methane, ammonia, hydrogen and water...all of which were in abundance in early earth history. Add an energy source like lightning and that's about all you need. Craig Venter proved cells can form in this very way. What's your proof?
Dear flarfle, I respectfully disagree with you on the basis of a nuance in the definition of existence. There is physical reality and spiritual reality. The existence of physical reality cannot come from zero physical reality; however, physical reality can come from spiritual reality, i.e., God. That is not illogical, but it does beg the question: does spiritual reality exist? I would say that although you cannot test spiritual reality the way you test physical reality, you can still test it. LOVE is a spiritual reality, for example, and God is Love. Why would soldiers die in war – love. Why would people sacrifice in a million different ways for the benefit of other – love. Love does not come from the slime. Love is not dead matter. Love is real. Think about people breaking the 10 commandments against you. A spiritual reality explains why you would be furious. Rocks don't get upset if you kick them or the bigger rock that they brock off of. But if someone kicks your mother, I hope you would be upset.
What justification do you have that there is such thing as a "spiritual reality"? How can you even demonstrate there is such a thing?
It was truly a wonderful gesture when Jesus chose to "die" in my place. I think it would have been more significant if he hadn't changed his mind three days later.
Nothing comes from nothing? OK. So where did God come from?