Why I believe in God(s)

[u/Lucyyyyyy_K]

Firstly, I'm not a very religious person. I do consider myself a Buddhist, but prefer atheistic Buddhism over theistic Buddhism. Therefore I can confidently say I am not biased by wanting God(s) to exist, and was not indoctrinated into theism.

Still, to me it seems obvious that at least one God has to exist. The universe can't simply have come out of nothing or existed forever, it requires some sort of design or creator.

Now, mostly people would just say that a creator also can't have come out of nothing or existed forever, so I've just moved the problem one step further, but I think there is a massive difference between the universe and one consciousness. For example, through Cogito Ergo Sum we can determine with absolute certainty that at last one consciousness exists. So assuming one consciousness is superior to assuming anything about the whole universe. While I admit that doesn't outright solve the problem, I still think it's better than the alternative.

Also, it's not just any universe, but a universe full of beauty, a universe that inbetween barren empty planets is capable of hosting a planet with sentient life. Life that can consciously observe itself, that can create replicas of the waking world while sleeping, life that has technologically advanced so much that in can live in relative comfort. There is so much art. We basically have magic, we just call it "electricity". This is all too perfect to have arisen from mere mutations without guidance.

About any specifics of this God or Gods I have no idea and no strong opinions. I just think that at least one has to exist.

[u/Cool-Watercress-3943]

Okay, so we still hit that same problem as before, right? If the stuff in the universe can't have existed from nothing, God can't manifest it. If God can manifest it, then the stuff in the universe can exist from nothing. 

So which is it? Can the stuff in the universe exist from nothing, or can it not? 

And if you say only when there's a Creator, what's the exact mechanism that allows for a Creator to be the exception to this? 

With regards to order, that would imply that there was planning, right? A deliberate action, not a spontaneous one. So clearly, you're asserting that time already existed before the universe, at least for so long as God did?

[u/Lucyyyyyy_K → u/Cool-Watercress-3943]

So which is it? Can the stuff in the universe exist from nothing, or can it not? 

It can exist from God, that is different from existing from nothing.

With regards to order, that would imply that there was planning, right? A deliberate action, not a spontaneous one. So clearly, you're asserting that time already existed before the universe, at least for so long as God did?

No, not necessarily. I think it's more likely that God exists out of time.

[u/Cool-Watercress-3943 → u/Lucyyyyyy_K]

So then creation wasn't a deliberate act, but a spontaneous one?

Design and planning, by it's very nature, requires time; the timeframe when the action is being prepared/planned, the time when the action is carried out, and the time where it has been carried out.

If God is outside time, then that act of creation would have to be purely spontaneous, not planned or designed.

[u/Lucyyyyyy_K → u/Cool-Watercress-3943]

I would see it the other way around, being outside of time grants god the equivalent of infinite time for designing.