Posted by Matches on April 30, 1999 at 23:10:18:
In Reply to: Re: When you die ... posted by Snake on April 30, 1999 at 20:09:32:
> If God created the world, where was he standing when he did it?
> That was a question I asked my mother when I was 4 years old. and I still have not ever gotten a satisfactory answer.
> When Theists answer the question what/who creatd God, they tyically answer "God was always there. That's the great mystery" . But that offers no more sense than to say "the Universe was always there, that's the great mystery"
> I am agnostic, not atheist. It seems that paradox is an essential part of existance, so although I always am searching for Truth, I do not presume that I will ever no for sure what truth ultimatley is.
The problem is that the universe is something which we seem to know much about. We can describw it in our own terms. There is length, height, weight in the universe. So it doesn't seem to make sense for something so physical and tangible to simply "have always been there." This Thing We Call God, on the other hand, is by nature (or by most ideas of its nature) something that exists outside the realm of space and time. So the mystery may not be that "God was always there," but that God COULD have created the universe without "standing" anywhere (as your childhood question put it).
As far as agnosticism, I don't find any difference between atheism and agnosticism. Say you and a friend are looking out at the ocean, and he points out and says, "Do you see that boat out there with the white sail?" If you don't see the boat, then you don't see the boat.
BUT, to put a greater perspective on it.... If you and your friend are stranded out in the middle of the ocean, floating around in your ... and your friend says, "Is that a sailboat out there?" Even if you can't quite see it and aren't sure if your friend is right or just imagining things, wouldn't you try to swim towards the boat? It seems like some of you are content to float around and get eaten by a shark or some such nasty sea monster.