I was reading on the internet and came across a very interesting question that somebody had put forward. I'd be interested to hear what people on here thought about it too...
Why do you believe that God made the universe so unimaginably vast?
We are only able to observe a small amount of the universe. We are only able to explore a much smaller amount, infact it would take us years to get to the closest star(not counting our own), even if we were moving at the speed of light. So why so big?
Here is a link to give you an idea of it's size :
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The question is implicitly anthropocentric. Sure, it's unimaginably vast to us, but then we're unimaginably vast to protozoa. In other words, the question is framed from only our perspective.
Plus most folks here don't believe god made the universe, so that part is moot. It's naturally occurring, and this is its natural size for the time being.
I always think it's strange how humans think they're at the center of everything. You'd think we'd have gotten over that back when we discovered that we actually orbited the sun, and that the sun orbited around the center of the galaxy. Or at least the fact that these galaxies orbit something we can't even see would have driven the point home... but narcissism is quite pervasive, isn't it?
Unimaginably vast... that depends on whose imagination you're referring to. There's probably beings out there who don't blink an eye at it. Remember, even in Christian Theology we are not the first beings that God created, and nothing in the Bible expressly says we're the last either.
I've often wondered if my little bacteria cells felt inspired by a pioneering type of spirit when they were divided into separate petri dishes. Were I able to find safari hats or conquistador helmets small enough, I'd dress them up for their journey :)
I think we can imagine how vast the universe is, but what we can't imagine is how we can have the chance to see the entire universe. Yeah, most people here don't believe in god so for them the universe simply existed and expanded on its own.
This is so easily answered. For this question I will say that God in fact did create the universe...
Answer: Why not?
See here is the issue... It cannot matter. There is not reason for it to be small. He either wanted to (prerogative) or needed to (functional or reactionary). Either way it is inconsequential. It simply was done so. The better question would by "Why do you think God did not give us the means to fully understand or explain to us the universe"... For surely explaining that cosmic knowledge in the texts of olde would give some shred of divine credit... Alas we got "The Firmament... blah blah blah" nonscience.
This puts a better twist on the previous question and it is, as many such questions are, impossible to answer. There are however innumerable theories as to why the universe is as large as it is, both theological and not, but it is impossible to determine which is correct.
I think that your question is definitely the better one :)
In line with your logic, I'd say that we were not given means to understand either because it was not necessary for us to understand (the most likely answer imo) or because it was necessary for us to be left out of certain things that needed to be done without our involvement (which implies an agency on someone's part somewhere).
That was an interesting link with peaceful music.
It is an interesting question to raise but I believe as God is omnipresent, the universe is no longer so big at all. Relative to us however the universe is very vast as you said though.
Wait a moment... Since you believe in god, do you believe in Hell? Can one achieve separation from an omnipresent being? Can god be "completely in" everything without actually being everything?
Good point Spewer! I like that take on it a lot and can use that as fuel fro many heated arguments with the "pushy" religious people that we all know and love! :)
Hell? I no longer believe that hell exist because I no longer believe in in heaven as well in the biblical god. There may be god something that we can't explain yet just like the vastness of the universe.
I think the universe is made so vast so that not all of it can be reached and destroyed by people. It is made unimaginably so that human cannot just say he/she knows everything and give room for imagination. (just a thought :P)
And a good thought indeed! As humans, we have an inherent destructive nature and we feel the need ot kill everything that we don't understand so why not the rest of the universe?
That would be a beautiful coincidence :)
On the other hand I believe that a large part of our destructive nature is nurtured by the deeply held belief that there is so much here that we can't possibly wreck the *whole* thing. Were things finite, we might be more cautious.
Just another guess :)