Einstein's historic 'God Letter' written shortly before death up for auction — opening bid

[Carehn]

I think some people might be inclined to think the "Clock" and God are one in the same.

Whether looking outward at the Milky Way and beyond, or downward at the microscopic or sub-atomic world. Seeing the grand design in motion in detail brings a stronger sense of wonder to many people then church ritual and sermons.

i so hear you knocken!

 

[torchbearer]

this article has addition quotes

"To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man."

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...etty-childish-to-be-auctioned-on-ebay/263334/

 

[acptulsa]

I think some people might be inclined to think the "Clock" and God are one in the same.

Whether looking outward at the Milky Way and beyond, or downward at the microscopic or sub-atomic world. Seeing the grand design in motion in detail brings a stronger sense of wonder to many people then church ritual and sermons.

And yet a clock is but a dim reflection of the complexity of a clockmaker. If we are 'in His image', then God is much more complex than even the clockwork universe. And that makes most of the ritual and sermons seem awfully petty.

Or, as you say, we are more or less riding the electron of an atom in God's body. Third electron out, to be specific. Which makes most of the ritual and sermons sound awfully pompous.

Either way, or any way, I'm with you: I don't think I can give the credit to Random Chance.

 

[fr33]

But people who are religious honestly seem less needy to shove their view down other people's throats on these boards, imho.

It could be said that after centuries of persecution and oppression of the godless at the hands of the believers has created atheist/agnostic BLOWBACK.

Einstein, when writing letters like this one, was often responding to letters/statements that religious people addressed to him.

 

[acptulsa]

It could be said that after centuries of persecution and oppression of the godless at the hands of the believers has created atheist/agnostic BLOWBACK.

Einstein, when writing letters like this one, was often responding to letters/statements that religious people addressed to him.

So why are you blowing back here? Just because you don't get banned so quick here?

If you want to do a little atheist blowback prosthelaventing, fine. But if you can read VIDEODROME's post above and still be disrespectful about it, you have no soul.

So I say and so I theorize. And what's more, I believe it too.

 

[anaconda]

He may have been intelligent ,but he wasn't very wise if he completely dismissed the possibility of God

He said earlier on that he wanted to know how God thought or words to that effect. He added later, I believe, that he could not accept that God rolled dice. So perhaps he had some personification of a god at some junctures. It seems that Einstein's reverence for the profundity in the universe was his god.

 

[fr33]

So why are you blowing back here? Just because you don't get banned so quick here?

If you want to do a little atheist blowback prosthelaventing, fine. But if you can read VIDEODROME's post above and still be disrespectful about it, you have no soul.

So I say and so I theorize. And what's more, I believe it too.

Well, I'm not really blowing back here; just explaining why atheists make their opinions known.

People often seem to have double standards. It's ok for someone to quote scripture but not ok to quote Einstein.

 

[acptulsa]

Einstein looked for God in places that I can't begin to understand well enough to peek into. And when he talked about what he found there, he didn't say anything simple enough to condense into a web post.

He said things complex enough to develop into String Theory. But nothing simple enough for this format.

Doing a proper job of presenting Einstein in context is a hell of a lot of work.

 

[acptulsa]

Come on, Sola Fide. We're talking about God here. You know you want to jump in with both feet.

 

[torchbearer]

I get that same feeling when contemplating the cosmos.

 

[robert9712000]

I get that same feeling when contemplating the cosmos.

I can't say i have ever had a deep reverence awe over star dust

 

[acptulsa]

 

[torchbearer]

I can't say i have ever had a deep reverence awe over star dust

i don't get pumped over an elemental chart either.
it is the idea that every atom larger that hydrogen is created in stars(or during their death), and that i am a way for the universe to know itself that is awesome.
we now have knowledge of our universe that no other age of man ever had... i still don't understand why people hold on to fantasies despite the new info.
people are indoctrinated with a belief, then spend their life trying to make everything fit in it- and go to great lengths to try and rationlize the irrational.
if i had taken that path i'd be southern baptist fundementalist who thinks the world is 10,000 years old and romney is a great candidate. fox news would be my daily diet.

 

[jmdrake]

Well, I'm not really blowing back here; just explaining why atheists make their opinions known.

People often seem to have double standards. It's ok for someone to quote scripture but not ok to quote Einstein.

Who in this thread has complained about Einstein being quoted?

 

[acptulsa]

Who in this thread has complained about Einstein being quoted?

I haven't seen that in any thread on this forum. Not that I've seen them all.

 

[PierzStyx]

You are forgeting that Einstein was supposedly a strong believer in God most of his life and even attempted to prove the existence of God. Him admitting defeat tells you something.

Yes that you can't prove the existence of God without cultivating spiritual experiences.

 

[fr33]

Who in this thread has complained about Einstein being quoted?

If I said what Einstein said without crediting him, I'd get flamed. Some people have a double standard.

 

[jmdrake]

If I said what Einstein said without crediting him, I'd get flamed. Some people have a double standard.

Well quoting someone or something is different from saying that yourself. When quoting someone else it goes without saying that you might not fully adopt what you are quoting.

 

[Sola_Fide]

In other words science was his god. What he could experience and measure with his senses was all there was. Seeing and proving was believing.

He was a socialist as well.

He was a smart man but not smart in every single thing. This is the mistake people make all too often, they assume a genius knows everything when in reality he knows a limited area of knowledge very well, and because of this, they are assumed to know every human question.

Exactly. Some people (the OP included) are intimating that because Einstein was so brilliant, he must have some credibility when he weighs in on the question of God's existence. The fallacy is evident. Some of the most wordly "brilliant" people in one field were totally clueless in other fields.


And what's more pertinent in the question of God's existence is the moral component in the question itself. Men are not morally neutral beings, they are in rebellion to God in thought, word, and deed. Men are born naturally at enmity with their Creator. They attempt every way possible to supress the truth of God in their thinking and behavior, as Paul says.

 

[Sola_Fide]

You are forgeting that Einstein was supposedly a strong believer in God most of his life and even attempted to prove the existence of God. Him admitting defeat tells you something.

Anyone who attempts to "prove" God will fail. And this is the failure of evidential apologetics, which is why no Christian should use it to prove God's existence.

God's existence is not provable. God's Word is the axiom of our knowledge itself.