I don't believe in God, I believe in Gravity

I guess neither beer nor steak are as fundamental to the existence of anything else a gravity is to the existence of steak, beer and just about anything else one can mention....On this basis 'Let there be gravity' would make more sense as an opening line in a creation story than 'Let there be beer' or 'Let there be steak'.Personally if I were the creator of all that is seen and unseen I might well start with 'Let there be beer' and see where things go from there - But (probably for the best) I'm not.

Well... Not really. Humans and the capacity for any wisdom is a rather recent phenomenon. In cosmological terms we haven't even been around long enough to qualify as the proverbial blink of an eye. I assume you are being somewhat metaphorical here? You aren't really suggesting that nothing physically existed before humans started trying to make sense of the world in which they find themselves are you?

Most here "understand gravity" to the extent that they think of it it is an attractive force between bodies that keeps planets in orbits and makes apples fall to the ground.In short - Most here have some conceptual understanding of gravity a la Newtonian physics.As imperfect as this understanding may be it is well in advance of anything those writing Genesis had at their disposal. Because A) Newton hadn't done his thing at that point and B) Popular science books and the discovery channel hadn't spread the word to the masses of such cultural achievements.You might well claim to "accept" rather than "understand" gravity, and compared to Hawking or someone like that this is probably accurate. But your understanding is still considerably greater than those who wrote Genesis simply because the scientific explanation for gravity is a well documented cultural landmark in the mass media and scientific age in which you live.

Have you ever seen a globe? One of those spinny bally things with lots of countries and seas and suchlike depicted on the surface....?If you have even the vaguest of understanding of why the people that live in Austalia don't fall off the planet - Then you are in a completely different ballpark to the bible writers in tersm of understanding gravity.Of course if you are as bewildered as Moses would be by the idea of a round Earth and people living upside down on the "bottom" then you should enjoy your view from the stands.....

If you are saying that the writers of the bible were more interested in converting the followers of other religions than telling us anything remotely fundamental or even unknown-at-the-time about reality - Then I agree.

Stuff like what? Could you elaborate?Which aspects of the bible are worth adopting as wisdom, which should be discarded as fantasy and how do we decide which are which? If one wants to believe things that are likley to be true how does one decide which parts of the bible are helpful and which are a hindrance?

OK. And what is it we would hope to learn by studying these things? What is the surprise? Can you give us a sneak preview? Really?When Newton published his Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica containing the inverse square law of gravitation or Einstein published his 1916 paper on the General Theory of Relativity - On what basis were those ideas adopted? Was it the same way that people decide which parts of the bible to adopt and which to reject?

What do you mean by "work"...?Does General Relativity "work"? Which parts of the bible "work"?

What do you mean by "work"...?(Take the "within limits" part as read - All knowledge is "within limits")

I am trying to get a meaningful answer to this: If one wants to believe things that are likely to be true how does one decide which parts of the bible are helpful and which are a hindrance?In seeking such answers I have also sought to compare the way in which we reach conclusions about gravity with the way in which we reach conclusions about the bible (a la the topic)So far you have provided the following responses: When it comes to gravity what "works" is assessed in terms of being able to (as you put it) "adequately describe what is observed". Can we judge bible content on the same (rather scientific) basis?We could instead use the "accomplish the intended purpose" approach that you mention. But then it's entirely subjective and the link between what "works" and any sort of veracity is broken. For example if one's intended purpose is to feel comforted and reading Genesis (or whatever) achieves that aim then it can be said to "work". But the fact that it "works" in this way is no indicator of the truth or otherwise of the Genesis story.So - I ask again - If one wants to believe things that are likely to be true how does one decide which parts of the bible are helpful and which are a hindrance?Simply talking about what "works" and then applying the scientific sense of what "works" to one case but not the other doesn't really help.

The thing about the human condition is that it's something humans are quite absorbed with and lots of books explore it to varying degrees...As an exploration of the human condition one could say that Ulysses "works". Or even Lord of the Rings or the Matrix if one wants to get pop cultured up.But none of these "work" in the way that General Relativity "works" do they? Phat - Do you think that the way to assess biblical veracity is the same as the way to assess a theory of gravity?

That's an unusually poor argument from you. They had no concept of gravity that could possibly explain the physical reality they were also ignorant of.You do.Ergo your understanding of gravity is superior to theirs. Obviously.

Of course not. Which is why they indisputably knew less about gravity than you do.

OK. So are the methods applied to gravity the same or different to the methods applied to the bible?

quote:

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Gravity is a force of nature that you experience every day. It's produced by all matter in the universe and attracts all pieces of matter, regardless of type. The Earth produces gravity and so do the sun, other planets, your car, your house, and your body.

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Gravity for dummiesIf you read that and can understand written English you now know more about gravirty than Moses could have done, even if you didn't before.You're welcome.