When we examine living organisms even the simplest single cell bacteria what we find are atoms and processes that occur elsewhere in the universe. There is no substance or energy that is unique. There are unique arrangements of atoms in molecules but clearly the universe contains all that is needed for living things to arise.
Forum members seem to be represented by Christians and more western scientific types and the debates often ignore other possibilities found especially from eastern sources.
My personal interest is in what is "consciousness". There is some very interesting work being done currently in science,I recommend any book by Antonio Damasio, to discover or explain consciousness as an emergent property of evolution. I myself tend to the more eastern position that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe as are matter/energy and space/time. I suspect that the problems that fundamentalist are having has to do with consciousness more than the arrising of life itself.
I view the universe as a whole. It's not just that there is life on earth but that life depends on our sun and on molecules that can only be accounted for by the explosions of earlier stars. So it's easy for me to accept that life is a possiblity of this universe in the same way that stars, planets, galaxies etc are. Life is a part of the universe and uses light waves, gravity etc. For me that is the miracle, no special violations of the laws of nature are required for a sense of awe and wonder.
I do get irritated when priests and their followers claim a special right to monopolize the truth as represented by their chosen "revelations" and denigrate those who don't accept their pronouncements as being the servants of evil or whatever. The universe in all it's complexity and grandeur includes life and the great mystery for me is that it is to some extent conscious of itself.
To say well a super power person name XMRGFD or what ever name you wish to give it created it that way, simply begs the question. All peoples have origin stories. Civilized peoples developed priest classes to help police and control peoples behaviour. Their writings (scriptures) were just a further developement of this "religious legal" control. Of course they delivered these as being god's rules and encouraged the notion that even if the priests weren't present god was watching and waiting to punish them. This being the naive position of children it wasn't that difficult to maintain the same attitudes and emotions in many adults.
I'm not sure what death is. Matter and energy don't appear to be destroyed. The universe is in flux and various arrangements of matter and energy arises and subside. Organisms seek to protect themselves and replicate and often fail and the universe and the earth goes on. The ego will come to an end, memories will be lost and a particular pattern of an organism will be dispersed into other parts. Was consciousness dependent on the structures of that organism? Or is consciousness like matter/energy, something fundamental to the universe so it doesn't arise or subside?
"Why do people believe what they believe" is a very good question. It involved what Socrates called "knowing oneself". I don't think fundamentalist encourage that as the emphasis seems to be more on an acceptance of the pronouncements of authorities. I hope though we all ask ourselves "Why do I believe what I believe".
peace,
lfen
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