Quote from: CoinCube on September 24, 2018, 05:02:28 AM

Quote from: af_newbie on September 24, 2018, 02:47:58 AM

The whole system is just overly complicated if the primary purpose of the creation was a specific member of the Ape family to worship and believe in the creator. You would have to be an idiot to design something like this if you just wanted obedient primates who would believe in you.

If I was God, I would just...

Who said anything about obedient primates being the primary purpose of creation?

Genesis.

All scriptures are preoccupied with obedience and a special purpose of man.

Quote from: CoinCube on September 24, 2018, 05:02:28 AM

Quote from: af_newbie on September 24, 2018, 02:47:58 AM

Why would he create life in the first place? What would be the purpose?

This is a very deep question and it goes far beyond the scope of this thread.

Not really. Life was not created. Our universe, our chemistry and physics are pure lottery. Nature tries things via processes called evolution and emergence.

How our solar system, Earth, and life on it came about is by pure lottery, trial and error.
Things that work, continue to work, things that have some impediment, get destroyed and/or die.

Both of us might be breathing the oxygen atoms that Julius Cesar or Hitler breathed. That coffee or tea you had this morning might have water molecules that went through Napoleon's kidney and urine. The atoms in your body were created in some supernova somewhere, they will be returned to Sun and then end up in the universe somewhere once Sun explodes.

The fact that we are here is also pure chance. We could have been wiped out by asteroid or nuclear war, and cockroaches could have become the dominant species.

Homo Sapiens are not special. Do not fool yourself into thinking that. Earth is not our planet. It belongs to the universe, like countless other planets.

The way we are evolving, AI will replace us in few hundred years. Universe will continue for another 20 billion years or so, then it will probably suffer a crunch and another big bang will result, with different physics and chemistry, maybe even different space time equivalent.

Quote from: CoinCube on September 24, 2018, 05:02:28 AM

If you have a genuine interest in this topic the best answer I have come across is the following book.

Way of God: Derech Hashem by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/087306769X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1/159-3751462-6767111?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=NM9R7T16A9G2147WGMJX&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=1944687722&pf_rd_i=1598264672

It is an older classic 18th century religious book. It is very logical and is set out in parts that are divided into a few chapters. The parts are:
1. Fundamentals, covering The Creator, Man, Human Responsibility.
2. How Providence Works.
3. The Soul, Inspiration and Prophecy,.
4. Serving God, Love and Fear of God, Prayer.

There is a class in Seattle that went through this book chapter by chapter taught by Mark Spiro. Audio recordings of that class are available for free here.

http://www.livingjudaism.com/the-way-of-god.html

Both Moshe Chaim Luzzatto and Mark Spiro approach the issue from the Jewish tradition but I think anyone interested in God or religion will find it worthwhile. I did and I am not Jewish.

LOL. It is like offering a pack of cigarettes to someone who quit smoking 30 years ago. No thanks.