I remember a "discussion" I once had with an adherent to the Christian story. Of course, at some point, we got around to the topic of beginnings (and endings). This fellow reasoned that there must be a creator to start or begin life. "Look around you," he pleaded. "Everything has a precise moment of beginning."
Is that true? Well, when we look at people, it certainly seems that way. When the sperm and egg join in just the right manner, a human life begins to take shape. Same goes for animals and plants. At some point, a seed is planted and new life appears to burst forth. So it would seem this fellow might have point.
But what about a rock? Is there a precise point in which it becomes a pebble? Since a good deal of this planet is made of rocks and soil and the like, they too should fall under this definition of precise beginnings.
I'm not a scientist, but from my general knowledge, I don't think rocks come into being at a precise point. Soil is another one of those things that just sort of comes into being gradually. In an example used for the Life Defined miniseries of posts, I offered the example of a tree decomposing into earth. At what point is the tree not a tree or at what point is the tree soil?
This, in turn, begs the question of when the nonphysical essence of a person becomes married or attached to a specific human embryo. Does this occur at the precise moment the sperm and egg create the chemical composition of life or does it happen gradually in the womb or does it occur at the moment of birth or does it happen in some other way?
Hmm. No one knows the answer to that question. Consequently, we don't know if the nonphysical essence is involved in a beginning at all. It may exist beyond time -- you know, out there in the mysterious void.
In fact, it may not exist at all!
So, we don't genuinely know if life begins. We don't know if life ends with death. For that matter, we don't even know what life itself is. With so many of the necessary central concepts shrouded in mystery, we have no way of knowing if there is a creator (or creators) at all.
When it comes to topics in this expansive area, the simple truth is that WE DON'T KNOW.
We don't know now; we won't know tomorrow.
We will never know.
Is that true? Well, when we look at people, it certainly seems that way. When the sperm and egg join in just the right manner, a human life begins to take shape. Same goes for animals and plants. At some point, a seed is planted and new life appears to burst forth. So it would seem this fellow might have point.
But what about a rock? Is there a precise point in which it becomes a pebble? Since a good deal of this planet is made of rocks and soil and the like, they too should fall under this definition of precise beginnings.
I'm not a scientist, but from my general knowledge, I don't think rocks come into being at a precise point. Soil is another one of those things that just sort of comes into being gradually. In an example used for the Life Defined miniseries of posts, I offered the example of a tree decomposing into earth. At what point is the tree not a tree or at what point is the tree soil?
This, in turn, begs the question of when the nonphysical essence of a person becomes married or attached to a specific human embryo. Does this occur at the precise moment the sperm and egg create the chemical composition of life or does it happen gradually in the womb or does it occur at the moment of birth or does it happen in some other way?
Hmm. No one knows the answer to that question. Consequently, we don't know if the nonphysical essence is involved in a beginning at all. It may exist beyond time -- you know, out there in the mysterious void.
In fact, it may not exist at all!
So, we don't genuinely know if life begins. We don't know if life ends with death. For that matter, we don't even know what life itself is. With so many of the necessary central concepts shrouded in mystery, we have no way of knowing if there is a creator (or creators) at all.
When it comes to topics in this expansive area, the simple truth is that WE DON'T KNOW.
We don't know now; we won't know tomorrow.
We will never know.
Lots of interesting posts lately :)
ReplyDeleteIt is always now, and always has been. Thoughts of the past can only happen now :)
Christians are annoyed by that, they insist on a linear path - but when you ask about God, well, they say "he is eternal" !! quite the contradiction of agreement.
i find it very hard to believe that a simple fertilized egg contains a human spirit. the "humanization" of a blastocyst into an embryo into a fetus into a baby still seems gradual to me. my sister remarked (having witnessed the birth of my son) that she didn't even recognize him as a human until he took his first breath. she literally thought he was just a bunch of blood and white tissue as he was being born until he all of a sudden moved and breathed and "turned into" a baby! however i felt him kick, tickle me, saw him on the ultrasound... all before he was born and he was a "baby" to me way before he came out into the world. some people don't come into awareness of their life until well into adulthood when they all of a sudden have an "epiphany." and i've seen many people who act as if they don't even recognize that they are alive. perhaps, 22 years from the day i was born, i still have not "become a human being with a human spirit." perhaps my life has yet to begin. perhaps, as lucid as i believe that i am, i still have not experienced true existence.
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