Gandelf wrote:If God created the world to look as if it was old, then Carbon dating would be invalid, because all the research that Carbon dating is based on, would have been based on information that was made to look old. Can you see my point? If your point of reference is based on something that you think is true, when in fact it's false, then any results based on that point of reference will be inaccurate.
I'm not saying that God did create the world to look old, but merely proposing a mental exercise based on that idea, to see where it leads.
For the books, I don't personally believe in my suggestion, but I am merely seeing how people respond to it.
Again, you've proved only that you don't understand what you're talking about, carbon dating works based on radioactive decay, so short of everything we know being an illusion (i.e. kinda like the Matrix) then your theory can't compensate for this.
Gandelf wrote:What made the Universe?
Possibly the big bang, whilst not proven it has a whole lot more evidence pointing to it than any creationist beleif which has absolutely no evidence whatsoever backing it.
Gandelf wrote:How long has it existed?
Somewhere roughly around the 15 billion years mark give or take a few billion. Whilst not exact, we know that it is at very least 11 billion years old and at very most 20 billion years old.
Gandelf wrote:Why does the universe exist, what is its purpose?
It has no purpose as it needs no purpose, as has been mentioned it is not a concious being whereas a god is, a god has some purpose else it wouldn't have created life like the creationist beleifs claim. This question doesn't make sense in terms of the universe, however asking the purpose of a god does.
Gandelf wrote:Where is the universe? (I don't mean from the point of view of "we're in it", but what surrounds the universe, i.e. what are it's co-ordinates in whatever it is in?)
It doesn't have to be anywhere, this goes back somewhat to the comments about being able to comprehend the age of the universe and it's something I've found that just about everyone who follows creationist beleifs can't grasp - the sheer scales involved in the scientific ideas, people like yourself and those who shun evolution and such constantly demonstrate they are unable to comprehend correctly scales of billions of years, and also can't truly comprehend what infinity is, this leads to an inability to understand concepts such as time and the speed of light fully. Until you can grasp large scales and what is infinite then you'll continue to struggle to understand these concepts and hence make foolish statements like the above quote.
Now instead of dodging the countless questions you've been provided, can you either choose to begin to answer them, or admit that you can't answer them and that hence your faith is based on the fact you simply don't understand the facts and proof presented to you relating to the alternatives. If you carry on as is it suggests that you really do have absolutely no proof for your beleifs and it's merely nothing more than blind faith.
It feels somewhat like you and others beleive in god because it's the lazy, easy option, it doesn't require any effort, you don't have to really learn about it or question it and test it for yourself like with science, you just respond to everything questioning it with sheer ignorance and nonsensical ramblings.