dinotrader

O-Hero, You quote the laws of thermodynamics. I hear many believers of Intelligent Design make this argument. That it is not possible to shake a box full of watch parts and come up with a watch, let alone a functioning one. Therefore if you encounter something which is "made" it must have a "maker". The laws of thermodynamics describe machines and non-living natural elements, and how heat and energy react with them. They describe things like why a power source is finite, and how it eventually is spent and transformed, the different states of matter, weather systems, and so forth. In reference to the universe itself, mechanical laws are only discussed in the most abstract sense. Living things are not "made". They are, well, living things. The Earth resides, quite by happy accident, in an orbit called a Cinderella Zone - not too hot, not too cold - as it were. Neither the Earth nor the sun are perfect; both will eventually run their course and be destroyed by those thermodynamic laws of yours. Life exists here only because all of the elements necessary for life are here, and only for a brief speck of universal time. The majestic, slow cycle of forming suns and planets, and evolving life, is happening in uncountable billions of places all around the universe. Primitive self-aware beings, lacking science, will always wonder how things came to be, and where the spirit goes after the body is lifeless. And so gods are made. Judaism and Zoroastrianism both came about in the 500 BC's - shall we not believe in the great and good god Mazda? In the end, the burden of proof lies with the declarer that a thing exists. It is not incumbent upon the doubter to prove that said thing does not exist.