what are the odds that a bunch of random particles would eventually come together to form a single celled, reproducing organism. I would say extremely unlikely, especially since we (humans) still cant replicate this process even with all of our knowledge.
I am not using this as proof that God exists though.

That makes no sense. If something has no beginning then it makes no sense that something had to initiate it.

If you believe something did have to initiate it all, then you also have to believe that something initiated the thing that initiated all, and so on and so on, which is an inheritently self-defeating argument.

You have it backwards. You are looking at the final product and saying "what are the odds that the final product would get created", but instead you should be looking at the starting point and saying "what can we create with this?" and then repeating that process over and over and over and over, and eventually you'll end up with with something that seems unlikely to have been created.

if the universe is infinite, anything that is possible will happen an infinite amount of times. everything that can happen, will happen.

this reality (obv) is possible. we know that because we are living it. therefore the odds that this all came to be is pretty much guaranteed. 100%.

in fact, after this reality is over, this will all happen again (and every other possible reality) an infinite number of times right down to this precise thread.

really, fuck religions

the problem is happy, that your assuming that there are an infinite number of particles in the universe, and that the universe is infinitely large, both of which are as unprovable as the existence of God.

idk really i just hate brainwashed little fuckers....

its true det. my conclusions certainly do rely on unprovable assumptions.

of course, none of us hairless apes can say what happened several billion years before we existed. and when push comes to shove, i can certainly understand believing the universe was created by some higher power.

the elements of religion that astound me are not found in that belief. i can't figure out how anyone can go from "there is a higher power" to "jesus is the son of god" or "mohammed is the prophet to the one true god allah" or "if you die in battle you go to valhalla" or (insert any other wacky claim here).

any time a group of fallible hairless apes get together and claim they understand the motivation of a supposed infallible deity.....that boggles my mind.

I can certainly understand and appreciate where you are coming from Happy. And I for one do not pretend to know God's motivation or what happens after we die. I do believe however that my religions scriptures are divinely inspired and that some of our ancestors have had tangible communion with God. Entirely unprovable, and to some it may seem irrational.
However it does provide a degree of comfort to believe that there is an all powerful and benevolent God. Who is so benevolent that He allows us to make our own decisions without too much interference. It makes my life seem less trivial if my actions will in some way affect me after death.

Isnt your life even more trivial if you behave according to some human made rules, instead of using common sense or just ethics? Its like giving away your own debts to some magical higher power.

No clue if theres god, but theres cake...