MAN ...  The new  improved  MONKEY ? B:ANK How did evolution get STARTED anyway?  "Something" can't come from "nothing"!  Why is there "anything"? Which came first ... the chicken or the egg?  Was there a FIRST chicken (or egg) which was "created"?   blank If someone were to ask why you exist, you'd probably say it's because of your parents ... and if they asked why your parents exist, you'd say because of your grandparents, etc.  Eventually this leads to something which itself didn't exist, you agree?   Although we think of science as the most secular of human enterprises, there’s a little-known "spiritual" in us all when we say, “it’s raining”, "it's snowing", etc.. WHAT or WHO is the “it” in phrases like that? The word “nature” might answer that or "God", if that word weren't loaded with so much human hope and superstition.  Whatever is making it rain is something "out there" vastly different from us …but not so alien that we can't study "its" ways scientifically.  As a kid one of my many movie heroes was "the invisible man".  What was so fascinating about him was his freedom to walk into a room without anyone knowing he was there.  Sometimes he got cold, of course, because he couldn't wear any clothes.  And, if he used "deodorant" someone might smell him.  (There's a chance they might smell him without deodorant too, I guess.)  Anyway, now that I've grown up, I have a hard time dealing with invisible things.  It's easier to believe the only important things in life are those we can see ... Living in a city, everything appears to be man-made.  We live in a concrete, asphalt, and steel jungle which shouts to us of the greatness of man!   (Unknown)   So, what do you think?  Is the creator of the universe all-loving (and unable to do certain things), or all-powerful (and chooses not to help)?  It seems to me that his power has to be sacrificed to some degree in order to permit freewill.  It's the only way “voluntary love” could happen.  But, there's a tradeoff ... “voluntary HATRED” can also be the result. If it's true (that he's not all-powerful) we should probably re-evaluate prayers we make asking him to control the actions of others ... like protecting the people of Ukraine from the Russian invasion.   It also means that WE are the only ones able to alleviate a lot of the suffering in the world.  If we're going to do it though, we need to get started.  Our time is limited.  Our BLIP on the eeternal calendar is very small!  As far as we know, there's no other intelligent life in the universe besides that on the earth. In fact, there may be no other life PERIOD!  So, as we face WARS, “climate change", and COVID etc.   It's best if we never forget ...  We really  ARE  our brothers' and sisters' keepers!   -- Being an "EARTHLING" on a lonely Planet     CLICK HERE  Dick McMahon