Ricky, I believe in God and I am certain of His existence. When I am not certain, I choose to strive towards certainty.
You are a skeptic. Whatever I present to you will never suffice unless you leave your skepticism.
As for the afterlife, which you doubt the existence of, more goes on between death, the grave, and the judgment day then what I mentioned.
No one knows when the judgment day is. Not even the prophet (peace be upon him) knew. All we have are signs for when the day of judgment is near.
Who knows if day of judgment is in a few billion years or 200 years? Perhaps it is in a 200 years, like the movies Armageddon or Deep Impact. Who knows…
As for scientific claims I quote, “Those that are wedded to the science of this generation may be orphaned in the next.” (Abdal Hakim Murad)
Big whoop if the milky way is twice the size of scientists initially thought. God is outside of space, matter, and time. God cannot be comprehended.
And I am not side stepping your questions and reflections with regards to the universe. To me, it is a waste of time--puffs in the wind.
But all questions have answers and all doubters should engage and ask.
If your interested, the following:
Nature and Limits of Proof
The Paradigm of Faith
The Gadfly Questions: Ongoing Scientific Riddles
The Argument from Design
Atheism-as-Faith
The Nature of Scientific Epistimology
Maslow’s Hierarchy and the Place of Religion
Lasting-Power of Revelation
Silver Chinnocks, Instinct, and Despair
Abrogation and the Sacred Law
Basis of Morality/Rulings of the Sacred Law
Biology of Deformity
The “Founder Effect”
Steven Pinker & The Variation of Physical Features
Evolution, The Fossil Record, and Islamic Creed
Proper Scope of Religious Knowledge
The Universe-As-Sign
The Great Facts of Religion: You, Allah, and the Grave
Scientific Paradigms & Qur’anic Interpretation
is discussed here:http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/default.htm, under audio files.
Reasoning without revelation is dead. Revelation is above reasoning and I pray that God gives me and you the reasoning to understand His revelation.