The Existence of God
God is a Rock Star. He has many fans, and many detractors. Some say He is great, some say He is a delusion. Among those that believe in Him, there is very little consensus as to His nature, attributes, or even what He is. In fact, we can’t even agree what His name is. We can’t even agree if He is a He.
Before we can speculate as to “His” Nature, Attributes, etc., first we must answer the central question;
Does God Exist at all?
Before we can even begin to explore this primordial, age old question, we must lay certain ground rules.
Can we prove the existence of God by rational argument, or must we accept His existence on faith alone? And as you can see, every question seems to birth new questions, instead of answering them.
So considering these things one can posit one attribute; If God does exist, He is definitely an enigma!
Back to the original question; how do we prove the existence of a thing when we can’t agree what proof is or the nature of the thing we are trying to prove?
Let’s start with a definition: for the sake of argument when we refer to God in this essay we are referring to an All Powerful, Omniscient Being, who existed before and Created the Universe and everything in it. The First Cause from which all things proceed. Fair enough?
Now is there such a thing?
Let’s posit our first stipulation; we are here, and we got here somehow.
And a second stipulation; we are aware that we are here, even if we don’t know where here is, or what we are.
But we do know one thing: There is something called awareness.
So there exists something other than just a primordial soup of organic matter, and this something is called awareness.
From this fact springs new questions: What is the nature of this awareness, where does it come from, and what is the apparatus that is aware?
Did it evolve somehow out of the primordial soup? Or was it planted there by something else?
These questions have sparked some of the most heated debates throughout history which can be summed up as follows: Did awareness develop/evolve randomly, or is there a certain order in things, that is, Creative Design?
Or can it be a little of both?
Can a seed be planted by a creative designer which then evolves over time into something called awareness? And if this seed wasn’t planted or created, then where did it come from? Can something come into being out of nothing, created by no one? Can order randomly develop out of chaos accidentally? In light of everything that we are aware of in our environment, which of the following statements ring true:
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A big bang happened by itself out of nothing and created by no one. From this bang a seed (cell) developed/evolved on its own. This seed was never watered, nurtured, or watched over by any aware, intelligent life-force, yet developed these attributes of awareness and intelligence on its own by random chance.
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Before the development /creation of organic matter or BIG Bang, there existed an awareness or First Cause which acted as a theoretical blueprint by which, and through which all things came into being in an orderly fashion. This blueprint acted as a mold for the creation of form and matter, a carbon based DNA. The symphony had both a Composer and a Conductor, without which nothing would have been produced but discordant noise.
Has any work of art ever been produced without an Artist? Any statue without a sculptor?
And does this artist create his masterpiece without the awareness and intent to do so?
Does a jet plane develop by itself randomly? Yet a Human Being is much more complex than a jet plane. Do we, self aware sentient beings develop randomly, or are we created by an act of fusion from other aware, sentient beings? Do we have a mother and father, or do we sprout from underneath cabbage leaves?
Everything in our world was created by someone or something. Everything was created out of awareness. Does God/Creative design exist? What do you think?