Why I Believe in the Existence of God…or The Search for God
It is foolish to think that everything is an accident…even an accident has a cause.
It funny because I truly believe that most atheists actually do believe in God – they just doubt his nature or his character or his authority because they can’t rationalize the existence of God with their understanding of reality…
Clearly it is not irrational to believe in a source cause. Indeed science at every avenue is a continual exercise in measuring and isolating causes and effects and using them to determine the nature of everything we experience and much of what we cannot even see.
It is logical to assume that there is a root cause for the universe.
That being said, the real debate is about the character and nature of this root cause. Is there something that pre-exists matter as we know it? Is this pre-existent force intelligent? Is this pre-existent force intentional? Does this pre-existent force still exist today? How does this pre-existent force interact with the world and specifically with people? These are the questions that persist and should be discussed. The simple and childish approach of saying “This is exactly what God is” or “There is no God” are equally foolish and really lead us nowhere beneficial.
From the discussions that I’ve heard both on internet, TV (most recently Kirk Cameron in debate with atheists on Nightline) and radio discussions, I think most atheists are really just trying to argue against the existence of the Christian presentation of God because they have had a negative experience with Christian people for a variety of reasons – none of which really have to do with God – or because they have been unsuccessful at defining God in a way that fits all of their understandings about the world and how things work.
Let me address these two concerns with a few observations:
1. Christians have clearly been guilty of misrepresenting God to the world in many ways throughout history…as have Jews and Muslims… Individual Christians and Christian groups have tried to use God to exert power and influence over others – to pronounce judgments and to bundle together ideologies under the name of God and present them in such a way that anyone who does not see things the same way is automatically excluded and destined to hell. The passion and violence and self-righteousness of these actions clearly have justifiably turned many people away from the pursuit of God and specifically the pursuit of a relationship with Jesus Christ. As a Christian, I confess these things as sin and as abhorrent to the God I love…yet I confess they have occurred and continue to occur far too often in our world – among Christians as well as among many other religious groups.
- Let me note: God does not belong to Christianity. Though some would act that way. If there is an intelligent designer and initiator of the universe, he( for lack of a better pronoun for God) is not something that can be contained or defined or captured by humans or by the thoughts of humans; however noble or beautiful or corrupt. He is not a tool to be used by humans to exercise authority and control over others. He is not an invention of the mind that can be altered with a whim or by the stroke of a pen or by someone’s words or teachings. All of these “uses” of God show arrogance and pride on behalf of the users.
- Clearly if God exists – he cannot be defined entirely by his creations. Though his creations reflect the nature of God – they cannot encapsulate him. One can look at any masterpiece of art or sculpture – or for that matter the drawings of a 6 year old and deduce many things about the artist – (or perhaps we can try to figure out the artist by careful study of the strokes and by trying to build a backstory behind the work or using assumptions and logic to deduce the intent) but clearly the fullness of the artist is not captured in a single work – or even the entire body of work. One could meet the artist and spend a lifetime with the artist and still not fully be able to define the artist completely…the artist himself could spend his lifetime writing a book that describes his thinking and methodology and his experiences and even he himself could never fully capture his essence for a reader. There will always be parts we just don’t know or don’t understand or can’t experience because we are not the artist. If God exists and we are less than God (or even if we were equal to Him in some way – which I don’t really believe) we could not fully define him. Therefore, our images of God are limited – dim and always less than fully accurate. There is and always will be a mystery about God – as he is not us – and that is ok. In fact it is necessary and I think rather cool as it compels us not to end our search prematurely thinking that we have already figured it all out.
- There is something funny about the statement that atheists often use to counteract the intelligent design argument. Intelligent design argues quite compellingly that the nature of creation indicates the existence of a creator – and indeed everything must be created by something. The atheistic argument that I often hear then is “ok then what or who created God?” This is the same argument that a three year old uses when they start asking “Why?” until their parents are exasperated and then they think they’ve won. Ultimately the existence of God as the first cause of our experience (earth, the solar system, the universe, people, etc.) does not prohibit nor limit the possibility that something greater than God might exist – although you ultimately still end up with a needed and necessary first cause…BUT I have yet to see how the lack of an explanation for the origin of God requires more faith to accept than the explanation that all of this is simply a cosmic accident of stuff that has always been without a creator.
- I also get peeved at the whole evolution/creation argument that many “Christians” use as a defense against atheism and many atheists use as a defense against the existence of God. Clearly, if one could completely prove evolution with a complete fossil record and a museum of every transitional form in its entirety including all of the genetic code and DNA from every single organism – even if you could do that – it in no way denies the existence of God nor does it solve the issue of first cause in the universe. In fact, if the amazing and indeed miraculous transformation and development of life could be traced to a single uni-celled organism … we would have even greater proof of intelligent design. For the scientific possibility of all the diversity that we experience would be traceable in this way is so high that it would indeed be impossible to calculate and requires an immense faith in the process of evolution that in its own way requires a huge amount of intelligent design. In any case, the whole evolution/creation debate has nothing to do with the existence of God and only really applies to our understanding of how God interacts with his creation.
- A third argument against the existence of God that I regularly hear has to do with existence of evil, disease, violence and abuse. I think that many people would rather believe that God simply doesn’t exist rather than to wrestle with the existence of these things in the context of God’s existence. This too is a fatal and foolish argument. Ultimately it goes like this…If God exists and is mean and uncaring – then I would rather chose to not believe in God. This is akin to the argument that well, since I don’t like terrorists and I can’t believe that anyone would blow himself up in the name of his religion and kill innocent children – then I would rather chose to believe the terrorists don’t exist. – This is clearly a useless statement. Whether or not you believe in terrorists will not prevent you from suffering at their hands. Somehow, we would rather like to blame God for these bad things in the world and in doing so use God’s irresponsibility as an excuse for the denial of his existence and therefore an excuse not to pay any attention to him or to seek him out. Frankly – if God as the creator is responsible for these things or if he is not responsible for these things but can provide direction on how to deal with them – then in both cases it is in my best interest to try to get to know God as best as I am able in order to better deal with the situations as they arise. It is a far different thing to wrestle with God over those things we don’t understand than to simply deny His existence because we don’t like it.
- Following up the previous point. Let me point to a great example of the conflict. Assuming anyone out there is a parent… If you and your partner create a child (let’s say a girl), you commit to love one another and the child and raise her with all the tenderness and discipline and wisdom and teach her how to eat healthy and how to exercise and how to make good choices and you do everything exactly right – can you, as a parent, assume that everything bad that happens to your child is entirely your fault (as parents). Can you assume her bad choices or if she gets hit by a car or falls out of a tree or gets cancer or becomes obese or gets addicted to meth or gets shot while in school…are these all a clear indication of your failure as a parent to do your job right? Can the rest of the world deny the existence of this girl’s parents because of the bad things that happened to the girl? Of course not. The evil and dark things of the world are a necessary consequence of the human freedom of self-determination. If people couldn’t make up their own minds, they wouldn’t be people (they’d be robots) and since people can make up their own minds, they can make bad decisions, they can develop things that have unforeseen side effects, they can do things to harm other people, they can destroy the environment, they can lie and steal and kill… that’s the price of being human. Can we really blame God for thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of years of human nearsightedness and poor decision making? –The only way we could do this would be if every person in the world committed themselves 100% to listening to and obeying God’s commands and never willingly made a choice against them. If this happened for several generations, then maybe we could see and end to the heartache and disease of life…but I don’t think that’s going to happen as people will always make bad choices – even good and well meaning people who had great parents.
A brief comment before I continue… I believe that many people argue against the existence of God simply to excuse any sense of responsibility towards God. If I can deny or disprove or create reasonable doubt about the existence of God, then I can free myself from any further obligation pursue an understanding of God. I need not concern myself with the things, concerns or desires or God and I need not worry about eternity or life after death or consequences for my current actions, decisions, or lifestyle. Atheism is a powerful opiate for the soul – it allows freedom without responsibility – and even Spiderman knows that’s a bunch of hogwash. There is no freedom without responsibility and to try to do so is simply to establish anarchy in which no one is truly free.
Now I want to address some of the more basic issues of God’s existence:
Is there something that pre-exists matter as we know it?
To this, it is logical and rational to assume that something had to create matter. It didn’t come from nothing and it can’t have always existed.
Is this pre-existent force intelligent?
The amazing stability of the universe, the patterns of growth and change, the evolution of the planet, the existence of people, the complexity of the human genome and the numerous laws that consistently apply to biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy – it takes far greater faith to assume all of this is accidental than to assume it has an intelligent design behind it. Clearly the force that created the universe demonstrated an intelligent design and therefore must be considered intelligent.
Is this pre-existent force intentional?
Could a cosmic accident demonstrate intent? It seems highly illogical to assume that the existence of humanity and the function of humanity in the universe was not an intended outcome from the intelligent act of creation. Intelligence design by its very nature and definition presumes intent and purpose and to assume intelligence without intent is completely illogical.
Does this pre-existent force still exist today?
Assuming there is an intelligent, intentional designer behind the existence of earth and all its inhabitants. What rationale is there for assuming that this force continues to exist today? Many atheists tout the cry “God is Dead” – as a final nail in their coffin of denial -- they profess that even if you could prove intelligent design you could not prove the continued existence of the designer. Like many of the great artists of the past – it is the fact that they are dead that increases the value of their creations.
What evidence is there that this creative intelligent, intentional force exists today?
A. The testimony of those who trust Him and the continued existence of monotheism as the primary global expression of connection to the creator God.
B. The exceptions to the rules of science. A single unexplained “miracle” that violates the rules and expectations of science would provide proof of the continued existence of an intelligent designer that is able to work outside the rules of his creation. There are hundreds of thousands of unexplained miracles that have been documented and testified to over the last 4000 years that are indicative that there is a present force that can act supernaturally to bring about unexplained and/or unexpected results. The effects of prayer and studies on prayer point to the supernatural effectiveness of such activity even when a person is unaware that they are being prayed for.
C. The continued existence of human conscience. The fact that globally and universally, there are common threads in humanity that testify to right and wrong, justice and injustice. There is a universal thread of common truth that cannot rightfully be attributed to evolution and that affects all people everywhere – such that every society has identified deviant behaviors that require discipline and punishment. There is no such thing as a society in which there is no wrong action. This indicates a moral nature of humanity that implies higher level of conscience that is an awareness of right and wrong that while culturally distinct reflects a desire to please a higher power than one’s self. This is a clear indication of God activity.
D. The physiological need and search for significance and meaning. Why does humanity even engage in these discussions about the existence or non-existence of God? Dogs or monkeys or seals don’t spend such time. Interestingly humans have this amazing desire and ability to connect for greater meaning – we interpret and translate different languages, we write books and develop technology that allows us to communicate globally and instantaneously with all different types of people. We debate and we theologize and we rationalize and we study and we try to explain and understand everything around us. This very act – even the act of trying to deny God’s existence (as if to prove a superior understanding) is a tribute to the ongoing need of humanity to understand its existence in relation to all other things in the universe. That we hunger for understanding and for connection with the rest of the world –and that we seek meaning in life – is the typical and expected behavior of a life that has intent and design behind it. That so many in the world connect and find significance in a system of belief that includes God is a strong argument for God’s existence…and the restless agitation, escapism and combative frustrations of some who would seek to deny the existence of God is a simple and logical coping mechanism for trying to satisfy the desire for meaning and understanding in an unnatural way.
How does this pre-existent force interact with the world and specifically with people?
I’ll blog more about this later…
