Wednesday, June 16, 2010

1. Is There a God?




To quote from my questioner:


"How are you so sure that there is a god at all? Have you ever thought about this? If so, what are your arguments for the existance of God?" 


First of all, yes, I have thought about this. I have heard that there is a supreme supernatural Being who holds the universe in His hands and Who says that I must answer to Him for everything I say and do. That is a pretty big deal and it demands my attention. I'm not one of those people (I assume they are out there) who drink in everything they're told with unquestioning naiveté and never think to substantiate their deepest held beliefs. But I'll talk about all that later.

So what are my arguments? Well, I have heard and considered many, but here I'll set down what I think is one of the most convincing evidences of the existence of Something that is constant and transcendent (beyond the natural dimension), Something rather like a mind, which is undoubtedly powerful.

We must begin with deciding where to look. If this is an omnipresent Being, then one should be able to look to science, mathematics, language, psychology, metaphysics, astronomy, etc.. But I think that one of the first places we should look is right inside ourselves. If God made us and wanted a personal relationship with us, then wouldn't He have told us of His existence?Wouldn't one of the most likely places be within our own mind and spirit? Atheists and agnostics call for signs in the sky, but I believe that if we were to find definite signs of something beyond humanity within ourselves then that would be pretty hard evidence.

So let's look for that, shall we?


Let's look at an everyday occurrence that sheds light on this subject. When someone takes the place you wanted on a bus, are you angry at them? Well no, not if you're a reasonable person. You realize that they meant no harm by it, so you let it go. But, if you had just stepped off the bus and come back to the place you were sitting, to find your purse moved to another seat and someone sitting in the one you had vacated, you would probably feel entirely different. You might keep your temper, but you couldn't help thinking that  this person had "done you wrong." Why the different reaction? The end result was the same!


First, what is wrong, exactly? From the way people talk and act it looks as if there's some sort of treaty or bargain in place, and it isn't right to break it. We need to be fair, nice, polite, and generous. We are somehow bound to forgive and forget, and to not hurt others for our own pleasure. But why? If you are an atheist, who doesn't believe in moral objectivity, then why do you not approve of the sadistic torturing of babies? Because it doesn't happen to suit you? No!


Upon serious introspection, we find that there are some things that we unequivocally deem right or wrong. upon which there can be no middle ground.


If this is not true in your case, please feel free to leave a comment below. 


So it would seem that there is a kind of standard, truths that are universally acknowledged, that all humans have stamped in their very being. Where did it come from? 


Is it merely instinct? No, because sometimes our instincts are contradictory (the urge to save a drowning man and the urge to save myself). Besides, this law tells us what we ought to do with our instincts and emotions: which ones to encourage and which to suppress (we know that we ought to save the drowning man and that we ought to squash our selfish feelings of self-preservation).


Perhaps this law is just the best system we humans have worked out; it has evolved over the years and turns out to be the best way to preserve ourselves and society. But what about our drowning example? It is a dangerous situation, and may not turn out very well. Why take a chance? Is it better for society that I die instead of the other man? It's even more likely that we will both die in my attempt to save him. Why is that praiseworthy? Because it is right.


There is a Law of Nature, the law of what we humans should do, and in fact are not doing (We've all experienced guilt and regret, why?). Who determined this Law? Certainly not humans. We break it so often, if it were merely our own invention how could it possibly have survived this long?


No, the Law of Nature, like any other law, must have been created - been engineered by something - and that Something being rather more like a mind than anything else (after all, how can you have a creating being that is not like a mind?). It is something beyond humanity, beyond our physical dimension, something powerful, and logical, which has implanted its ideas and opinions in every man and woman who has ever been born.


The existence of human conscience points to a mighty creator.

I will continue posting, elaborating on this and explaining why I believe this supernatural  Being to be, in fact, the specific God of the Christians.

-Abigail Rogers 

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous6/16/2010

    Excellent post and very well written. Thanks for inviting me to view. I'll be back!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6/16/2010

    I do like your blog :)
    I think the one you saw was my picture blog though. The link to the one I actually write on is:

    http://risebyfalling.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Abby,

    Thanks for the invitation. Your blog is nice!

    I appreciate your stance on this topic. I think it's great that you advocate actually knowing why we believe in God. I've been seeing this for myself, and it is something that is soarly overlooked these days...
    I especially like what you said about the atheists: "If you are an atheist, who doesn't believe in moral objectivity, then why do you not approve of the sadistic torturing of babies?" I've seen this topic come up a lot, but I've never thought about it that way; great point! I think that the reason people are so hung up on there being no God is because they don't want the moral accountability; they want to do whatever they want without fear of Judgment.

    Keep up the good work! ;)

    P.S. Thanks for commenting on my blog; come back anytime! :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi! This is truly a DEEP post! You have captured every thought that I've had my ENTIRE life. I'm almost 40 and I find myself wondering about God in...a child-like way. What "was" his plan for us? What "is" his plan for us? Are we just an experiment...gone totally wrong? God will forgive a murderer...if they sincerely repent. Well Adam and Eve made "1" mistake. Why didn't he offer them another chance?? There were no 3 strikes, and your out. Sometimes I feel it was a waste for Christ to suffer and die on the cross the way he did. Do you think things are MUCH better now?? I don't think so. These are just thoughts and rambling that have plagued me for a LONG time. I was taught to never question God or his intentions. This has been tough to do. Thank you again for such an encouraging post! Your thoughts are...very familiar to me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you so much, everyone, for the fantastic feedback! I'm glad that Angie expressed some questions that she's dealing with; maybe I can write a post or two in the future and try to sort out some of those topics.

    To be honest, most (if not all) of the ideas here are from C.S. Lewis' writings, mainly from his book "Mere Christianity" and "The Abolition of Man". He explained things so well, in a way that really resonated with me. I've done some thinking on my own, and sort of translated and condensed his ideas in this post.

    Thanks again for reading!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Abby,

    I'm a homeschooled, teenage girl, and I love you're blog! It is very interesting!

    I loooooove to cook and try out new recipes. I am vegan, but use egg/milk substitutes. I will try some of your recipes.

    ~Maya'lee

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  7. Well written! I noticed you'd gotten most of your thoughts from Mere Christianity, since I studied that book in 8th grade (well, part of it). But its a very great book with easy-to-understand explanations.

    I recommend anyone who has questions about faith and life in general to read it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well I like your post. Mature thinking for a teenager.
    Of course there is Super Being that created everything with precision and governing laws that go with each creation. Certainly many of these laws are yet to be discovered. And these missing laws often led people think that things just happen as result of random action. But I hope that as your education broaden you will support your argument with hard science proofs not just philosophical argument. Philosophical arguments tend to shift as human values evolve.

    ReplyDelete

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