Chapter 1 - Why Questions?
Chapter 2 - What is the Purpose of Life?
Chapter 3 - Does God Exists?
Chapter 4 - What Radically Changed?
Chapter 5 - The Law of "No" Land?
Chapter 6 - Who is the Enemy?
Chapter 7 - Who is the Eucharist?
Chapter 8 - Who am I?
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Chapter 3 - Part 1
Does God Exist?
As human beings, we have very strong imaginative powers. Considering the level of intelligence and consciousness we have, compared to everything else on this planet, we are very good at defying certain aspects of natural physical law through our imaginations. For example, we can picture ourselves flying, with or without assistance of a device. We can also imagine ourselves standing in the middle of the ocean where waves are strongly hitting us yet we are not shaken. In fact, our imagination can be so powerful, we can even imagine and build stories around topics that are completely fictional; such as time travel. With such powerful imagination, it should be no surprise that we have the ability to imagine or create God!
There are many good reasons to create or imagine God. As human beings, we have many insecurities, imperfections, or fears that have created much superstition among us over time. For example, some people, with all of our intelligence and consciousness, still “knock on wood” when saying something positive about a situation. As if somehow by speaking it out loud, the positive situation is going to change to negative, and the knocking on the wood will prevent that negative outcome. By what evidence or even logic do we do these things? This, of course, is one of many examples that people do as a result of insecurities, imperfections, or fears. Possibly, the only logic here is that the person feels good after doing it. Which means, the person possibly felt the emotion of fear, and the superstition removed that emotion. In other words, it is a “feel good” imagined solution. With so many fears, imperfections, and insecurities, some or many can certainly imagine a god as a “feel good” solution.
Of course, doing something out of fear is not new to humanity, as it is probably an old practice imbedded in our evolved nature. As we can imagine, humanity most likely adapted in the early ages through fear against attacks from different predators. From a survival point of view, and taking that to the extreme of the spectrum, our fears might ultimately be linked to death; possibly even a violent death. Having such fear alone could cause us to adapt by creating a solution to not deal with death. In other words, death or fear of death, can be a strong catalyst for creating options for a god or afterlife. Options like re-incarnation, heaven and hell, pure energy, etc.
To take our thinking deeper, it is possible that the fear of death is linked to another fear within the human psyche…the unknown! Such fear can also be a catalyst for imagining god. Dealing with the fear of the unknown can be attributed to many situations we handle on a regular basis. For me, this was exemplified during an afterwork activity my co-workers an I did several years back. The team building activity was to go into a locked room and solve different clues to unlock the room and escape. The activity started by having our group of eight people stand in a hallway in front of a dark room. The scene was pretty suspenseful as the lights in the hallway were dimmed and the door to the dark room was rusted looking solid iron creating a feel of a dungeon. Suddenly, we were given the command to enter the dark room by a creepy looking command giver. Although we knew we were safe, there was still feelings of little anxiety before walking in; mainly due to the creepiness of the command giver. The command giver was dressed in an old 1850 style clothing with very little color. The Blood stains on his clothes, and the light black and white makeup on his face took away every ounce of trust. Interestingly, a coworker from the group was getting seriously creeped out. Noticing this, the command giver changed his facial expressions and voice, smiled and winked at the coworker then said “don’t worry, everything is going to be ok.”
Chapter 3 - Part 2
Baaaannnngggg!!!
When searching for something, or looking to observe tangible matter, typically we start with any physical observations we have. In order to observe the evidence from a scientific view, we must first realize that science has provided us several laws to keep in mind. If a law cannot be broken or proven wrong, then we should understand the evidence around us with respect to the laws we have.
A particular scientific law we can consider is given to us from Sir Isaac Newton where he states “An object in motion remains in motion unless an external force is acted upon it, and an object at rest remains at rest unless an external force is acted upon it.” Newton’s law of motion allows us to look for things that are in motion or standing still. Moving matter continues to move, and matter at rest continues to be at rest until it is faced with an external force of some kind.
For me, I learned this in engineering school, but it did not “hit me” till I observed it much later in life through a small toy that started at rest. As I observed the small toy at rest, an external force acted upon it through the hands of small human being…my young son. Shortly after this external force, I found the toy moving in the air toward the nearest hard surface, which happened to be my face…then you hear Ouchhhhh. That toy could not have struck my face, unless the external force acted upon it…I think you get the idea!
Along with Newton’s law above, science over time has given us evidence of something called entropy. Entropy, according to science, is the measure of disorder, or at least it became known or referenced by the scientific community as that during my time of engineering studies. Science noticed things begin with order and move toward disorder. Once again, thanks to my young children, this became prominent through their bedrooms, or any room they enter for that matter. We typically start the day with an organized, clean, and orderly rooms. Somehow by the end of the day many rooms are in no recognizable shape from the time we started. Thus an intellectual request is placed upon the children to clean their areas and rooms, at which we would hear “Yeeeshhh.” Consequently, the rooms that started from order came to disorder, then with intelligence and effort, back to order. Again…I think you get the idea!
When it comes to God and Science, there may possibly be some evidence for the existence through the principle of entropy and Newton’s law of motion. According to some scientific observations over history, it appears that space is expanding. If so, this would potentially necessitates a starting point prior to the expansion. Theoretically speaking, there would have been a starting point, then Baaannnngggg!!! Everything in space expanded.
This Baaannnggg, then, raises very serious thoughts with respect to Newton’s Law: If the universe had a starting point, potentially of rest, and then went into motion, then there has to be an external force to act upon the starting point. If so, then we are faced with a question of what that external force is and where did it come from? In addition, if everything goes from order to disorder, such as the moment after the “Bang,” then how can we have such order in our Solar System. Not just any order, precise order that can sustain life.
From the physical and tangible observation, we can probably say few tings. At a minimum, we can definitively say that we have life sustaining order in our solar system within what appears to be a disorderly universe. We can also probably say that if we have an expanding Universe, then there’s a potential starting point. Both of which necessitate an intelligent external force. This external force appears to be the cause of initiating expansion and bringing order out of disorder; thus requiring intelligence. If this external force is a higher being, then this higher being needs to be very powerful and very intelligent.
Chapter 3 - Part 3
History with God
To search in history for a powerful, intelligent and perfect being who has influenced humanity positively in all aspects can be a very complex task. We can probably simplify this task by looking at an overall timeline and picking few items of comparison. In other words, we can pick a random time, such as the year 500, and compare it to today. If the comparison shows positive improvements, then we can look for potential sources of that improvement.
The comparison probably begins with Science and Technology. The advances we have made in such categories are extremely significant. Furthermore, we have many revolutions from industrial, health, space explorations, etc. In addition to the tangible differences, we can recognize that during the times of the year 500, there were noticeable segregations, normalcy of slavery, and recognizably different moral standards than today. As it appears, we can say that in today’s times, each of those has improved. Thus, there certainly appears to be an improvement to the human race. Many of those improvements, we would think, can potentially be traced to educational institutions and hospitals. Leading us to ask if those institutions were started by a specific Being.
An interesting point worth mentioning is that some of those improvements, and especially in the moral realm, might even go against the survival of the fittest instincts. This can be seen particularly in a person of a certain handicap. Such individual, due to illness or other form of handicap, might not be able to survive in an absolute fittest environment. However, in today’s time, and rightly so, we look for ways to treat all human beings with equal dignity. Are such acts and moral improvements influenced by a superior Being?
Generally speaking, if such Being described in the previous paragraph exists, whether the Being is around or not, we would think he or she would have followers. We would also think, due to the intelligence of this Being, that his or her followers would have figured out how to properly commune with each other. Thus, our search narrows down to a surviving community that claims to have their leader as the same Being that created the Universe. Of the survived communities with such claims, Christianity stands out the most. The Christians make the claim that their leader and founder is not someone who has only received information from God, rather, He is God Himself! If so, then let us put our questions to the founder of Christianity whom they identify as Jesus the Christ.
If Jesus is who the Christians claim He is, then, and working backwards from our findings: Did Jesus have anything to do with the improvement of morality in our human race? Did Jesus have anything to do with the increase of educational institutions and hospitals that allow for advancement of knowledge and improvements of health? Does Jesus fit the description for perfection, intelligence, and power? Lastly, does Jesus force belief in Him as God or not, and does He promise a “feel good” life?
Jesus is not the question
Historically speaking, Jesus of Nazareth was a man who lived in the first century. He would be the reason why we have a first, second, or 2,000 years later, a 21st century. Which brings up an interesting point that if Jesus did not exist, then, at a minimum, our current calendar system would be based on a lie. His existence, however, is only of relevance to us if it proves the existence of God. Jesus might be a real person, but is He really God? Which logically leads us to ask: what did Jesus do that could potentially prove He is God?