Is there a God? Some thoughts and questions.

Posted on by Opher

Is there a god who created the universe? Perhaps one who created the big bang and then left it to get on with things? Or one who created the universe and life and is involved with how it develops?

Now that is the nub of the matter. Put aside all the religious books that were so obviously (to me) written by man and one still has the major questions about creation. How did the universe come out of nothing? That is something that is beyond our comprehension (not surprising really with our tiny brains and limited intelligence). Did god create it? Is there a god?

For me it is obvious – there is not.

For me the very idea of a creator is such a human concept and merely kicks the can further down the road. It creates more unknowns than it answers:

We humans cannot conceive of something coming from nothing.

We solve this by having a superbeing who is capable of creating everything from nothing.

What does that solve? Nothing as far as I can see!

How logical is it? Not logical at all to me!

Is there any evidence for this superbeing? None whatsoever in my view.

We still have a universe created out of nothing.

We now have a superbeing who has come from nowhere with the ability to create whole universes. How much more incredible is that than what we had in the first place? It just poses a whole series of other questions:

Where did this superbeing come from?

Who created him?

Did he arise out of nothing spontaneously?

He has to be even more incredible than the universe doesn’t he? How can that happen? – – The spontaneous creation of a amazingly complicated god with stupendous powers out of nothing?

Or has he always been there forever? Just think about that for a moment and see if that makes sense.

What was his motive in creating the universe?

Where was he before the universe was created?

It certainly doesn’t make any sense to me. It sounds like a human construct to explain the unknowable, nothing more.

What do you think?

Is there a god?

Posted on by Opher

Is there a god?

Let us follow this back to see the logic of it. I don’t believe in god but let’s make that assumption.

In the beginning was god.

Now we can say there was no beginning and god was always there.

Or we can say that god had a beginning.

If god had a beginning how was he formed and where did he come from?

If god was always there where was he? In the midst of nothing? What as? A discorporate mind?

Now if god was always there living in his kingdom – what kingdom? Where did that come from? Was it created by god? What was there before he created the kingdom? Did it always exist? Who created it?

Then god created the entire universe out of nothing.

Why?

He created the entire universe for the benefit of tiny conscious being that he created on a tiny planet that he placed in an insignificant galaxy. Why?

Now the standard answer is that we cannot understand the unfathomable wonder of god and his plan.

Why go to all the bother?

You see once you start delving and thinking about it none of this is coherent or making any sense.

All we are told is don’t bother your head. It is faith not logic. God knows what he is doing. It’s beyond human comprehension.

 

Science traces the universe back to a singularity from which everything emerged – all energy, matter, time and space. They call it the Big Bang.

It makes little sense in terms of my comprehension. It is awesome. It has no purpose. But then why should it?

At least it does not saddle us with false answers.

I like questions.

I am not so keen on answers but I like thinking.

 

So what is the evidence for god?

Well we have a bunch of medieval texts describing miracles and people who have purportedly talked to god while alone up mountains, in wildernesses or in caves.

Can I give these any credence? No. They are unvalidated.

 

There is a wondrous universe of unbelievable proportion and complexity that people cite as evidence of god’s work.

Is it evidence? No. It exists and we do not know how but that does not mean that it was created by a supernatural being. It is wondrous but that does not mean it was purposefully created.

 

We have our consciousness. That is indeed incredible but does it mean that we are created in god’s image. No. It means we have an incredible consciousness that we don’t yet understand.

 

Everything has a beginning end and purpose. That means god has a purpose for us. Evidence for god? No. Just a very human way of looking at things. That’s how we see it. Why should everything have a beginning, an end or purpose. It just is.

 

God rescues people in need. Is that evidence? No. Some people get lucky. The gunman who killed twenty six people in the church the other day killed babies. Why didn’t god intervene then? No I’ve have seen no signs of intervention just luck.

 

People have supernatural experiences. Evidence? Not for me. Things happen to people that they can’t explain. There is a lot we can’t explain. Human psychology is complex. Most of our cerebral operations are subliminal. There is much still to be discovered. Just because we can’t explain something doesn’t automatically mean it is supernatural.

 

I see no evidence for god.

 

It seems to me that the concept of god or gods was created to explain the things we don’t understand – the universe, life, consciousness, and death – to give a purpose to life, to comfort us with the prospect of the inevitability of death, to give us a promise of something better sometime in the future where everything will be alright, to give us a promise that the nasty ones will get their comeuppance. It is psychologically satisfying. It is comforting. It explains things. It’s a nice story. But is it true?

 

It does not explain anything for me. I see no evidence. I do not believe that replacing one set of unknowables with a bigger set of unknowables explains anything.