Does God Exist?
"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." - Romans 1:20
The question we are about to inquire is to be a rational one. Through reason, I will attempt to answer this question that has been asked by mankind for as long as it has become sentient. With that said, I will not attempt to rationalize whether Christ is the Son of God, or the concept of salvation; only the existence of God. If you are curious of full rationale behind Christian theology, I highly suggest you to study theological works published by the Church.
Before we begin asking the question, we must have a correct mindset. First and foremost, we must establish what we mean by God. We are not talking about god or gods. We are talking about God: the Supreme Being, the Creator, the Eternal. Secondly, we must abandon the notion that empirical science alone can prove the nonexistence or the existence of God, for natural science such as physics deals only with the temporal, not eternal. We cannot see beyond the laws given in this universe, which has a beginning and an end. Thirdly, we must rely on our ability to reason. No scientific data or contextual interpretation of holy texts can be relied on to answer our question, but pure reason may come in handy. Now, have you equipped yourself with the correct mindset? If so, let us ask the question: Does God exist?
1) Observations on Logic
I should remind you first that this inquiry will be a very hefty load to digest . To be better organized, let's divide our inquiry into steps. I have stated that our ability to reason will be the primary tool in this inquiry. Let us start from there. Mathematics is the first that comes to my mind. It is a reasoning discipline. Mathematics is one of the most common tool by which we can use to peer into the unknown and the undiscovered. After all, according to Galileo Galilei, "mathematics is the language with which God wrote the Universe".
We can predict (or discover) the future number of apples that will be on the table after I put two more on the table. To describe it with mathematical expression: 2+2=4. There will be four apples on the table after I put two more down on the table. But what is mathematics? Just a heap of numbers thrown in together? I believe not. We can deduce our scenario into a mathematical expression, but we can express in another mode: logic. One of the most common logical statements made in our day to day lives are "If, then" statements. So in our scenario, it would be stated: If I add two more apples onto a table with two apples on it, then there will be four apples afterward. It appears that mathematics is but an alternate expression of logic, substituting words with numbers.
It seems to me that Galileo's statement is true in some sense, but to be clear, I would rephrase it. Logic is the language with which God wrote the Universe.
To further reinforce my statement above, let me to object to the notion that logic is a human invention. I claim that, and you will see with reason, logic is inherent throughout the universe and beyond. I claim that we human beings are intelligent enough to perceive logic and articulate them with our language and modes of expressions e.g. mathematics. However, we have not created it. Like mathematics, it does not exist in a material form in our world, but rather primarily as an idea. Allow me to clarify.
If a star explodes, then it will create a supernova.
This is a logical statement. And this logic exists independently of human beings. Stars dying to create new ones have been the way by which the universe operated even before the formation of our own Sun. Of course, there are statements that only apply to human beings, such as "If Jack explodes a nuclear bomb, then the area of explosion will be radiated." But the very concept of logic supersedes our existence and this universe. The beginning of the big bang must have had a logic behind it: "If X,Y, and/or Z happens, then there will be a birth of a universe". Suffices to say that logic exists independently from this universe or another, or the empty void. It seems to me that we have sufficiently proven that logic is transcendent, that it is eternal. Needless to say, logic just is.
There is no empirical or scientific proof of this Logos. But reason dictates that there is Logos, the origin of all things, a being that just is. And this just so happens to be synonymous to our common definition of God: transcendent, and eternal. After all, "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'" - Exodus 3:14. We have not figured out whether this Logos has a consciousness as Abrahamic religions believe to be in this inquiry, but we have proven that there is something that we call the Creator - the origin of all things, the Supreme, He who just is. So we have our answer to our question: "Does God exist?" The answer is yes. There is something out there we humans have preferred to call it God throughout our history, and its nature proves to be the Supreme Entity. Thus, we call it God.
Picture from: link
My thoughts have been influenced from:
Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas
Metaphysics by Aristotle
Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
"Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος." - John 1:1
I hope I adequately transferred my knowledge into words so that others can understand.
We can predict (or discover) the future number of apples that will be on the table after I put two more on the table. To describe it with mathematical expression: 2+2=4. There will be four apples on the table after I put two more down on the table. But what is mathematics? Just a heap of numbers thrown in together? I believe not. We can deduce our scenario into a mathematical expression, but we can express in another mode: logic. One of the most common logical statements made in our day to day lives are "If, then" statements. So in our scenario, it would be stated: If I add two more apples onto a table with two apples on it, then there will be four apples afterward. It appears that mathematics is but an alternate expression of logic, substituting words with numbers.
It seems to me that Galileo's statement is true in some sense, but to be clear, I would rephrase it. Logic is the language with which God wrote the Universe.
To further reinforce my statement above, let me to object to the notion that logic is a human invention. I claim that, and you will see with reason, logic is inherent throughout the universe and beyond. I claim that we human beings are intelligent enough to perceive logic and articulate them with our language and modes of expressions e.g. mathematics. However, we have not created it. Like mathematics, it does not exist in a material form in our world, but rather primarily as an idea. Allow me to clarify.
If a star explodes, then it will create a supernova.
This is a logical statement. And this logic exists independently of human beings. Stars dying to create new ones have been the way by which the universe operated even before the formation of our own Sun. Of course, there are statements that only apply to human beings, such as "If Jack explodes a nuclear bomb, then the area of explosion will be radiated." But the very concept of logic supersedes our existence and this universe. The beginning of the big bang must have had a logic behind it: "If X,Y, and/or Z happens, then there will be a birth of a universe". Suffices to say that logic exists independently from this universe or another, or the empty void. It seems to me that we have sufficiently proven that logic is transcendent, that it is eternal. Needless to say, logic just is.
2) Observations on the Concept of Infinity
Have you digested things that are stated above? If so, continue on with me. Another thing that comes to my mind that is eternal and transcendent, other than logic, is infinity.
I have stated that natural sciences are not sufficient for our inquiry. However, we may be able to put scientific principles they provide to good use, because they are logical statements existing independently of applicable objects. Let's use Newton's third law of motion as a loose template: "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." This law applies to movable objects, such as footballs. However, it also applies to all things in a general sense. This law of motion can be rephrased to apply to all things: if there is a motion, then there is a cause.
I have stated that natural sciences are not sufficient for our inquiry. However, we may be able to put scientific principles they provide to good use, because they are logical statements existing independently of applicable objects. Let's use Newton's third law of motion as a loose template: "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." This law applies to movable objects, such as footballs. However, it also applies to all things in a general sense. This law of motion can be rephrased to apply to all things: if there is a motion, then there is a cause.
All things in this universe have a cause. Let us examine the causes. Starting from us humans.
How have human beings come to be? Through evolution. How has evolution come to be? Through the birth of organic beings' tendency to adapt. How have organic beings come to be? Through the carbon structure. How has carbon come to be? Through nuclear fusion in the stars. How have stars come to be? Through conglomeration of hydrogen and helium particles formed after the big bang. How has the big bang come to be? Our physics cannot know for certain, but something has caused it. How has that thing that caused the big bang come to be? Through this thing that caused it to be. How has this thing that caused that thing to be come to be? Through this thing that caused that thing that caused the previous thing to be... You get the idea. The questions go on and on and on and on. We arrive at the concept of infinity.
Our principle states that all things have a cause. Now this perplexes me greatly. It seems to me that the infinity itself caused all things to be, and that this infinity is the cause of itself. Suffices to say that infinity is transcendent and eternal. It is clear, therefore, along with logic, infinity also just is.
3) Logos
We have established that logic and infinity are transcendent and eternal. We have dubbed a secondary alternative definition to both of them: logic is that which is transcendent and eternal; infinity is that which is transcendent and eternal. In our language, we have different words for logic and infinity, but according to the philosophical definition we have dubbed them, they are synonymous, at least in the context of our inquiry. Perhaps they are more than synonymous... perhaps they are the same. Thus this thing we are thinking of can be called "logic-infinity". It is a tad bit harsh on the usage of our language to say: "infinity-infinity", if the two are truly the same. So, for the sake of convenience of language, let us have this "logic-infinity" into one word: Logos (λόγος), a Greek word for reason (logic), or word.There is no empirical or scientific proof of this Logos. But reason dictates that there is Logos, the origin of all things, a being that just is. And this just so happens to be synonymous to our common definition of God: transcendent, and eternal. After all, "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'" - Exodus 3:14. We have not figured out whether this Logos has a consciousness as Abrahamic religions believe to be in this inquiry, but we have proven that there is something that we call the Creator - the origin of all things, the Supreme, He who just is. So we have our answer to our question: "Does God exist?" The answer is yes. There is something out there we humans have preferred to call it God throughout our history, and its nature proves to be the Supreme Entity. Thus, we call it God.
Picture from: link
My thoughts have been influenced from:
Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas
Metaphysics by Aristotle
Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
I hope I adequately transferred my knowledge into words so that others can understand.
