Who Or What Is God?
By VennerRoad, 11th Sep 2017
The existence of God is a conundrum that must be forever beyond human comprehension, but the problem is really a lot simpler to phrase than you may think.
Does God exist?
First, let us throw out all scripture and holy books; they do not really tell us anything. Leaving aside the fact that no original manuscripts have ever been found, much of the Christian Bible is clearly apochryphal, unless we are to believe that Adam wrote the Book of Genesis.
Likewise, the Qur’an is revealed truth, even if one takes it at face value. The big question is far more fundamental than that. We know the Universe is here, and we may believe we know how it started, ie from the Cosmic Egg and the unalluringly named Big Bang. So how did the Universe come into being? Broadly speaking there are two answers to that question: either it always existed, or it had a finite beginning. Assuming the latter, it could be cyclical, namely the Cosmic Egg explodes, the Universe expands, and either it evaporates into nothingness as it runs down, or on reaching its maximum extent, it contracts. Then the cycle starts all over again. So what causes this?
Give us one free miracle, and Science will explain the rest!
What can we say for certain apart from that, other than the idiotic proposition of theoretical physicists like Lawrence Krauss that somehow matter was inevitable, that subatomic particles simply had to spring into existence?
Ultimately, the only truth is mathematics. Two plus two would equal four even in an empty Universe. Pi d would still be the ratio of a circle even if no circles existed. Our other transcendental friend, e, would still be the limit to growth even if there were nothing to grow.
Aside from that, we know the Universe has observable laws, and unless we go down to the quantum level, these laws are everywhere the same, have been for all time, and will be for all time. A Law of Nature is not a command, it is simply an observation, but is there anything behind these laws?
What distinguishes human beings and other lifeforms from inanimate matter is consciousness. The first question we should ask – is there a consciousness behind the Laws of Nature? Then we should ask, if there is, did this consciousness come first, or did it evolve in much the same way as James Lovelock’s Gaia? If this Cosmic Consciousness came first, then we can call that God. If not, then God is, figuratively, the Laws of Nature.
This should condemn us to agnosticism rather than atheism, because we can never know the answer. Even if God were to reveal Himself to us, we could never be certain the Cosmic Consciousness came first. If the Laws of Nature is our God, then there is no purpose, for only a conscious being can have or create a purpose. If the Cosmic Consciousness does exist, and did predate the existence of the Universe, then whatever purpose it may have is of course far too grandiose for any human mind to even begin to comprehend. One other thing is for certain, our tiny world in this small Solar System in this great Galaxy the Milky Way in the vastness of intergalactic space, can have no significance at all in any Cosmic Plan.
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