Existence of God the Debate

Existence of God

The debate about the existence of God is probably one of the most ancient ones. However, the supporters of either side have not been able to convince each other since the ones who believe that God exists have a lot of faith in this claim and those who believe that God does not exist are very firm about it. It will not be wrong to say that the belief that whether or not God exists is a matter of religion and also a matter of personal choice. In every religion including Islam, Christianity and Hinduism, to name a few, the followers believe that there is a God who they worship and who takes care of them. They always ask their God for any kind of help and have faith that their prayers will be answered. On the other hand, the Atheists do not have any such belief and they claim that the universe and everything that has been created has nothing to do with the existence of God but is all a matter of metaphysics. Hundreds of thousands of books have been written by scholars of the aforementioned religions and the Atheists philosophers in which evidence has been given about the existence or non-existence of God. There are many renowned Atheists who now believe that God does exist and also there are many people who have given up on this faith and now claim that there is no God who is watching over them. There can be many reasons as to why these people have changed their stance. Nevertheless, I believe that God exists and that he watches over us and provides for our sustenance and He is the one who answers our prayers and gets us through the hard times. In this paper, I would discuss the existence of God with respect to some of the literature that is available of this topic. We shall also take a look at some of the factors that influences one to believe that God does exist and the ones that convinces one to believe that God does not exist.

God exists -- Major Arguments

Those who believe that God exists; they believe that He is the Creator of the Universe and He is the owner of this world and the heavens. They believe that He is the one who made them out of a piece of flesh. This belief is common to many religions in which the followers have a strong belief regarding the existence of God. They say that when they look at everything around them, they see that there is a system for everything. The sun, every single day, comes out from the same direction and then sets in the same direction as well and this has been happening for millions of years now. A baby is born with just a drop of semen and ova, the exact process of which even modern science has not been able to prove. The crops grow after a certain period of time, they bear fruit and are sensitive to heat, rain and weather. If God did not exist, if there was no Master of the universe then all these things would not happen in such a systematic way as they do. The existence of God can be proved by many different arguments. Some people explain it by making use of the developments in science; the others build their argument on history, personal experience or philosophy. The most important and most widely used argument that is used by those who want to convince others that God does exist is the philosophical one (Bambrough, 1993).

Each one of the arguments that have been devised for this purpose, if prove to be successful, they support a particular concept of the existence of God. The ontological argument, for example, is the one that tries to convince people that there has to be the existence of someone who is perfect, the first cause argument claims that there has to be an existence of a Creator who is eternal and the argument for design puts forth the concept that the Creator has a special attachment with the humanity, meanwhile the moral argument is the one that claims the moral authority of God. The main purpose of all these arguments, at the end of the day, is to prove that God exists, who is perfect and is the Creator of the world, who is eternal and who has a special attachment and love for humanity. We shall next look at each of these arguments in detail.

The first and the most important proof that is given for the existence of God is the ontological argument. The purpose of this argument is to prove the existence of God by taking help from only the laws of logic. This argument was first presented by a philosopher as well as theologian and archbishop of Canterbury, St. Anselm and then was later on also used by Rene Descartes, the French philosopher to prove the existence of God. He put forth the argument that once we start believing that God exists, then it becomes impossible for us to say that God does not exist. If this argument is successfully demonstrated then it becomes evident that God exists and He is perfect in all the possible ways.

St. Anselm had an extensive argument with an atheist, Athelred, according to which he said that saying that God does not exist is a contradictory statement in its own. He claimed that the existence of this universe and everything else that is in it is a proof in its own that God does exist (Inwagen, 1993).

The second proof that is claimed about the existence of God is called the first cause argument, which is also known as the cosmological argument. This is the argument that is presented to provide evidence for the existence of God from the true fact that a whole universe has been created and exists. According to this argument, the universe was created millions and billions of years ago about which no one knows. Moreover, this argument claims that nothing can be created if there is no one to create it and if there was nothing in this world then it could be argued that there is no God. The argument elaborates that there must be some being outside this world who created it. If this argument is successful in its demonstration that people can be convinced that God is the Creator of the universe who has always been there and who will be there for eternity, with no beginning or end.

Now we shall discuss the third argument that is given to prove the existence of God and this argument is called the argument from design, for which the other word is teleological argument. The purpose of this particular argument is to prove that God exists from the fact that everything in this world happens according to a system just like it is being ordered.

There is a possibility that the universe could have been completely different from how it has been made in many different ways. It is possible that there could be some other laws that would govern physics, there could have been a completely different pattern of stars and planets and the universe could have started with a stronger or a weaker big bang.

The argument also concludes that if the universe was arranged in a way that was different from how it is today, the existence of anything would not have been possible. Therefore, we are fortunate to have the universe work in a way that it does at the moment. On the other hand, when an atheist is asked to explain his views on the working of the system of the universe, he does not really have an answer to this and he does not have any argument to convince others that what is the other reason besides the existence of God that explains this good fortune of ours. Moreover, the people who firmly believe that God exists have the right reasoning for this good fortune. They claim that God created this universe the way it is with the intention of sending beings like us humans on the earth. If this argument is successful in its demonstration then the point that God exists as the Creator of the universe and whose interest is in humanity can be proved.

The last but not the least proof that is often given by philosophers regarding the existence of God is the moral argument. The purpose of moral argument is to provide evidence for the existence of God based on the reality that moral laws exist.

According to this argument, moral laws are something that performs the purpose of commands for us as these are the laws that tell us what we should do and what we shouldn't. Then comes the question that if there is no one to give the commands then where are these commands coming from? Who has made this our moral duty to obey these moral laws?

In order for us to answer this question of utmost importance, we have to probe into the nature of morality that is in fact quite authoritative. Therefore, it becomes evident that Commander of these laws is definitely more powerful and more authoritative than the command itself. Moreover, moral commands are such that they have a link with the ultimate authority and these laws have to be obeyed anywhere and everywhere irrespective of what the circumstances are. The authority of these moral rules is superior to all the rules, regulations and authority of the human beings. Therefore, the authority of the one who has given these commands is superior to the combined authority of the human beings.

The argument of existence of moral laws gives the conclusion that a being exists whose authority is superior to the authority of any of the human beings and whose rules are superior to the rules that have been created by the authorities of this world.

As a whole these arguments have been very successful in proving that God exists, who is the perfect being who is important for the sustenance of this universe and all that is present within this universe, who is superior to all that has been created or ever will be created, who has the absolute authority of every single thing that exists in this world and who does that is best for the humanity.

God exists -- why?

Most of the people just want a simple answer and explanation to this extremely complicated and complex statement that God does exist. For those who want to understand the existence of God can do so by answering or understanding the answers of six major questions (Clark, 1946).

The first question is that if there is not God that who created this universe and who has been sustaining it for too long. When we look around us, we see that whole universe has been created perfectly. The shape of the earth, for example, is exactly the same it was when it was created. There is a specific amount of gravity in the core of the earth that has not increased or decreased over so many years and manages to pull a certain amount of gases over its surface. Moreover, the moon is a specific distance away from the earth and that is how it has always been. It takes a specific number of turns and the earth takes a specific number of turns around the sun. The second question that compels us to believe that God exists is that who caused the formation of this universe. Scientists believe and have also convinced some people that the universe started with a great explosion which they call the Big Bang and that is how the universe came into being (Weinberg, 1998). However, there must be something or someone that caused this Big Bang and the thing with which the explosion took place must also have been created or produced by someone. This where the answer kicks in; it is God who created the universe and therefore, he exists.

We all know that there are some laws of nature that have always been obeyed no matter what the circumstances may be. Scientists have tried to come up with explanations for these laws of nature, but they have not been compelling enough for one to deny the existence of God. These laws are so simple and yet they are so complex. For example, the earth is attracted to the sun and so are the rest of the planets and the moon is attracted to the earth. These laws of nature have not changed ever since they came into existence and there has not been any increase or decrease in the values that are associated with these laws. If there was no God then it would not have been possible for these laws to be applicable in every single system of the universe and they would also get altered over such a long period of time.

Now let's move on towards science to find an answer to the question about the existence of God. It should be noted that the scientists have found an extremely extensive DNA structure and sequence that is present in every cell of the human body. These DNA sequences have precise instructions pertaining to the function of the cell (Collins, 2006). Each and every function that the cell performs is according to the instructions that are contained in these sequences. However, the scientists believe that it is not possible for anyone to make even a single instruction code for a particular cell, let apart the whole DNA. Therefore, it gives us the evidence that if there was no God, if there was no one who was superior to the humanity then the formation of these DNA sequences was just not possible.

Millions of atheists have turned into people who do believe in the existence of God. There is a reason why this happened and the reason is that God exists and He looks over each and every human being and he wants the human beings to come back to Him (Flew, 2008). Those who believe that God exists know that He will always be there for them no matter what happens. These people also believe that God loves them and even if they are in distress for some time, He will take them out of this distress. Not only have the people who believe in God, but also the atheists had this constant pressure in their minds pertaining to the existence of God. If there was no God then this pressure would not exist either because He wants to be known and He wants people to realize that He is around and there for them. This is the power that is so strong that it compels the people to believe that there is God around them and they are forced to believe so.