In reality, the existence of God cannot be proved or disproved; it is just of matter of faith. The world has always been polarized between two sets of people, the Theists and the Atheists. It would be very hard to prove or disprove the existence of God, but yes effort towards this can certainly be made. God, by very definition is “ A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions”. God from times immemorial has been referred to as the greatest invention of humans, where in they could rely on an imaginary being to take care of themselves and the events around. It instilled a sense of fear among individuals and this fear governs us till date. Talk logic and the concept of God fades away, to an extent, if not completely.
There can be many arguments that go unanswered:
1) The problem of theodicy: If the evil in the world is intended by God he is not good. If it violates his intentions he is not almighty. If only God can create he must have created evil. If somebody else created evil, how can one know that God, and not Satan created the universe?
2) If God knows everything, he knows what he will do in the "future". He must have known that from the very start of his own existence. If God knows everything, he knows what he will do in the "future". He must have known that from the very start of his own existence. God is tied by faith, he has no free will. If God has no free will God is not omnipotent. Another way to put it is that to be able to make plans and decisions one must act over time. If God stands above time he cannot do that and has no free will.
3) If everything must have been created, then God must have been created as well. If God is not created, then everything mustn't have a creator, so why should life or cosmos have one?
4) God has never bothered to contact me even on my repeated requests, so is it not that He might not even exist? I would want to know why He should shy away from listening to what I have to say. Is he busy, trying to act pricey or simply unconcerned?
5) If God exists, then how do we know which religion properly describes him? If God is so mysterious, how can we know anything about him? Through the Bible? How do we know that the Bible and not the Koran or the Veda books, for example, are the words of God? (Or the Bible if you believe in any of the other two books). Considering the cruelties that have been made in the name of God, how do we know that not all religions are made by Satan?
I believe that the Big Bang Theory is the dominant scientific theory about the origin of the universe. According to the big bang, the universe was created sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from a cosmic explosion that hurled matter and in all directions. The Big Bang Theory received its strongest confirmation when Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, who later won the Nobel Prize for this discovery, discovered this radiation in 1964. Although the Big Bang Theory is widely accepted, it probably will never be proved; consequentially, leaving a number of tough, unanswered questions. But this is the nearest equivalent to the theory of the Universe being created by God himself. I would rather subscribe to this theory, rather than clinging onto unproven facts.
I would like to end here, as this discussion seems to go on and on and on, without any end in sight, we can go on debating and still reach no conclusion. But one thing I would like to mention is that yes I do like going Temples and Gurudwaras, not because I go there to search for some God, but I go there to enjoy the serenity of the place and the tranquil atmosphere. When I see so many people bowing their heads in reverence to something unseen and unknown, it moves me to bits and I just cannot help but marvel at the power wielded by that unknown, unseen individual. Then, I also do not mind praying sometimes to God for help, though I would prefer not to admit in public, as I am believed to be a die hard Atheist, and this confession would somehow be seen as a denial of my earlier confession. I think the two best things religion has ever been the cause for are music and architecture.
I can sum up the whole thing by saying that:
1. No one person can claim credit for inventing the concept of God, not even founders of various religions.
2. The intention behind God: God has been used to educate and communicate (unintentionally of course) best practices of a particular period in history, for e.g. cow being sacred in Hindu mythology - very practical then as India was for quite a long time an agriculture based economy and cattle had immense uses for milk produce and ploughing fields.
3. God as a lifestyle statement: it was actually considered quite cool to devote your life and career to God. It was an "In profession" centuries ago that guaranteed status and perks.
4. That God is the first multinational product/service with customized local versions.
Thus, we can conclusively say “Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense."
Reference: http://godandscience.org/
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/b_bang.html
http://www.orkut.com/ and specially the community titled “Atheists” by Carolyn Marbry
3 comments:
1 As u told me two reasons which lead u to start despise God few years back and a am feeling extremely bad being one of them. So pl i request u not to think about my sorrows as u also says everyone is suffering so am i. When after so many problems i still love GOD and the other person(i don't wanna disclose) also believes in GOD then don't give us sense of guilt by making us reason of becoming base of this Atheist concept pl.
2 By believing or not believing the FACTS (God) can't change. Its like Pigeon's assuming that cat is not there to eat it by closing its eyes thought cat is coming to eat. Fact is cat is there. But i Respect ur ideaology. Just expressing as u expressed ur views in blog etc.
3 I feel u believe in God but just angry with Him. As i don't believe that a efficient person like u who don't believe in wasting precious time would spend soooooo much time on writing , thinking and expressing and talking about a thing which according to u Doesn't Even Exists. Look inside u believe in God.
4 and yes, if u consider Idols/books in temples etc as Gods the i am also with u. then me too is an Atheist as i believe God is within us. "Human Body is temple of Living God. He is sitting within us. We can talk to him. We fight if Someone splits wine in temple and r ready to even kill that person (who is also living temple) blaming to erode sacredness of temple but where living God is sitting we put all things in it making worst place for Him to live in. how much we hurt him we never know.
5 Till "I", "ME", "MINE" which in simple words called "EGO"/intelligence is there one can never see/feel God. We have to remove EGO/ intellectual mind which is standing b/w God n Us.
6. Have we ever seen/touched feeling, happiness, sadness, depression, excitement but still we say i am happy/sad. How will it be proved??
7 All holy books have given same basic message but we have made it source of fighting/killing by mis-interpretting.No religion says hate/Kil
Pl read it...
An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem
science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to
stand and .....
Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful ?
Student: Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How
is this God good then? Hmm?
Student is silent.
Prof: You can't answer, can you?
Let's start again, young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
Student does not answer.
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible
things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
Student has no answer.
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the
world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student:No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have
you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science
says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega
heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything
called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we
can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is
only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure
cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the
absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as
darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student:You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You
can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if
you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness,
isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make
darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof:Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there
is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing
the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir,
science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism,
but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death
as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot
exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just
the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students
that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of
course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where
the argument is going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's
brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain,
felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So,
according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable
protocol,science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir? (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir...The link between man & god is FAITH. That is
all that keeps things moving & alive. . . . . . .
THAT STUDENT WAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, President of India .
Evolution can in fact be observed in action. In large animals with long lifespans it is more difficult to see, but in bacteria and fruit flies it can be observed over a period of months.
The clearest example would be the development, since the first successful deployment of penicillin, of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This trait has become a major problem for medical science in the last sixty years, and it is a clear and straightforward result of evolution in action: a bacterium with a slight resistance to the antibiotic effects of Penicillium notatum was able to survive an incomplete course of the antibiotic, and when it reproduced, it passed on this resistance. Repeat as necessary, and today new antibiotics are needed as fast as they can be developed, or faster.
This does not "disprove" god, but you might want to remove the claim that evolution has not been observed from your argument, as it it simply and clearly untrue.
Regards,
-jpk
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