Search for Truth: Is there a God?

Does God exist? Is there some being out there that is greater than me or this earth or this universe?

By the definition of I God I mean a supreme being who is perfect. By definition this being is above the bounds of the universe in which I live.

So, Is there a god?

My initial belief is yes, there is a god.

The universe had a beginning. Modern science agrees that there is some point in the past in which things began. If the universe did not have a beginning then the history of the universe would have to stretch into infinity. In more simple terms time has a linear direction. It passes from one time to the next. If there was no beginning to the universe then time must have been going on infinitely before this present period. 

Now, with this idea of an infinite beginning there lies a serious problem. Just as you can’t count down from infinity to zero you can’t count up to zero from negative infinity. Infinity is a never-ending number which you can’t begin a count. Because we know time moves in this linear way and there exists a present, or a “zero” then the past cannot stretch back into infinity or else there would exist no present. Therefore the universe must have a beginning.

Okay so the universe has a beginning. There was a point in which there was nothing and then there was a point in which there was something. The question is, how did this come to be?

The universe is so incredibly complex. Things just work together. Trees provide oxygen and need CO2. I breath out CO2 and need oxygen. The sun is the perfect distance away to provide life so that the earth doesn’t burn up or is incredibly cold. Organisms themselves are beings of incredible complexity. The eye of a human is more technologically advanced than anything we have currently.

But there are also other aspects of the universe that are incredible. I need food to eat and be nourished but it is also pleasing to me. The smell of a cheeseburger or pepperoni pizza is incredible. They are pleasing to eat.

The relationship between men and women is incredible. There is physical attraction to the other which sets off a pool of chemicals and hormones that create a myriad of emotions. However there is also something deeper. Between a couple there is a special bond, a connection. There is an intimate sharing of emotional and physical experiences that are between two people. How did this ever come to be?

The universe is so incredibly amazing. It’s awe inspiring and breathtaking. Did it all emerge from a “Big Bang” or the millions of patient years of evolution?

I believe it didn’t . The universe is too wonderfully put together for it all simply to happen by the chance of a bang which sent matter flying into all directions which somehow formed into planets and stars which somehow aligned in such a way to allow for life to exist which somehow was put together with such complexity to emerge as it does today. That is a long string of “which somehows”. It is far more likely that there was a creator. The universe is too well created. It shows the markings of intelligent design at every level and in every place.

As to the evolution theory there lie two problems. The first is that evolution does not explain the beginnings of the universe. The second is that there are serious flaws in the evolutionary timeline. There are huge gaps in the fossil record. There has been no archeological evidence of transitional organisms. If we all came from apes and it took millions of years for us to evolve one would think that there would be millions of fossils to dig up that would show the markings of this evolution. However, there have been none. What has been discovered has been either apes or people, no in-between. There have only been hoaxes which have been disproved.

The more I see the more the evidence suggests that there must be a creator. It is far more likely that there was a creator than the universe exploded into being or evolved from something that came from nothing.

No, there is a creator.

Now because there exists a creator and the universe had a beginning then the creator must be outside of the bounds of time. In order to be the creator of a universe that had a beginning then he must be outside of time. He (I use “he” as a convention) must be timeless with no beginning but must have always been.

Also because he is the creator of the universe he is not held by any of the rules we are. Everything we live in and everything we are is created. He made it. And because he made it he is not held by it. He must be above it.

Lastly, from my last post I introduced the idea of a good and evil. Because we are created beings then the internal moral compass was also created. God instilled in us a knowledge of what is right and wrong. That is a curious notion. Why would he put that sense of good into us? Why do we feel guilty when we do wrong?These are questions for the next post.

Do I believe in a creator? Yes. Do I believe in God? Yes. 

Who Cares?

    

     The best movie I’ve ever seen: “Blood Diamond”. Directed by Edward Zwick (Director of “Glory” and “The Last Samurai”) and released in 2006, “Blood Diamond” is a powerful movie based on the true story about the civil war of Sierra Leone in 1999 over diamond fields. The story follows a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou), named Solomon Vandy, whose village is attacked by a savage rebel group. The village people are massacred, women and children alike. Survivors have their arms chopped off to aviod them voting in upcoming elections. Luckily Vandy’s family escapes however, he is dragged away to be a slave of the rebels working in the diamond fields. 

     While sifting through a river Solomon finds a very large and precious diamond which he hides to keep from the rebel group. The story goes on: Solomon meets up with a mercenary/diamond smuggler Danny Archer played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The two use eachother for their own quests: Solomon trying to reunite with his family and Danny seeking to gain the diamond.

     Overall I was profoundly impacted by the portrayl of the atrocities commited in Aftrica by the rebel groups and the failures of an inept government. Before watching the movie I was unaware that there was even a war in this small African country called “Sierra Leone.” Even more I was shocked by the scores of horrible things that have happened there: the massacre of whole villages, children being spared only to be brainwashed and become child soldiers who carry AK-47s and in turn kill others, tightly packed refugee camps made up of thousands of now homeless people, and the complete breakdown of a nation. All of this was so someone could walk into thier local jeweler and buy a diamond wedding ring, or neclace, or earring. After watching this something within me wept for all that happened.  Other Americans after seeing the carnage and destruction would be touched after watching this too.

     But you know what? Who cares? Honestly, the horrors of what goes on in third world African nations is reported on the news every day but nothing gets done to solve the problems and stop the slaughter of innocent lives. I am reminded by a quote from the movie “Hotel Rawanda”; a journalist says, “People back home will watch this on TV and say, ‘that’s horrible’ and then go back to eating their dinners.” Too many Americans see what happens around the world and do absolutly nothing. Why? Perhaps becuase we don’t care or perhaps becuase we are too lazy. Because the execution of innocent women is too far away and the turning of thousands of 10 year-olds into child soldiers is foreign, we as Americans simply ignore it and as easily as that and our conscious is lifted. “Not my problem” is most likely the dark thought that hides in the back of our minds veiled behind our feigned cries of “that’s horrible.” No, Americans are much more concerned with the price of gas.

     That is the real tragedy: millions of innocent people die horrible deaths every day in places just like Sierra Leone and those who have the power to stop it care more about filling up their SUVs and getting home in time to watch the latest episodes of their favorite prime time TV than saving those crying out for help.