KNOWING THERE IS A GOD FROM KNOWN FACTS OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
"Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?" (Job 38:33, NLT).
"The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." --Carl Sagan, deceased humanist professor of astronomy at Cornell University and author of the book and TV series Cosmos.
"God doesn't play dice with the universe." "The universe appears to be some vast mathematical equation."--attributed to Albert Einstein
"Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind." --Einstein
NB: THOSE WHO THINK SCIENCE IS IN CONFLICT WITH SCRIPTURE UNDERSTAND NEITHER!
There have been many arguments to attempt proof of God; however, there's no sure-fire way, proving without a shadow of a doubt, with some "smoking gun" evidence, that cannot be denied, forcing one to believe either way against one's will, but when combined with the preponderance of the evidence (that there is or isn't a God) one can exercise faith in the direction of choice. It takes faith both ways and all knowledge is contingent on taking some leap of faith and accepting something you cannot prove (and this applies to any field or academic discipline).
Here's my own theory that I have concluded about the existence of God to make you wonder. I will use scientific and philosophical facts to prove religious truth. Note that to the ancient Greeks, science and philosophy had no clear-cut distinction and were considered one disciple in the pursuit of true knowledge or metaphysics. Here's a cogent argument or rationale as an inferential argument and evidence for God's existence. Remember, evidence and arguments are not necessarily proofs nor conclusive, they just lead one in a certain direction, and you go in that direction to make your decision.
First, there are (Newton's) Laws of Motion begging the question of how motion began with the first movement (namely, his First Law, known as inertia) in physics (i.e., a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion without an input of energy; who started it all?); secondly, there's the Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty, stating that you cannot simultaneously determine the location and speed of an object in motion, which means you can only theoretically see it at a position because it's motion would have to be stopped--implying the universe is not completely mechanical; thirdly, the question unanswered philosophically or scientifically about how thought can influence motion, or physical things (like our body) when thought takes up no space and physical things do; finally, there's a law of science that nothing comes from nothing or can create itself as a corollary (ex nihilo, nihil fit, or Latin for "out of nothing, nothing comes"), and so there couldn't ever be a time with nothing existing! Nothing existing would be unthinkable!
"Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?" (Job 38:33, NLT).
"The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." --Carl Sagan, deceased humanist professor of astronomy at Cornell University and author of the book and TV series Cosmos.
"God doesn't play dice with the universe." "The universe appears to be some vast mathematical equation."--attributed to Albert Einstein
"Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind." --Einstein
NB: THOSE WHO THINK SCIENCE IS IN CONFLICT WITH SCRIPTURE UNDERSTAND NEITHER!
There have been many arguments to attempt proof of God; however, there's no sure-fire way, proving without a shadow of a doubt, with some "smoking gun" evidence, that cannot be denied, forcing one to believe either way against one's will, but when combined with the preponderance of the evidence (that there is or isn't a God) one can exercise faith in the direction of choice. It takes faith both ways and all knowledge is contingent on taking some leap of faith and accepting something you cannot prove (and this applies to any field or academic discipline).
Here's my own theory that I have concluded about the existence of God to make you wonder. I will use scientific and philosophical facts to prove religious truth. Note that to the ancient Greeks, science and philosophy had no clear-cut distinction and were considered one disciple in the pursuit of true knowledge or metaphysics. Here's a cogent argument or rationale as an inferential argument and evidence for God's existence. Remember, evidence and arguments are not necessarily proofs nor conclusive, they just lead one in a certain direction, and you go in that direction to make your decision.
First, there are (Newton's) Laws of Motion begging the question of how motion began with the first movement (namely, his First Law, known as inertia) in physics (i.e., a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion without an input of energy; who started it all?); secondly, there's the Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty, stating that you cannot simultaneously determine the location and speed of an object in motion, which means you can only theoretically see it at a position because it's motion would have to be stopped--implying the universe is not completely mechanical; thirdly, the question unanswered philosophically or scientifically about how thought can influence motion, or physical things (like our body) when thought takes up no space and physical things do; finally, there's a law of science that nothing comes from nothing or can create itself as a corollary (ex nihilo, nihil fit, or Latin for "out of nothing, nothing comes"), and so there couldn't ever be a time with nothing existing! Nothing existing would be unthinkable!
Is mind over matter and does it precede matter? We know that something other than matter and energy exists in the real world and that is intelligence. Some atheists erroneously posit that time plus matter, plus energy, plus space with infinite time can make anything possible! But can one argue matter has power over mind because physical things influence our thinking? We are a dualistic being of body joined to the soul. Both are problems without believing in God as the sole primary cause of the universe (Causa prima in Latin).
The philosophical truths that everything that had a beginning has a cause and that infinite regress is impossible also apply. For instance, the universe had a beginning and came into being at some point in the past about 15 billion years ago at the so-called Big Bang, according to astronomers; thus it had a cause and someone or something set it into motion or dialed, measured, and fixed the universal constants and laws that the whole universe is ruled by. If there was a beginning, there was a beginner--it's only logical! If there is a cause, there must be a first cause, by the same token (remember, there's no infinite regress, which only would compound the problem indefinitely for eternity).
All events and objects in space and time had a beginning, but don't jump to the conclusion that everything had a beginning; that would be fatal reasoning, and then there would be a time when nothing existed. God is outside space and time, which He created and controls! And logic states the truth that out of nothing, nothing comes (ex nihilo, nihil fit)! (Remember, if ever there was a time with nothing existing, we would have nothing now!) If the universe were without beginning, on the other hand, you are saying it's infinitely old, and if that were so: wouldn't everything be perfect by now? The Bible stated in 2 Tim. 1:9 and Titus 1:2 that time had a beginning long before famed physicist Stephen Hawking wrote his book A Brief History of Time (we know there was a beginning of time because it's a corollary of space and matter).
We are trapped in the four dimensions of the time/space continuum. Science now reasons and concludes that time had a beginning at the Big Bang and the clock started ticking, (with someone pulling the trigger, obviously). Nothing can create itself, which would violate the law of noncontradiction, which is the first law of being and its extension being the law of causality, or cause and effect. Christian theologians knew this all the time!
Now the paradox I propose is the one of motion (and there is no scientific definition of motion as one of the eternal mysteries that remains unsolved since antiquity). Before you go from point A to point B you must reach the half-way mark (this paradox has been called Zeno's paradox, a Greek philosopher of antiquity). Now note that it's impossible to know when you have reached the half-way point due to Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty. And before you reach that half-way point you have to reach the half-way point of that or the quarter point, then the eighth point, ad infinitum! That's why there's no clear-cut definition of motion. You could never move if you had to keep on reaching a mid-point to end up at the endpoint! But movement is common sense!
Now we know there is no such thing as infinite regress by this conclusion, as proof now; we do see motion in action, despite our logic telling us motion is impossible. We just don't understand everything we see and feel or reason! There had to be someone or something that put it into motion! Who started the so-called ball rolling? There could be no motion with infinite regress!
The philosophical truths that everything that had a beginning has a cause and that infinite regress is impossible also apply. For instance, the universe had a beginning and came into being at some point in the past about 15 billion years ago at the so-called Big Bang, according to astronomers; thus it had a cause and someone or something set it into motion or dialed, measured, and fixed the universal constants and laws that the whole universe is ruled by. If there was a beginning, there was a beginner--it's only logical! If there is a cause, there must be a first cause, by the same token (remember, there's no infinite regress, which only would compound the problem indefinitely for eternity).
All events and objects in space and time had a beginning, but don't jump to the conclusion that everything had a beginning; that would be fatal reasoning, and then there would be a time when nothing existed. God is outside space and time, which He created and controls! And logic states the truth that out of nothing, nothing comes (ex nihilo, nihil fit)! (Remember, if ever there was a time with nothing existing, we would have nothing now!) If the universe were without beginning, on the other hand, you are saying it's infinitely old, and if that were so: wouldn't everything be perfect by now? The Bible stated in 2 Tim. 1:9 and Titus 1:2 that time had a beginning long before famed physicist Stephen Hawking wrote his book A Brief History of Time (we know there was a beginning of time because it's a corollary of space and matter).
We are trapped in the four dimensions of the time/space continuum. Science now reasons and concludes that time had a beginning at the Big Bang and the clock started ticking, (with someone pulling the trigger, obviously). Nothing can create itself, which would violate the law of noncontradiction, which is the first law of being and its extension being the law of causality, or cause and effect. Christian theologians knew this all the time!
Now the paradox I propose is the one of motion (and there is no scientific definition of motion as one of the eternal mysteries that remains unsolved since antiquity). Before you go from point A to point B you must reach the half-way mark (this paradox has been called Zeno's paradox, a Greek philosopher of antiquity). Now note that it's impossible to know when you have reached the half-way point due to Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty. And before you reach that half-way point you have to reach the half-way point of that or the quarter point, then the eighth point, ad infinitum! That's why there's no clear-cut definition of motion. You could never move if you had to keep on reaching a mid-point to end up at the endpoint! But movement is common sense!
Now we know there is no such thing as infinite regress by this conclusion, as proof now; we do see motion in action, despite our logic telling us motion is impossible. We just don't understand everything we see and feel or reason! There had to be someone or something that put it into motion! Who started the so-called ball rolling? There could be no motion with infinite regress!
Bingo! God is known as the sole primary cause of the universe and also the First Cause (by Aristotle); this means He must put it into motion as the Prime Mover, Unmoved Mover, or Uncaused Cause. The principle is that nothing can be its own cause and that nothing just happens by itself. If God had an antecedent cause, He would be trapped in the time/space continuum like we are, and would be the effect of something Himself; however He created time, matter, and space at creation; therefore, He has no cause! Either there is no motion, which seems insane and delusional, or there is no God or First Cause behind all events that happen in time. This brings new light to the opening words of Scripture: "In the beginning God created...." Note also God's name "I Am" could be translated "I cause to be," or I am the First Cause!
With all the intelligent input into the constants and laws of the Big Bang, such as the constant of gravity, charge of the electron the strength of the weak and strong nuclear forces, the atomic weight of a proton, etc., it only proves a Supreme Mind was behind it all, because there can be no intelligence without a mind-matter is, by nature, chaotic, and not ordered (order comes from an Orderer; design from a Designer, etc.). In the beginning, was pure energy that had no organization but was chaotic and had no order. A point in fact: Energy needs intelligence to be made useful and productive.
With all the intelligent input into the constants and laws of the Big Bang, such as the constant of gravity, charge of the electron the strength of the weak and strong nuclear forces, the atomic weight of a proton, etc., it only proves a Supreme Mind was behind it all, because there can be no intelligence without a mind-matter is, by nature, chaotic, and not ordered (order comes from an Orderer; design from a Designer, etc.). In the beginning, was pure energy that had no organization but was chaotic and had no order. A point in fact: Energy needs intelligence to be made useful and productive.
Cosmos implies order and design and doesn't come from chaos and confusion, the normal state of energy, but we see the fine-tuned one in the cosmos. This is often called the argument from design, or teleological argument for God. But Scripture states that logic (intelligence) and order was from the beginning: "In the beginning was the Word (Logos or logic)..."--John 1:1); "In the beginning, God created..."--Gen.1:1.
The conclusion of the matter is that the existence of motion proves the existence of God and we can no more deny His existence than we can argue against motion and cannot prove either exists, but must have faith--our experience will be the verification, as the proof is in the pudding! You can experience and encounter God by faith ("Taste and see that the LORD is good," cf. Psalm 34:8); however, you must take a leap of faith first and this is a choice you make freely without being forced, which would be coercion or determinism--and God respects your choices.
We know, according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics or entropy, that matter isn't eternal because it's running out of usable energy and everything goes from a state of order to confusion, not vice versa, while someday there will be a heat death of the cosmos with no usable energy left: this implies there was a beginning to the universe and it cannot be eternal but must be created or caused! Soli Deo Gloria!
The conclusion of the matter is that the existence of motion proves the existence of God and we can no more deny His existence than we can argue against motion and cannot prove either exists, but must have faith--our experience will be the verification, as the proof is in the pudding! You can experience and encounter God by faith ("Taste and see that the LORD is good," cf. Psalm 34:8); however, you must take a leap of faith first and this is a choice you make freely without being forced, which would be coercion or determinism--and God respects your choices.
We know, according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics or entropy, that matter isn't eternal because it's running out of usable energy and everything goes from a state of order to confusion, not vice versa, while someday there will be a heat death of the cosmos with no usable energy left: this implies there was a beginning to the universe and it cannot be eternal but must be created or caused! Soli Deo Gloria!