The existence of God ranks among the most profound and some would say most vexing mysteries we face. Many words have been written and spoken, with fervent pen and compelling voice.
With this article, I will add to those words, but with a particular slant. Rather than talk about whether God exists, I want to consider the other side. Can I reasonably conclude God does not exist? Can I be sure of non-existence?
And while on some questions I can argue to both sides, on this I can not. I find I must challenge people who say, definitively, there is no God.
To get started, we first need to define, briefly, a God for discussion here. We will use the Western/Middle Eastern God of the Bible.
The major monotheistic religions posit this God to be a single all-encompassing being, eternal in time, holy, Creator of the universe, the source of goodness, and the ultimate goal of our existence. This God has sent prophets in the form of man to deliver words of moral and theological truth. Mankind is to give homage and glory to this God and God will intervene with his power to strengthen individuals and mankind in general, and bring them to salvation.
So the question is can we definitely conclude this God does not exist.
Many have. They point out that over mankind’s history, Gods and gods of many cultures and many ages have come and gone, with their dogmas reduced to folklore and myth in the face of mankind’s expanding intellectual grasp.
Extrapolate forward, and the God of our current age appears headed for extinction, to be boxed into a corner and ultimately vanquished.
But I can not dismiss God. Why?
Metaphysics - Let’s start with the metaphysics of God. The Biblical God exists as a transcendental entity, eternal, outside of time and space, the creator of time and space.
Now that is an amazing belief, one which can readily strain credibility. How could such a thing be? But we must stop. You and I, humanity, we exist inside time and space. We are bounded by our three-dimensional, time dependent, limited-life-span existence.
So how can we know, for sure, what is outside of what any of our senses and instruments can measure. If I can not see outside of time and space, how can I make any firm conclusion about what exists in that transcendental realm?
Community of Believers - Now, not an insignificant number of people believe in monotheism, and not a small number have died for it. As I survey the historic growth of monotheism, and the breadth and depth of current belief, I can not convince myself that each and every believer is delusional or mistaken.
Now the number of believers in a tenet does not prove the truth of the tenet. However, we are not proving the existence of God, but rather examining whether we can conclude he doesn’t exist. Such a conclusion requires saying billions of believers are mistaken. I am not ready to do that.
One might respond that religion had indicted itself. One can point to the continued revision of religious beliefs, with past dogmas, held as certain, fading to be replaced by new, certain dogmas.
However, the conversion of a given religious dogma into myth may represent the extinction of a single truth, but not the extinction of religious thought overall. The totality of religious thought continues to develop and thrive unabated. We allow science to discard old theories without discarding science; we must allow religion to discard old beliefs without discarding religion.
The Christ - Then there is the reported resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Did the Christ rise from the dead? I don’t know. Arguments exist for both sides. I won’t necessary to recount them here, and really that isn’t the key. The key is that, as I view the discussion, neither viewpoint appears to have the upper hand.
So we have a draw, in my assessment. But to be certain of the non-existence of God, I judge that proof beyond a reasonable doubt is needed.
The Existence of Life - Then we have the finely-tuned constants of nature. These constants cover such items as the coupling force of atomic nuclei and the electrical charge of electrons. Calculations show small, in cases infinitesimal, deviations in these constants produce universes inhospitable to mankind.
How did that happen? Why are we so lucky? Some current scientific thought focuses on multiverses, where our universe is one of many, and across the span of those multiple universes the existence of our finely-tuned version would not be so rare.
