Does God Exist 1

Does God Exist

Sarosh Shaheeen

HZT4U

Philosophy

Master Villeneuve

Does God Exist 2

Introduction

“Almost from the start of civilization, more than 10,000 years ago, religion has

shaped human history. Today more than half the world’s population practices a major

religion or indigenous spiritual tradition.” (Morrison & Brown, 2009) One of the biggest

topics, not only philosophically, but in general human society is whether or not God

exists. Explaining the nature or purpose of God is very difficult, as God can’t be seen,

heard, felt or quantified. Determing the existence of God ties into the philosophical realm

of metaphysics, which is “the study of the fundamental nature of being and reality;

supposedly distinct from physics, as it attempts to consider issues concerning the

existence and nature of non-physical entities, or the nature of being and reality as such (in

itself).” (Gregory). Joseph Joubert once said: “It is easy to understand God as long as

you don't try to explain him.”

There are five types of interpretations regarding the existence of God, with the

five main ones being theism (the belief in a personal God who intervenes in the lives of

the creation). There are three different forms of theism, including monotheism,

polytheism, and henotheism. There is also atheism (form of active disbelief in God),

agnosticism (belief in God in undecided/uncertain), pantheism (everything is God),

panentheism (the belief that God is in everything) and deism (confirms the existence of

God but deny that God has revealed Himself to us) Every major religion has some type of

definition for divine intervention, with the three major religions, Islam, Christianity, and

Judaism having the most prominent images about God. Each branch shall be examined

thoroughly in an attempt to answer the question: Does God really exist?

Does God Exist 3

Judaist Perspective

Perhaps the world’s oldest major monotheistic religion, and probably the most

enduring, is Judaism. Judaism rose more than 3000 years ago. “The first tenet of Judaism

is that there is only one universal God. This God is the God not only of the Jews, but the

God of all peoples and nations” (Morrison, & Brown, 2009). The beginning of Judaism

(as well as Islam and Christianity) started with Abraham.

“Abraham dedicated his life to denouncing idolatry. This is why he is called the

first Jew; he was the first to take on the world and proclaim the folly of idolatry.

As a result, God promised he would have children from Isaac who would carry on

his work and inherit the land of Israel (then called Canaan) after having been

exiled and redeemed. As such, he gave Isaac's son Jacob the title Israel, and

dedicated his children to be his nation” (What is Judaism).

In Judaism, God is referred to as YHWH, pronounced Yahweh. In Judaism, God’s

nature is viewed as eternal and non-corporeal. In the Judaist view, human nature is

nowhere close to God’s nature, so we cannot give God human-like qualities

(anthropomorphism), but anthropomorphism must be used because there is no other way

to talk about God without using human qualities. The view of God in Judaism is strictly

monotheistic, with God being shown as the primary source of morality, and has the

properties of being omnipotent, omni benevolent, and omniscience. In Judaism, peoples

actions does not make God ‘happy’ or ‘sad’; The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible

explains:

Does God Exist 4

"Gaze at the heavens and see, and view the skies, which are higher than you. If

you sinned, how do you harm God, and if your transgressions are many, what do

you do to God? If you are righteous, what do you give God? Or what does God

take from your hand? Your wickedness affects a person like yourself, and your

righteousness a child of humanity." This surmises that the only person you are

affecting from your good or bad actions is yourself.

The idea of God is held as a singular concept in Judaism. “One of the central

prayers in Judaism, the Shema, expresses the most profound tenet of Judaism: the belief

in monotheism."Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one"”. The idea of

considering God as a duality of nature (good and evil) or a trinity (such as in Christianity)

is strictly forbidden.

“It is because of the absolute belief in the unity of God that Judaism rejected the

idea of Jesus as the incarnation of God and the conception of the Trinity.

According to Judaism, such beliefs both violate God's unity and blur the

distinction between humanity and God. Judaism is vitally concerned with

maintaining God's otherness from human beings; as a result, any physical

representations or descriptions of God are forbidden”  (C/jeep).

There are many human interrelations with God, as Harold Kushner, a

Conservative rabbi, writes, "God shows His love for us by reaching down to bridge the

immense gap between Him and us. God shows His love for us by inviting us to enter into

a Covenant with Him, and by sharing with us His Torah". Earlier in time, the human

interactions between God and his people were directed. For example, God spoke to

Does God Exist 5

Moses through a burning bush. So in that time period, revelations such as these were

believable, because certain people have lived through them. In the modern world, God

doesn’t seem to have as a direct impact as He did back than. Or, miracles of God go

unseen. Another major miracle that Moses witnessed and preformed himself is the

parting of the Red Sea. Many people were there to witness it, which is how it could be

preserved in time, through word of mouth and through writings, such as the Hebrew

scriptures (Torah and Talmud). This is what allows the religions to maintain their

longevity and keep their prominence into the modern world, through their writings and

morals.

Does God Exist 6

Islam Perspective

The worlds youngest, and second biggest religion in the world is Islam. Islam

came into prominence in the seventh century, during the life of the last prophet

Mohammed. The term Islam literally means ‘to submit to God’ the term ‘Muslim’ applies

to a person, and means ‘one who submits to God’. The God that is worshipped in Islam is

the same God that is worshipped in the other Abrahamic religions, Christianity and

Judaism.

In Islam, there are 5 tenants, or ‘pillars’ that must be followed, with the most

important being the Shahada, which states: “Ash hadoo an laa ilaahaa ilallaah [I bear

witness that there is no god but Allah (one god)] Ash hadoo anna Muhammadan

Rasoollallah (I bear witness that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah). If you state those

two things with belief and conviction, you are Muslim.” (Appendix). This pillar confirms

that you believe in Allah’s existence and that Mohammed is his last prophet.

The depiction of God in Islam from some non-Muslims sometimes reaches to the

point where He is being depicted as very stern, unkind, and vindictive. However, that

picture is greatly skewed and God is nothing like that in Islam. “It is enough to know

that, with the exception of one, each of the 114 chapters of the Qur'an begins with the

verse " In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate"” (Concept of God in

islam). The names of God are important because these are the qualities that Muslims try

to emulate. “It is one of the tools that Muslims use to know their creator better. By trying

to emulate the 99 ``beautiful names,'' as the Koran puts it, Muslims try to become better

people. God's names are their guide.” (Scheinin, 1998). Islam holds a monist view of

Does God Exist 7

God, which describes Him as a perfectly unified being who describes all things.

However, he is not in people or objects, Like Judaism, the concept of God is strictly

monotheistic, and isn’t allowed to be depicted physically in any type of form, human or

otherwise. In Islam, God is fully aware of your thoughts and feelings and you cannot hide

them.

“Of all the ties that people have, their relationship with Allah is obviously the first

and foremost. It determines their other relationships with their fellow human beings,

family, community, and state. It prescribes the whole range of human's relationships with

all that exists in the universe.” (Islahi, 2006). This means that if you have a healthy, or

unhealthy, relationship with Allah, your other relationships are predetermined.

The Qu’ran itself contains many scientific relevations that were only discovered

many centuries after the Qu’ran came into the hands of man. Let us take a very simple,

common-day example that most people overlook: The miracle of wood sustaining and

encouraging the development of fire. The Qu’ran says,

“Have you thought about the fire that you light? Is it you who make the trees that

fuel it grow or are We the Grower? We have made it to be a reminder and a comfort for

travellers in the wild. So glorify the name of your Lord, the Magnificent! (Surat al-Waqi

‘a, 71-74)”.

“Hydrogen, oxygen and carbon are the building blocks of millions of substances

in nature. But as a miracle from Allah, these three also combine to give rise to the

substance “lignocellulose” found in plants. Although scientists know that they contain

Does God Exist 8

these substances they are unable to reproduce this special material in plants” (The miracle

of fire and wood, that cannot be obtained artificially”). The fact that the Qu’ran explicitly

states that ‘We the Grower’ shows that lignocellulose can be a substance of divine

creation and cannot be made my man. Another major scientific discovery stated in the

Qu’ran is the conception of the fetus in the female womb. Dr. Gerald Goeringer, a

professor of medical embryology, states that the Qu’ran has immense detail of the stages

of human development in the time period that it was revealed:

“In a relatively few ayahs (Quranic verses) is contained a rather comprehensive description of human development from the time of commingling of the gametes through organogenesis. No such distinct and complete record of human development, such as classification, terminology, and description, existed previously. In most, if not all, instances, this description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature" (Goeringer).

The Qu’ran says in its 23rd chapter, spanning from line 12 to line 14:

“And indeed we created man (Adam) out of an extract from clay (water and earth). Thereafter We made him (the offspring of Adam) as a Nutfah (mixed drops of the male and female sexual discharge and lodged it) in a safe lodging (womb of a woman). Then We made the Nutfah into a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood), then We made the clot into a little lump of flesh, then We made out of that little lump of flesh bones, the We clothed the bones with Flesh, and than We brought it forth as another creation. So Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators.”

The Qu’ran holds fascinating scientific theories that have been around for more

than 1400 years, and have only been discovered scientifically in the past 100. That is to

say, the Qu’ran is not a science textbook, rather it is a guideline to judge right from

wrong.

In the end, the Qu’ran has topics spanning from how to enter your house to telling

you why you should never break an oath. The Qu’ran certainly contains some stunning

information that could not be known to man at the time, which might leave the area open

for suggestions that the existence of a being that is greater than humans, a God.

Does God Exist 9

Christian Perspective

"Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and

became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe

and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise." (Pascoe, 2010)

These are the words Sam Pascoe used to describe the rapid expansion of Christianity. Out

of all the religions that have graced the earth, none has had an impact like Christianity in

the western world. The world’s most populous religion, not just in North America, but in

the majority of continents is Christianity. Christians in general believes in God as a

unified body, composed of 3 parts, the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit, which is

how the majority Christians across the world begin their prayers. These 3 parts unified

together are called the Holy Trinity.

Christianity only started after the death of Jesus of Nazareth, but the principles of

Christianity are based on what happened during the course of His lifetime. During His

lifetime, Jesus set what is called ‘Christian behaviors’ during His life, which is what

modern Christians try to emulate today. However, only after Jesus’ death had Christianity

become Christianity.

While Jesus might have been the originator of Christianity, the official endorser

of Christianity is Constantine, who made most of Europe convert to Christianity:

“Constantine’s conversion to Christianity helped in many ways. His followers and

subjects were protected from persecution, and Christian leaders were given many

gifts from him. Constantine’s strong faith to Christianity exposed his entire

empire to the religion. He had made Sunday an official holiday so more people

Does God Exist 10

can attend church, and allowed churches to be tax-exempt” (Ferguson, & Grupp,

1998).

The decription of God within Christianity is almost consistent with the definition

of God in Judaism and Islam:

“God is a personal being (not an impersonal force). God is immaterial, omnipresent (everywhere), omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), omnibenevolent (all good), immutable (unchanging), sovereign (supreme in authority), free, perfect, and eternal (without beginning or end). As the creator and sustainer of the universe it is understandable that there are some characteristics of God that are beyond our ability to comprehend. For instance God is one divine being in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each are equally and eternally the one true God” (Bruggencate).

The main difference between God in Christianity and God in Judaism and Islam is

that God is held as a trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in Christianity, which is

forbidden in Judaism and Islam. Christianity also holds the very unique view that God is

within each and every one of us, meaning that all human are holy, and we are all temples

of God.

Christianity has strong arguments of why God exists, and how He effects the

universe. The Bible states that being a Christian, one of the major facts that you must

accept through faith is the fact that God exists: “And without faith it is impossible to

please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He

rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Perhaps one of the most commonly thought of arguments is the cosmological

argument, which has to do with the creation and perfection of the universe. The

cosmological argument answers the question who/what made the universe?

Does God Exist 11

“Where does the Universe come from? Atheists have generally claimed that it

always existed. But this would mean that an infinite number of events have

already taken place until now. In mathematics, however, infinite numbers lead to

a contradiction. For example, what is infinity minus infinity? No infinite number

can therefore exist in reality. Hence the Universe cannot be infinitely old”

(Fackerell).

This argument is also called the First Cause Argument, which states that God is

the cause of all causes. Atheists will instantly bring up the question, ‘than what caused

God?’. While neither science nor religion can answer this, the explanation that God is not

in the material universe can supply a plausible explanation:

“God's existence is not rooted firstly in the material universe. He existed outside

of it in another realm before the Physical Universe existed. The laws of that realm

we have no knowledge about and we cannot impose the rules of our natural realm

on that other realm” (Fackerell).

All three major monotheistic religions claim that there is a material world, and

than there is a spiritual world, and that God exists in the spiritual world and can only

subtly communicate with us in the material.

The Teleological Argument, also known as the design argument, tell people to

observe around you how perfect the universe is, and at all the rules that there are to keep

it in balance. David Hume (1779) explains in his book, Dialogues Concerning Natural

Religion, how perfect the universe is:

Does God Exist 12

“Look round the world; contemplate the whole and every part of it: You will find it to be nothing but one great machine, subdivided into an infinite number of lesser machines, which again admit of subdivisions to a degree beyond what human senses and faculties can trace and explain. All these various machines, and even their most minute parts, are adjusted to each other with an accuracy which ravishes into admiration all men who have ever contemplated them. The curious adapting of means to ends, throughout all nature, resembles exactly, though it much exceeds, the productions of human contrivance; of human design, thought, wisdom, and intelligence. Since, therefore, the effects resemble each other, we are led to infer, by all the rules of analogy, that the causes also resemble; and that the Author of Nature is somewhat similar to the mind of man, though possessed of much larger faculties, proportioned to the grandeur of the work which he has executed. By this argument a posteriori, and by this argument alone, do we prove at once the existence of a Deity, and his similarity to human mind and intelligence (p. 15)”.

Hume states that that accuracy at which the universe is created can only be done

by a diving being; God.

There is one last argument called the Ontological argument, which state the view

point that “Ontological arguments are arguments, for the conclusion that God exists, from

premises which are supposed to derive from some source other than observation of the

world—e.g., from reason alone. In other words, ontological arguments are arguments

from nothing but analytic, a priori and necessary premises to the conclusion that God

exists” (Oppy, 2007).

What Oppy is stating is that God is a perfect being, and because he is perfect he

must exist. There are many popular ontological arguments, but perhaps the most famous

one is made by St. Anselm of Canterbury, who claims:

“To derive the existence of God from the concept of a being than which no

greater can be conceived. St. Anselm reasoned that, if such a being fails to exist,

then a greater being—namely, a being than which no greater can be conceived,

and which exists—can be conceived. But this would be absurd: nothing can be

Does God Exist 13

greater than a being than which no greater can be conceived. So a being than

which no greater can be conceived—i.e., God—exists (Oppy, 2007)”.

St. Anselm (1965) also talks about how man himself can perceive God, and His

perfection:

“Thus even the fool is convinced that something than which nothing greater can be conceived is in the understanding, since when he hears this, he understands it; and whatever is understood is in the understanding. And certainly that than which a greater cannot be conceived cannot be in the understanding alone. For if it is even in the understanding alone, it can be conceived to exist in reality also, which is greater. Thus if that than which a greater cannot be conceived is in the understanding alone, then that than which a greater cannot be conceived is itself that than which a greater can be conceived. But surely this cannot be. Thus without doubt something than which a greater cannot be conceived exists, both in the understanding and in reality” (Anselm, 1965).

St. Anselm is saying that if you can understand the concept of God, than God can

exist in someones reality, and because God exists in your reality, than God is perfect.

Because the choice of accepting or deciding God is based on some ones freewill, God

exists only when someone accepts the fact that he does.

In conclusion, Christianity shows arguments that we think about when someone is

losing their faith in God, and answers the impossible with probable answers.

Does God Exist 14

Conclusion

Through this essay, I have given proof that there can be a higher being that is

greater than humans, it is up to you to decide whether or not the proof is accurate. While

atheism itself can be an active disbelief of God, having a strong belief in disbelief is a

belief, which means atheism also has a belief system, except usually it is based on the

scientific, tangible, world.

The concept of God can be very misleading, because what God is to some people

might not be what God is to other people. For example, for Judaism and Islam, God is not

represented by pictures or drawings, and is not tangible or quantifiable. However

Christianity supports panantheism, where Jesus is an embodiment of God in human form,

so he can be tangible.

In my opinion, being an atheist is unreasonable because even if God does not

exist, but someone who believes in God sticks to their moral and religious obligations,

they are bound to lead a decent life anyway.

In conclusion, to be a believer in a deity does not mean you have to join a

religion. God ultimately is what you make Him to be.

References

Author Unknown. The miracle of fire and wood, that cannot be obtained artificially.

Does God Exist 15

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/scientific_93.html

Author Unknown. (n.d.). Concept of God in islam. Retrieved from

http://www.sultan.org/articles/god.html

Author Unknown. (n.d.). Appendix. Retrieved from

http://www.al-islam.org/reflectionsnewmuslim/8.htm

Author Unknown. (2001). C/jeep [pp.15-16]. (Portable Document Format) Retrieved

From http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/913.pdf

Author Unknown. (2006, July 20). What is judaism. Retrieved from

http://www.milechai.com/judaism/index.html

Anselm, St. (1965). Proslogion. Oxford: OUP.

Bruggencate, S. (n.d.). What are some of god's characteristic?. Retrieved from

http://www.proofthatgodexists.org/main.php

Fackerell, M. (n.d.). Does god exist?. Retrieved from

http://www.christian-faith.com/atheism/DoesGodexist.html

Ferguson, C., & Grupp, A. (1998, December 15). Constatine converts to christianity.

Retrieved from http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/easteurope/ConstantineConverts.html

Goeringer, G. (n.d.). Scientists comment on the qu'ran. Retrieved from

http://scienceislam.com/scientists_quran.php

Gregory, P. (n.d.). A rough glossary of some philosophical terms. Retrieved from

http://philosophy.wlu.edu/gregoryp/class/glossary.html

Hume, D. (1779). Dialogues concerning natural religion. Indiannapolis: Hackett.

Islahi, A. (2006, April 16). Peoples relationship with allah. Retrieved from

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&pagename=Zone-

English-Living_Shariah/LSELayout&cid=1158658516938

Does God Exist 16

Morrison, M, & Brown, S. (2009). World religions, judaism. NY, NY: Chelsea House

Publishers.

Oppy, G. (2007, July 12). Ontological arguments. Retrieved from

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/

Pascoe, S. (2010, August 15). Christianity: the worlds largest religion. Retrieved from

http://www.religioustolerance.org/christ.htm

Scheinin, R. (1998, December 26). Allah is not a personal god. Retrieved from

http://www.templemount.org/impersonal.html