the ArmChair Thoughts

On my former blog [that got lost because of the server crash] contained the most controversial article on the subject of God. From responses I got, I felt like I have tread on forbidden ground. Most especially, this proved to me the sensitivity (logical intellect?) some show towards the subject of religion and God.
Either you believe in the Christian God or not, it is agreed that almost everyone believe in some kind of God or a supreme being. Amidst the so many religion there are today – Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, etc. I believe Christianity is the most common religion in the world (http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/popularreligion.html) which means, being brought up a Christian, I consider myself more knowledgeable about the religion and also quite familiar with Islam the second largest (which is mainly through various Islamic reading). Before continuing on this article, I would note that for anyone to get the most out of any process of ideas, it is best to be open-minded, forgetting, at least temporarily, your firm beliefs. Whatever your firm beliefs are, I have no intention to change them. But, if you are narrow minded, proceeding with this article will cause you intense rage, for which I owe apology.
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In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1, KJV).
My main argument has always being, Man created the concept of God and if God is in existence, its in existence in our own minds – in our imaginations. Whichever way we decide to view God, many of this viewing have failed to present God in a manner which makes it logical. Oh, I get the argument, the concept of God doesn’t have to be logical or comprehensible to humans because, he is supreme, we humans just can’t understand this gross concept. In that case, come along on this ride of mine.

The Question
As a Christian child, I was often rebuked from asking thought-provoking question that in some way will fish out the abstractness God proposes. Questions like: “Who made God, Why can’t I see God?” As I grow older, these question unanswered coupled with even more questions like: “Isn’t creationism an infinite regression? Are the miracles we witness (which in fact some seem very true) really happening [happened]? Which God is the better of all these Gods, the Christian God? The Muslim God? Which? Since God controls everything in the world, why then can’t he make pragmatic decision to prove skeptics (like me) wrong? If God is all knowing, meaning, even from the beginning, he knows the end, why did he bother to create the humans or the world since he already knows those who wouldn’t obey him or since this world will be destroyed anyways? Where is God’s residence? Since I might agree that God isn’t interfering much in my matter, Why does he seem to want me to interfere in His matter?” made matters search-able.

Let’s get Skeptic
Philosophical, and reasonably, if thought about deeply, my questions all lead to one answer: The existence of God is vague, so vague that one might consider him non-existent.
One of the strongest proof for the existence of God is the structure of this world. The sunrise and the sunset, the bloom of the flowers, the animals, the human body, and so many complexity that the human mind cannot fathom, most especially those that cannot be explained by science. As strong as the claim seems, it might not prove God, it however proves that there is a pattern that this world is following, not one made by an intelligent designer but one that might have evolved out of natural sequencing. And if you wonder who made the natural sequence, I will ask you who created God, and the creator of the creator of God.
God creates, and I argue it evolves. Following a proof of God’s creation, I’m yet to see anyone who can claim that, “This or that was directly created by God!” But I can always show you everyday, every time, things evolving. The baby growing from the fetus to adulthood to evolve another, the seed planted in the soil and springs into a big tree, the evolving earth itself – all evident of the pattern that the world follows – one of evolutions.
I myself see flaws with the theory of evolution (no offense, Darwin) as it obviously ignores some mysteries that face the human existence everyday. But, don’t feel comfortable with the theory of God’s creation either. It is better to accept a concept that is obvious and follows logical pattern than one that is deepen in abstraction so much that those who propose it do so out of ignorance.
In lieu, you may not believe in science, you may not believe that humans created God and might not be vice versa, but you should think, have you ever re-thought the God concept?

Boole’s Logic
George Boole (1815 -1864) the inventor of Boolean algebra made one of the most notable argument for the existence of God (being a Christian himself).
He set out, one should follow God and accept his ways, you never loose either ways. If you keep believing in God and at last found out you where wrong, no worries. If you find out you where right, now you win, no worries either, in either case, it’s a win-win. I don’t know much of Boolean algebra, nor would I match my intellect with that of this man, but in this case, I see a big hole in his argument.
Going back to the question I started out with, when Boole was making this argument, he made it under a serious assumption that it was either the Christian God or no God at all. Let’s see it, not in Boole’s way but in a more broad way: It’s either a God or no God at all.
Again, this make a lot of difference in understanding the argument. What certainty hold that the Christian God is superior to some other God or some other God a better God. This meaning, accepting Boole’s logic and in the end he finds out that their is in fact a God and it’s not even the Christian God, he seems doomed – logic failed. Compared to taking no sides with the Gods, you seems to stand a better chance if this God is a jealous God.
What difference does this make in our argument? Each and every religion in the world today acts like the supreme being with which they worship is the better of the other religion. This possess a dilemma of knowing the main God. Assuming God’s existence, one would think the real God in his all-knowing power cause a cease to all this confusion and make he humans who are of lesser knowledge decide with ease but he never did. God has left us to create and make decision on our own. In turn, why have we resolved to making God’s decisions for him? He do because he cannot make them, we created the supposed designer as well as the decisions we assign to it – meaning, he created God and his actions.

The Human Mind, the God Mind
We humans as pattern seeking animals have found patterns in this world, we have attributed it to a supreme power(s). This same power(s) does miracles in mysterious ways (are they really mysterious?), he has the control of the world in his hands, we can never understand him. All this claim seem valid until you think about the state of the world today – Diseases, Wars, Famine, deaths and many other ills, most of which where created by humans and some we really have no control over. What has God been doing about this as much as we humans have?
We humans have invented great technology that has bettered our lives, solved diverse problems and have continued to seek ways to get better. None of these has God helped archive, but what does God expect from us. That we serve him in all loyalty otherwise… Everyone has their own story of the horror that will befall those that don’t comply with this.
The God is the human mind. A mind that has evolved through ages and ages of refinement to be able to abstractly create virtual beings. One we attribute the bad another we attribute the good; in reality, both the evil and the good are within, we just have to look back inwards.

Fully Human
It’s fully understandable that the God concept can be consoling in alleviate pain (How easy is it to push the blame on an evil power?) or cause happiness. This concept gave made many restrain from worshiping what supposed to be the true Gods – fellow humans.
Some pay full homage to a being they cannot see, have no sense of or any proof of but fin it difficult to respect one they can see. Humans are a God in themselves. Every human has the power to create, capture and dominate (factors we normally attribute to God) but they wouldn’t realize it because they have being captivated by God through religion(s).
Until we return to the respect of the humankind, we may never find God.

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