The question of God’s existence has occupied man’s thoughts for as long as one can remember. Some believe in him and accept his existence without question. Others find him the hardest thing to believe in even if they claim they do. Those remaining claim either he doesn’t exist all together (atheist) or that we are incapable of knowing him anyway (agnostic). Nietzsche once claimed that God is dead. Freud believed religious people were religious because of their inability to simply cope with reality, thus they project a father figure God for comforting intentions. Karl Marx referred to religion as “the opiate of the masses” that was “simply a tool to keep the oppressed in line.” No matter where you look in history, Christianity has been attacked from almost every angle and argument possible, and yet it still stands today as a predominant religion in the world. I believe that, on one hand, the defense of the apologists deserves a round of applause, but the steadfast faith of the simple believers cannot be overlooked.
Just as there are arguments against God’s existence, there are also arguments for God’s existence. The most common arguments found in philosophy and theology are the cosmological argument, teleological argument and the argument of a Moral Law ordained by God. I shall begin my defense with a very brief orientation of the cosmological argument, which is also known as the first-cause argument or the argument from contingency. In short, it explains that there must have been a first cause to the universe because there cannot be a universe of dependent things unless there is something for it to depend on. Atheists argue the universe has always existed, but even Einstein discovered that untrue. Therefore, since a universe exists, there must also be something for the universe to depend on, or something that caused the universe. This source of dependence or cause is God.
The teleological argument, also known as the argument from design, asserts that the order and design of the world provide more than sufficient evidence for a divine creator. The greatest apologist that defended the teleological argument was Anglican priest William Paley. In his book Natural Theology, he argues, “There cannot be design without a designer; contrivance without a contriver; order without choice; arrangement without anything capable of arranging.” Darwin attacked the notion of Intelligent Design in the creation of human life, but intellectual giants in the fields of biology and physics have discovered that Darwin’s evolution theory is basically impossible without the help of a guiding hand — or, in this case, intelligent designer. The “Mighty Chemist,” Robert Boyle, once said the chances of evolution succeeding without intelligent design are about as good as a tornado whirling through a junkyard and creating a fully functional Boeing 757. I assume you get the point.
The concept of and belief in a moral law ordained by God and reflecting his will in human beings has been a common argument in support of God’s existence. Perhaps the greatest thinker to defend this theory was medieval philosopher, theologian and Catholic saint Thomas Aquinas. More recently, C.S. Lewis defended the Moral Law theory as evidence pointing toward the existence of God. In a very brief synopsis of his argument, we shall use his example of the piano. He says, “The Moral Law tells us the tune we have to play: our instincts are merely the keys.” A piano has “right” notes and “wrong” notes that are right at one time and wrong at another. Think of the moral law not as the instincts mentioned above but as the tune (goodness), that directs those instincts. Simply put, if one is able to distinguish between right and wrong, then consequentially one is appealing to some ultimate and higher standard, from which one derives a meaning or sense of good and bad. Without the Moral Law, there would be no sense of moral progress. There would be no boundaries for man to explore and exploit. There would be no sense of preferring Stalin’s morality to Mother Teresa’s. As one of my professors recently said, “Once human law triumphs over the Moral Law, there is no stopping Hitler.”
The question of whether man is God’s greatest creation or God is man’s greatest creation will continue to be debated until the end of time. Some people think one way and others another. However, the most important question is not what we think of God, but rather, what does God think of us?
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