God Existence Essay, Research Paper

If you take a look up out in the sky on a seemingly clear night, try and ask

yourself how the stars, the moon and everything else came to be. Again the

question of existence takes over your mind the same way it did everyone else’s

years ago. How did the world begin? What was the cause? Who was the cause? A

couple of weeks ago, I had the most interesting conversation with my brother.

Actually, it was more like a provoked conversation to help me begin this paper.

I asked him, "Do you believe that there is a God? A God who is said to be

creator of all things, the one responsible for life and everything that happens

to it? A being so mighty and great?" Of course, like he and any other

catholic would say, "yes!" From there I was anxious to begin an

argument based on what I had learned from the previous topics in my philosophy

class on the existence of God. I asked him how one can attach himself to such

belief based on what others say, what he has heard and from a holy book that was

said to have come from God but dictated by man? How could he put all reason of

existence behind nothing he has experienced on his own but only what others

claim they have? Then a light shined on me. I was expecting him to give me

reasons that questioned my faith. Instead, he casually turned and threw a

question back at me. "Do you believe that there is such a thing as one

million dollars?" I hesitantly answered, "yes," knowing what he

was coming to. And then he asked me if I have ever seen one million dollars? I

replied, "no". From there I saw his point. "What we believe has

nothing to do with whether God exists." -Daniel Kolak I was never raised

with a solid basis of Christian influence. In fact, I was never made to attend

Sunday school where I would be taught the whole essence of my religion. I did

though, go to mass every Sunday with my family, only to find it very funny how I

did not really know or understand anything about the religion. I did not base my

belief on God because of books and conditioned teachings because I was never

exposed to any. In truth, I do not base it on anything at all. I don’t need to

listen to proofs formulated by scientists and philosophers such as St. Thomas

Aquinas and his Five Cosmological proofs. I do not need to hear the story on how

it was said that Jesus Christ saved us all, or about Moses and the Ten

Commandments. I don’t know why but I just do. Don?t get me wrong, I have not

closed my mind on this belief about God. I have learned that it is not good to

attach our self to anything and close all doors on other possible ideas.

"Being able to shift points of view is one of the main skills philosophy

has to offer, not so much for the purposes of changing our views, but for the

purpose of freeing ourselves from attachment of our own point of view so that we

can really see and understand other’s points of view." -Daniel Kolak This

is where the role of your philosophy class came into place. It was more so to

enable me to understand the other side and take on another perspective in hope

that I will learn more about the ideals that I believe in. So why is it that

philosophy teachers should be limited and restricted in accordance to the

institution? Why is it that they are treated as a threat to Christianity and the

teachings of religious schools? When in reality, all that these teachers are

doing is allowing their students to grow by understanding something at all

angles and allowing them to think for themselves. "?but they cannot harm

nor destroy God, if there is a God." I took this line right out of the

reading for it gave such a big impact. A line that should be posted, for all

religious believers who are appalled when an atheist speaks his/her mind, to

see. Why are these people so threatened? Can’t their faith withstand the

striking? Or is it not strong enough? When I heard your lectures, read your

readings and read my own selected reading, I came to see the other side of my

belief. I saw how a non-believer in Christ would stand by his belief. The only

reason why we are so fixated on believing that there is a God is because we use

this belief to explain the unexplainable. We use them as reasons on why things

happen and sometimes put blame on the bad things that happen to make them more

easier to accept. According to people, God is the source and the moral center of

society and that if there was no God society will fall apart. The system is kept

in order by the Divine Theory on what is considered right or wrong. Without it,

there would be a clash of ideas and total chaos would occur. If there really was

a God, than it means that God created the universe and like an author, controls

everything that happens in the story. He was able to take the time to carefully

plan out the world and write the script. He knows what will happen and the

outcome of each event. God is able to actualize this world from the many other

worlds he could have come up with. Why is it though, that despite the fact that

God knows the outcome of each event still chose to comply with the world we live

in now. For example, according to Kolak in the book, "In Search of

God", if God knew that Adam was going to eat the apple that would condemn

the rest of the world to punishment, why didn?t he make it so that Adam

decides not to eat the apple? If God has control over all of this than why would

he choose a world which he did not approve of? Perhaps, God chose the things

that happened to argue that he wanted to teach the people because like everyone

always says, "God works in mysterious ways". So why is it that God, to

work in such mysterious ways, have to cause so much sufferings? Where was God

when thousands of people would die every year because of natural disasters and

diseases? Where is God when innocent people are victims of suffering slow and

painful deaths? When I was exposed to Zen Buddhism, I was intrigued by its

peacefulness. It was probably the most out of the six points that struck me the

most. The one that I would love to further explore and investigate. It is like

being in the center of all beings and prevails over all religions. The thought

of freeing the mind from all obstacles and divisions to simply live at peace and

not question why things are the way they are seems fascinating. Perhaps, later

on, I will. I have opened my mind to all insights and took in consideration the

possible reasons that would draw me away from my belief. Though the question if

God really does exist has nothing to do with what I believe. I have come to

realize that throughout the years I have believed in him without any sufficient

basis or knowledge of the religion and I still will continue on believing

despite the arguments that I have been exposed to. Whether or not he exists,

does not matter to me. He can either exist or not exist and yet I will still

believe. I believe that there is such a thing as one million dollars. Though, I

have not experienced it, I do believe that there is. "To see is not to

believe." -Immanuel Kant The next time you ask yourself how the world

began? What caused it? And who caused it? Don?t strive to look for empirical

evidences to determine if a God really does exist. If you do so, it will be a

never-ending search without an answer. Instead, choose a path that will pave for

you a direction in life. Whether or not God does exist, I choose to believe not

because of reasonable justification but because with this belief, it gives us

something to look forward to even in the worst situations. Society is given a

sense of hope that life will become better for all.

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