I’m not a scientist by a long shot and if you pushed me in a corner with hard scientific questions I would crumble up like a little school girl. But I don’t think you have to be a scientist to appreciate the value of science. In the same way you don’t have to be a musician to appreciate good music or an artist to see value in art. So,
What is science?
Why is it so important?
And can it help us answer the biggest question of all:
Is there a God?
Science is the branch of human endeavour that seeks to understand the world around us by subjecting our ideas, observations and evidence that we find in the world to a system known as the scientific method.
We owe much to our advances in science. From the modes of transport we use to travel around the world to the breakthroughs in medicine that allow us to live longer, healthier lives. Life as we know it today simply would not be possible without the aid of our scientific endeavours, we truly do live in an age of scientific achievements. But do we live in an age of scientific thinking? Unfortunately, I don’t think so. Science is far more than just a bunch of facts we know about the world. It’s a way of thinking about the world. Scientific thinking is about finding the truth, regardless of our beliefs, our emotions or our traditions.
While it’s true that there are currently many questions that seem beyond the reaches of science. Such as, what is the purpose of life? Why am I here? And one might argue; the existence of a God? The next question we should ask ourselves should be, is there a better alternative to finding the answers to these questions? And more specifically:
What should we do when we find ourselves at the boundaries of empirical science?
While I agree that many answers to our deepest questions may very well lie outside the reaches of empirical science, we should be very careful with what system of knowing we put in place of science. Let’s now take a look at God. I personally don’t think God can be proved or disproved through empirical science. You can’t prove that something invisible exists outside of time and space, and you certainly can’t disprove that either. If you could I wouldn’t be an agnostic asking questions, and there would be no such thing as religion, we would all just know!
For some, the alternative to science and the only way we can know the answers to these great cosmic questions is by faith. I personally disagree. While science gives us an objective means to asses’ truth, faith and belief do not. If anyone needs proof of this just look at how many competing ideas and beliefs people have around the world about God through faith. Now faith isn’t necessarily a bad thing (although it can be), but if we are after objective, absolute truth, I don’t think we can find it through personal beliefs and faith. One of my greatest desires is to find out what and who exactly God is, but I can no longer accept that the best way to find truth is through abandoning my reasoning capabilities in favour of what the bible puts so clearly:
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. Hebrews 11:1
When the boundaries of empirical science are met, I believe we should withhold judgment. If we wish to continue the conversation we should step forward not in personal conviction or “faith”, but in uncertainty and scepticism. We should awash ourselves in honest, intellectual humility and integrity and accept that the discussion can only go on in philosophical or theological terms. Never should we slap the word “truth” to our beliefs and scare others with threats of eternal damnation for having a different view. The thought that millions of people throughout history have died for simply holding to a different belief about God to one another is one of the biggest disgraces to human history. Something we have yet to grow out of. I look forward to the day (if it comes) when we can stand together; believers form all backgrounds and non believers alike and marvel at the stupidity of our ancestors killing each other over beliefs about questions no body knows the answers too.
Whether we find the answer through science or not, the most important thing to me is to keep an open mind. There would be nothing I would love more than to know there is a God out there who loves us all, but I will not believe this because it feels good. Truth will always be what matters most to me. To me, it seems science is far more objective and focused on discovering truth than faith. Science is open to correction, it is willing to change its course based on the evidence and has proven itself time and time again throughout history. It is these reasons I think science may one day, be able to answer the biggest question of all. Until then, I must remain content with not knowing.
Love Jason
Coming soon: Part 3 something from nothing?
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Defining God
In order to have a proper conversation about God, we should first define what we mean by the term “God”. The different beliefs regarding God can roughly be broken down into 4 categories:
Theism is the term attributed to the belief in a personal God. God is believed to be actively involved in our lives by answering our prayers and blessing people at his will. It is believed one can have a relationship with God through prayer and worship.
Deism is still the belief that God was the first cause. However, deism entails that God is not actively involved in our personal lives; rather God set up the laws of the universe to function on their own and does not intervene.
Agnosticism is the belief that the answers are beyond our comprehension. The truth is either unknown or unknowable.
Atheism or anti-theism is the rejection of any personal God.
For the most part of this conversation, I will be defining and discussing God in the term which I think is most prominent and relevant in today’s society. That is monotheism, the belief that one personal God exists, created this universe and is actively involved in answering our prayers and watching over us. This belief is the corner stone of the three major religions of our world which include Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This belief is held dear and cherished by many. Again it seems I must stress that my aim is not to offend. For many God is a personal subject and a great source of comfort in people’s lives, I completely understand this. My search is simply in light of a truly honest enquiry to find truth. If you are easily upset by reading contrasting viewpoints about God then perhaps you should stop reading. If however you enjoy the freedom that accompanies sharing and conversing with others who share different viewpoints to yours, you’ve come to the right place! I suppose the next question that follows, what do I currently believe?
If you had asked me if I believed in God a few years back, I would have answered with an uncompromising yes! As a committed Christian, there was not a shred of doubt in my mind that God existed. I could have told you not only that I knew with relative certainty that God existed, but exactly who he was, what he wanted from you and why he made us, in other words, I thought I knew the mind of God and was quite happy to act as his spokesman. But as I was slowly forced by the outside world to justify my religious faith, it began to dawn on me that maybe faith on its own wasn’t enough. If my beliefs were really true than surely if I searched deep enough I could find something more solid. So I set out on the monumental task of finding proof for what I already believed. However as my search broadened, as I began to listen and read books about beliefs and opinions from all walks of life, and I as I gained a little more life experience about the world around me, bit by bit my certainty was stripped away from me until I was left with the position I hold today.
While I relate to deism in some regards, ultimately my position is agnosticism. I believe there is absolute truth; however I think that the answers surrounding the origins of the universe and God are currently beyond our comprehension. Rather like the mysterious world of micro biology was completely inconceivable to our ancient ancestors, who through lack of knowledge attributed disease to curses from the gods or evil spirits. Maybe in the future we will have a better understanding of our origins and truth will reveal itself, but until then I feel forced to withhold judgment. Ultimately I am a seeker, and I don’t feel I can be honestly searching for truth if I already have a definitive stance. So I just have to be honest with myself and all of you:
Does God exist?
... I don’t know.
And from my observations and studies of the many different world religions and views surrounding God, I doubt that any of us do. The fact that different cultures all around the world can form such radically opposing and conflicting beliefs about who or what God is tells us something important, the answer isn’t obvious! In my search I’ve talked and listened to a lot of really intelligent people with very different views of God. Muslims, Jews and Christians enter the conversation at different angles and through the ages have developed doctrines that assert claims that are incompatible with each other. Yet despite these incompatible doctrines I believe there is something at the core of our theological differences that needs to be addressed.
When you contemplate the great mysteries of the universe, you can’t help but wonder, what is all this? What’s it for? Unfortunately no one has concrete answers to these most mysterious questions. And through this mystery our beliefs are born. We call the collection of beliefs surrounding God theology, and when theology is organised and ritualised, we call this religion. Religion is simply the name we give to those competing spiritual ideologies that claim to know the truth about God and usually the right pathway we need to take in order to find salvation (Ironically salvation we need because of our religious beliefs). While some theology is without a doubt appealing and pulls on our emotional heart strings, we still can’t escape the fact that at the end of the day these beliefs arise from our ignorance of the world around us. Unfortunately, unlike science, we don’t have a good system to objectively asses’ the truth claims of theology. This is what makes many religions and denominations possible. Religious belief appeals to the unknown, and when we conceptualise the unknown and start throwing the word “personal faith” around, one can believe almost anything!
Now there is nothing wrong with having personal beliefs about God, meaning and the afterlife. I have them, and I think it can be argued that certain religious beliefs do genuinely give us a more consoling and optimistic view of the world. However, when people start slapping the word truth to their beliefs, when people begin to push their unjustified beliefs onto others in the name of God and when people begin to see themselves as somehow superior, saved or chosen above other human beings, is when our beliefs become tribalistic. And one of the biggest dangers we face in the 21st century with the rise of destructive technology, is tribal religion (I would include political tribalism in that boat as well). But I believe when religion is stripped down to its core, we find a belief system that is desperately trying to understand the mystical, the sacred and the spiritual aspects to life. Something I think all of us are trying to do in our own ways.
So while I wouldn’t say I believe in God, I would say I am open to the mystery that we call God. I just don’t feel the need to conceptualise God like so many religions do. Religions attempt to define God and in doing so place limitations on God that I don’t believe are necessary. Quite often we hear religious people claim that God can do anything, but when pressed with questions quite often retort to the limitations of their sacred texts or spiritual leaders. I’m quite content to just allow God to be whatever or whoever God is. If God so chooses to reveal truth to me then my heart and mind are always open. One of the most liberating experiences of my life was when I let go of my long held and cherished beliefs that all we know about God could be contained within the confines of an ancient, human constructed book, and began to honestly and openly search for answers free from limitations.
Another reason I shed my religious beliefs is because I wanted to start a fresh. I wanted to attempt to rid myself of any emotional or personal baggage that could possibly be blinding me from seeing the truth. I wanted to start from the beginning. I begin each of these conversations as a seeker of truth, as someone who does not have the answers but has plenty of questions. It is through questioning the world around us that has driven us to explore, and more importantly, discover!
Much love
Jase
Coming soon
Part 2: Science & God.
Theism is the term attributed to the belief in a personal God. God is believed to be actively involved in our lives by answering our prayers and blessing people at his will. It is believed one can have a relationship with God through prayer and worship.
Deism is still the belief that God was the first cause. However, deism entails that God is not actively involved in our personal lives; rather God set up the laws of the universe to function on their own and does not intervene.
Agnosticism is the belief that the answers are beyond our comprehension. The truth is either unknown or unknowable.
Atheism or anti-theism is the rejection of any personal God.
For the most part of this conversation, I will be defining and discussing God in the term which I think is most prominent and relevant in today’s society. That is monotheism, the belief that one personal God exists, created this universe and is actively involved in answering our prayers and watching over us. This belief is the corner stone of the three major religions of our world which include Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This belief is held dear and cherished by many. Again it seems I must stress that my aim is not to offend. For many God is a personal subject and a great source of comfort in people’s lives, I completely understand this. My search is simply in light of a truly honest enquiry to find truth. If you are easily upset by reading contrasting viewpoints about God then perhaps you should stop reading. If however you enjoy the freedom that accompanies sharing and conversing with others who share different viewpoints to yours, you’ve come to the right place! I suppose the next question that follows, what do I currently believe?
If you had asked me if I believed in God a few years back, I would have answered with an uncompromising yes! As a committed Christian, there was not a shred of doubt in my mind that God existed. I could have told you not only that I knew with relative certainty that God existed, but exactly who he was, what he wanted from you and why he made us, in other words, I thought I knew the mind of God and was quite happy to act as his spokesman. But as I was slowly forced by the outside world to justify my religious faith, it began to dawn on me that maybe faith on its own wasn’t enough. If my beliefs were really true than surely if I searched deep enough I could find something more solid. So I set out on the monumental task of finding proof for what I already believed. However as my search broadened, as I began to listen and read books about beliefs and opinions from all walks of life, and I as I gained a little more life experience about the world around me, bit by bit my certainty was stripped away from me until I was left with the position I hold today.
While I relate to deism in some regards, ultimately my position is agnosticism. I believe there is absolute truth; however I think that the answers surrounding the origins of the universe and God are currently beyond our comprehension. Rather like the mysterious world of micro biology was completely inconceivable to our ancient ancestors, who through lack of knowledge attributed disease to curses from the gods or evil spirits. Maybe in the future we will have a better understanding of our origins and truth will reveal itself, but until then I feel forced to withhold judgment. Ultimately I am a seeker, and I don’t feel I can be honestly searching for truth if I already have a definitive stance. So I just have to be honest with myself and all of you:
Does God exist?
... I don’t know.
And from my observations and studies of the many different world religions and views surrounding God, I doubt that any of us do. The fact that different cultures all around the world can form such radically opposing and conflicting beliefs about who or what God is tells us something important, the answer isn’t obvious! In my search I’ve talked and listened to a lot of really intelligent people with very different views of God. Muslims, Jews and Christians enter the conversation at different angles and through the ages have developed doctrines that assert claims that are incompatible with each other. Yet despite these incompatible doctrines I believe there is something at the core of our theological differences that needs to be addressed.
When you contemplate the great mysteries of the universe, you can’t help but wonder, what is all this? What’s it for? Unfortunately no one has concrete answers to these most mysterious questions. And through this mystery our beliefs are born. We call the collection of beliefs surrounding God theology, and when theology is organised and ritualised, we call this religion. Religion is simply the name we give to those competing spiritual ideologies that claim to know the truth about God and usually the right pathway we need to take in order to find salvation (Ironically salvation we need because of our religious beliefs). While some theology is without a doubt appealing and pulls on our emotional heart strings, we still can’t escape the fact that at the end of the day these beliefs arise from our ignorance of the world around us. Unfortunately, unlike science, we don’t have a good system to objectively asses’ the truth claims of theology. This is what makes many religions and denominations possible. Religious belief appeals to the unknown, and when we conceptualise the unknown and start throwing the word “personal faith” around, one can believe almost anything!
Now there is nothing wrong with having personal beliefs about God, meaning and the afterlife. I have them, and I think it can be argued that certain religious beliefs do genuinely give us a more consoling and optimistic view of the world. However, when people start slapping the word truth to their beliefs, when people begin to push their unjustified beliefs onto others in the name of God and when people begin to see themselves as somehow superior, saved or chosen above other human beings, is when our beliefs become tribalistic. And one of the biggest dangers we face in the 21st century with the rise of destructive technology, is tribal religion (I would include political tribalism in that boat as well). But I believe when religion is stripped down to its core, we find a belief system that is desperately trying to understand the mystical, the sacred and the spiritual aspects to life. Something I think all of us are trying to do in our own ways.
So while I wouldn’t say I believe in God, I would say I am open to the mystery that we call God. I just don’t feel the need to conceptualise God like so many religions do. Religions attempt to define God and in doing so place limitations on God that I don’t believe are necessary. Quite often we hear religious people claim that God can do anything, but when pressed with questions quite often retort to the limitations of their sacred texts or spiritual leaders. I’m quite content to just allow God to be whatever or whoever God is. If God so chooses to reveal truth to me then my heart and mind are always open. One of the most liberating experiences of my life was when I let go of my long held and cherished beliefs that all we know about God could be contained within the confines of an ancient, human constructed book, and began to honestly and openly search for answers free from limitations.
Another reason I shed my religious beliefs is because I wanted to start a fresh. I wanted to attempt to rid myself of any emotional or personal baggage that could possibly be blinding me from seeing the truth. I wanted to start from the beginning. I begin each of these conversations as a seeker of truth, as someone who does not have the answers but has plenty of questions. It is through questioning the world around us that has driven us to explore, and more importantly, discover!
Much love
Jase
Coming soon
Part 2: Science & God.
Does God exist?
One of the biggest questions one can ask themselves on the subject of truth is:
Does God exist?
In fact, I think it can be argued that there is no bigger question. People define themselves, their beliefs and even their lives on this central question. For many God is as real as anything else in this world, to others the idea of God seems completely implausible. Our different beliefs concerning God have been the cause of some of the greatest conflicts in the world as well as being the source of much of the world’s greatest inspirations. All other questions about truth, morality and meaning seem to hang from this most important question, Does God exist?
No other question fascinates nor excites me more than this question. It is the subject of the vast majority of my reading and lies at the core of my desire to find truth. If there is a God, an eternal source to all that exists, than I can only hope that by trying to understand God to the best of my ability, I can perhaps get a little closer to truth. Of course the task ahead is well beyond me, and I wouldn’t dream that any of my thoughts would add or subtract too the millennia of human ideas and beliefs regarding God. But I believe with each new generation, the question must arise a new and we must search for answers ourselves. So I invite all to come and share in this important discussion. Whether you’re a believer, non believer or something in-between, your opinions and questions matter.
Because of the sheer number of topics covered when talking about God, I have decided to break my thoughts into several parts. The first part can be found here:
Part 1: Defining God
Much love
Jason
Does God exist?
In fact, I think it can be argued that there is no bigger question. People define themselves, their beliefs and even their lives on this central question. For many God is as real as anything else in this world, to others the idea of God seems completely implausible. Our different beliefs concerning God have been the cause of some of the greatest conflicts in the world as well as being the source of much of the world’s greatest inspirations. All other questions about truth, morality and meaning seem to hang from this most important question, Does God exist?
No other question fascinates nor excites me more than this question. It is the subject of the vast majority of my reading and lies at the core of my desire to find truth. If there is a God, an eternal source to all that exists, than I can only hope that by trying to understand God to the best of my ability, I can perhaps get a little closer to truth. Of course the task ahead is well beyond me, and I wouldn’t dream that any of my thoughts would add or subtract too the millennia of human ideas and beliefs regarding God. But I believe with each new generation, the question must arise a new and we must search for answers ourselves. So I invite all to come and share in this important discussion. Whether you’re a believer, non believer or something in-between, your opinions and questions matter.
Because of the sheer number of topics covered when talking about God, I have decided to break my thoughts into several parts. The first part can be found here:
Part 1: Defining God
Much love
Jason
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)