Since the dawn of time man has attempted to understand the world around him
Since the dawn of time man has attempted to understand the world around him, specifically one’s purpose. Looking beyond the world around, man has used a teleological argument (argument for intelligent design) to prove that his purpose is based on the will of an intelligent designer, i.e. God. In this essay I intend to dismantle the idea that there is an intelligent designer based of logical reason and science. My intention is not to belittle the belief’s theists, but to show that the belief in a God is built on a foundation created by stone aged tools.
Breaking down the meaning of God– God is an entity that is the cause of all things, such as the material and immaterial world. God’s nature is defined by a specific theology or religion. Religion is an expression of one’s faith; faith is based on a belief without evidence. Following this train of logic it is perfectly fine to say the existence of God cannot be proven. The majority of monotheistic religions are based on Zoroastrianism 1. Zoroastrianism is a religion that
predates Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) that has good and evil in an unequal battle for dominance similarly (but not equally) to the characters of God and Lucifer in Christianity 2. But I argue that the nature of God is not good or evil based on the fact good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people, bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. Either God’s benevolence (or lack of) is as random as a coin toss or it is nonexistent.
My other qualm with the Abrahamic religions is that they all state God has a divine plan. The will of God or God’s plan is a reference to the concept of God having a plan for mankind. The biggest contradiction in theism comes from the combination of God’s will and prayer.
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According to practical theology God’s will is defined as what God wants out of humanity. In Islam one example of God’s plan for man is “Masa’Allah” which is an Arabic expression meaning “God willed it”3. But the problem with this comes from “Salat” (Islamic prayers) which serves the purpose as one’s communication with God 4. The contradiction comes in place with this simple question “If God has a divine predetermined plan for mankind, what is the point of praying to God?” or simply put “How can the prayers of a finite person sway the will of an infinite God’s plan?”
But those arguments can only be used against theists that have (in their opinion) a definite idea of a God’s nature and religious theology. On the other hand there are agnostics or people that have a non-religious belief in a god (i.e. pantheism). As much as I don’t want to digress and add my own opinion, if there’s one thing I don’t like its people that choose to be on the fence. If one has a belief in something there should be no half measures, claiming to be agnostic is the
same as claiming to be willingly ignorant. Agnostics understand that organized religions have gaping holes in their theology yet know that the idea of infinite regress is nonsensical. Infinite regress is from Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica which is against the theory that everything is caused by another cause in an infinite loop 5. Aquinas states that there is a primary mover to all causation, and that mover is God. But the Summa Theologica was written in the 13th century and those medieval ideas need a modern take. To explain the ideas of quantum physicists in colloquial terms, the universe is in a constant state of expansion caused by the Big Bang. Proof of the Big Bang Expansion is the observable universe’s age correlates with its distance in light years (toughly 13.7 billion years old and 13.7 billion light years in distance). More evidence that
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the universe expands without a primary mover is based on a mathematical entity known as the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. The heart of this equation is based on Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle which allows a small empty space to come into existence probabilistically due to false vacuum. A false vacuum results in two possibilities. If this area does not expand rapidly, it is gone almost instantaneously. But if the area is able to expand, then a universe is created irreversibly. The Wheeler-DeWhitt equation is used to map the exponential growth rate of said area. They then consider three scenarios for the geometry of the area (closed, open, or flat) in each of these cases, they conclude a solution in which the area can expand exponentially and therefore reach a size in which a universe can form 6.
But how can the universe begin without a primary mover? To put it simply matter is comprised of positive energy and negative gravity is comprised of negative energy. An example is if you add energy to the Earth in order to tear it away from the sun. One separated far from the solar system, the Earth then has zero gravitational energy. That means our original solar system had negative energy. After you do the math, the sum total of matter in the universe cancels out against gravitational energy, resulting in a universe with zero net matter/energy. This proves that a universe can be created with no cost; it does not take net matter to create a universe 7.
If God exists, we have no way of proving it. If God exists his has no tendencies towards good or evil. If God exists, prayers have no effect on his divine plan. If God exists, it is possible that he didn’t create our observable universe. People find that the belief in a God gives them comfort and certainty in life, which I have nothing against. My objective was show that the idea of a God is based on blind faith, as well as that the theology of Abrahamic religions has logical
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contradictions. Most importantly that people on the fence of theism and atheism can see that based on quantum mechanics our universe can exist and expand without a primary mover.
