 |
Spiral galaxy, illustration of Milky Way © Alex Mit /
shutterstock.com
The majority of the world believes in God. Evidence of His
existence surrounds us, from the sense of sight we take for granted to the laws
of our astonishing world. We have a unity with each other and the universe that
can only come from an omnipotent Creator. Introspecting and observing God’s
bountiful creation is all it takes to find Him.
Christmas is a proper time to introspect, ask forgiveness, forgive
others, and express our gratitude to the Almighty for our abundant blessings.
If we can still walk, talk, hear and see, we should be grateful. It is easy to
underappreciate these God-given abilities.
Recently, when the question of God was raised, a good and canny friend of mine said, “I find the very idea of an omnipotent, omniscient god frightening.” That remark shocked me as if someone denied the light in the middle of the day. The truth is, I am indebted to an all-powerful, all-knowing higher power. I wish to share some of my reasons for having this perspective.
You see, all cultures regardless of language, race or religion have some sort of faith in the supernatural. People throughout the world have independently envisioned a unique, transcendent source. Aristotle christened it the First Cause, Hindus know it as Brahman and Muslims call it Allah. Many Native Americans refer to it as the Great Spirit. Others call it Father, Lord, Spirit, Source, Universe, Supreme Intelligence, etc.
In April 2022, a survey found that more than two-thirds of the world’s population believe in God, an afterlife and heaven and hell. Around 90% of the US population believes. This implies that God exists and that we are accountable for our actions before Him. That is, we each must assume responsibility and act wisely. Knowing this truth, we will thrive in a healthier, more peaceful world.
EMBED: https://www.fairobserver.com/world-news/can-you-see-the-link-between-god-and-justice/
Despite this, there are doubters. These people shy away from God, thinking such a concept contradicts science. On the contrary, the belief in Him strengthens science and directs scientific results for good purposes.
Sir Isaac Newton, who is considered by many the father of classical physics, was a theist. In his book, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, he wrote, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.” Michael Faraday, who gave us electromagnetism, held that “everything was created by God in a unified way—that if you opened up one little part of it you could see how everything was connected.” Max Planck, who initiated the concept of quantum physics, believed that being humble before a supernatural power “controls our weal and woe.”
God binds us together
The modern man sees himself as uniquely intelligent and separate from everything else. He fanatically strives to subordinate the world to his whim. He arrogantly asserts the theory of the Big Bang, insisting that the universe spontaneously sprung into existence 14 billion years ago without causation. He holds to Herbert Spencer’s social Darwinian theory of the “survival of the fittest” to explain human destiny. It never occurs to him that taking a silent pause, freeing all his senses from preconceptions and allowing himself to sense his inner peace might show him that he is one with the whole universe. Moreover, man’s role in this world is not to dominate the universe but to serve it. But that reality is achievable by knowing his actions imply accountability.
Like the realization of self-existence, the perception of a universal oneness climaxing in God represents a profound awareness that requires neither reasoning nor rationalization. Knowing one’s self or God is a feeling lying deep within our existence.
Science tells us that matter is energy, which can be visible or invisible. Energy does not have a finite boundary. One example is a lightbulb emitting light from its interior filaments. Its light is not bound by the surface of the bulb. People on Earth can see light emitted by stars millions of lightyears away. All forms of matter, whether derived from humans, plants, animals, planets, stars or the rest of the universe, are forms of energy-emitting radiation.
The personal radiation fields we all possess mingle with one another as well as other matters as if we are just one entity. In other words, we are one with each other, one with everything near or distant, and one with the universe as far as it stretches. And the power that perfectly connects us all as one defines the notion of God.
Creations have creators
Reason dictates that if I acknowledge the fact that most of the world’s population believes in God, I should give this further thought. Having looked at the world we inhabit and have made a few observations, I cannot escape the thought that it all points to the existence of an almighty Creator.
Let’s say you are walking in a park. Somebody tells you with a probability of 10%, 5% or even 1% that if you take one more step forward, the ground beneath you will give way and send you tumbling into a den of poisonous snakes. You quickly change direction to avoid the suggested peril. It is wise to do so. Similarly, many religious people say making ungodly choices results in damnation to hell. Wouldn’t this make some people want to believe in God?
Now let’s say you leave the park and walk through town. You see a building and instantly arrive at a builder. You see a car and find an automaker, then a piece of equipment and its manufacturer. The universe is the same way. How could you see the vastness of space and not think it has a Creator?
Then you pass through a beautiful mall, sports arena or market. You instantly know that none of it can exist without an architect, planner or intelligent designer. How can you then look at the elegance of the universe that surrounds you and dismiss the idea that this is the work of a perfect Designer?
Next, you enter a restaurant and consume a delicious meal. You immediately know that an experienced chef picked the right recipe and closely watched the stove, constantly checking on the temperature, fluid and heat. The recipe includes many ingredients like herbs and vegetables, and it was delicately assembled. Why can’t you conclude that a Master made each of those elements possible?
If the above reasoning seems too cumbersome, just look at your human body. It is composed of over 50% water and 99.9% void, constantly changing in space. But all that appears to you is connected as one, functioning without disruption. Why can you not admit that there is a perfect Operator?
Belief without seeing
Imagine you are lost somewhere, alone, and do not know the way back to safety. Or you are in a hospital bed and the doctors say there is nothing more they can do for you. Or you are in a plane facing a terrible windstorm, and you feel that death is imminent. Throughout all these ordeals, you have no time to think about money, position, family or friends. Instead, something deep within keeps giving you hope. Why can’t you admit that when you are free from the material world, you can feel God’s presence shining in your soul and giving you inner peace?
Like soothing comfort, phenomena exist in nature that you cannot see, but know with certainty they exist from their impacts on the environment. You do not see light but you know from its reflection that it exists. Astronomers do not see the dark matter in space but they know from its attractions that it is there. When you look at the universe in motion with such beauty and magnificence, why can’t you admit that it is operated and managed by an omniscient God?
As another hypothetical, let’s say you are visiting your mother across town. You get a feeling that you must hurry home. Although your mother insists you stay the whole evening, you follow the hunch and leave. That night, your phone rings. Your mother says there was a fatal car crash on that road after you left, one you unknowingly dodged. Did you fall to your knees to thank your Creator for giving you the inclination to leave early?
Eyes and brain reveal the divine
We can find more evidence of divinity by taking a closer look at the human eye. We have sight because light passes through our cornea, pupil, iris, and lens to the retina. Photoreceptors turn that light into electrical signals and send them to the optic nerve and then to the brain. For all that to work, we must have tears to keep the eye moist. This process involves 4-6 billion neurons organized in a sophisticated manner. From the cornea to the brain, if any component does not do its part correctly and in a timely way, we see nothing. For all that to repeatedly, continuously and flawlessly work, it requires a perfect Guardian.
Among the over eight billion people on Earth, no two have identical eyes. As a measure of security, our eyes may used for identification. That implies a perfect Designer and Diversifier.
The eyes also express the state of our health. A good physician can look into a patient’s eyes and tell that they are sick. Evidence shows that some illnesses in our body with about 30 trillion cells can be seen through the eye. That implies a design done by a Perfector.
The brain is another amazing body part God has blessed us with. Not only does it provide us with conscious thoughts, but unconscious ones as well. Dreams are generated while we sleep, which entertain us, warn us of danger, and help us solve problems we have during the day. That implies a super Originator.
The brain is made of about 86 billion neurons. Each receives around 10,000 synapses per second. The probability of a synapse to release the right neurotransmitter is 10-50%. Thus, the probability of any synapse releasing the right neurotransmitters is 50% at best. Doing that correctly each time for even ten seconds, mathematically speaking, is nearly impossible. Thus, there must be a higher order to keep the billion neurons and trillion synapses in such a way for the brain to work. That power has to be an omnipotent, omniscient Sustainer.
Closing remarks
Try this experiment. Just lie down on your back, relax and look at the sky on a clear night. Clear your mind of all mundane thoughts. You will see the sky decorated with shiny stars, all moving in organized paths. While you are doing this, the Earth beneath you is traveling about 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) per second around the sun. The sun is traveling about 230 kilometers (144 miles) per second around the Milky Way Galaxy. The moon that makes Earth livable is constantly revolving, circulating about every 28 days. You are created in such an ingenious way that you do not feel the impacts of all these movements. Yet all follow gravitational, centrifugal and quantum laws. Any reasoning person would conclude that there ought to be an omnipotent Creator and Lawgiver.
In God alone can we have prosperity and universal peace. His presence is so overwhelming that one has to be detached from reality to miss it. Finding Him requires no education, simply deep introspection. As the Persian proverb goes, “If something is everywhere, it cannot be seen anywhere.”
BY MEHDI ALAVI
The article was originally published by Fair Observer on December 25, 2023.
