Does God exist? (thx to LR)

“There is a spider in this room”.

How does one verify this statement? The claimer needs only to point out what tickled his sensory. The contrary, that “there is no spider in this room”, is however hard to prove. Nothing short of a thorough probe in every corner and crevice suffices.

So is the issue of the existence of God. That God exists, is, unfortunately or otherwise, not positively proven. Yet, to prove the opposite, that God does not exist, is a tremenduously difficult task. One needs to search all over the universe, and beyond, where existence perhaps very much unlike that of ours, is possible. Imagine the enormity of such a task! It is near –if not exactly – impossible

Are we then thrust by fate to be inopinionated? Not quite. When the natural world denies us the luxury of empirical evidence, we resort to the supra natural. That is called faith - proof of what is not seen. Faith is not superstition. Faith is stretching available evidence in the process of reasoning, superstition is going against tangible proofs. Faith is supra rational, superstition is irrational.

We exercise faith all the time: when we trust that the person we would marry will be faithful, when we have confidence that the chair we will sit on will not break down. Faith is not foolishness, it is an application of reasons.

As such, of course, faith may take the path of agreement or disagreement. Having weighed the available evidence, we are each entitled to a choice from the two.

In the discourse on God’s existence, the most oft quoted – and misquoted- evidence is the origin of existence.

Was the universe created, or did it come into existence on unaided? Let us call to assistance the principle of energy conservation, which, with EinsteinÂ’s theory relating energy to mass, is sufficient. This principle, inevitably, demands an everlasting and self existing entity. Either the universe, or another entity external to the universe has to be everlasting and self existing.

Hinduism and atheism subscribe to the former thought, while Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the latter.

Atheism credits the universe to the Big Bang. The Big Bang theory proposes that the expansion after the big bang explains the existence of the universe. As observed, stars emit waves that suffer from the DopplerÂ’s effect to an observer on earth. The dopplerÂ’s effect is the elongation of wavelength due to the movement of the wave source away from the observer.This suggests indeed that the universe is expanding.

Hinduism is rooted in the belief that life is composed of cycles – incarnation and reincarnation, the droplets of rain returning to the sea. They explain the universe by a derivative of the big bang theory: the big crunch theory. Atheism believes also in the theory, with the cyclical part discounted

The Big Crunch theory postulates that the universe undergoes cyclical expansion and contraction. But, according to newtonÂ’s law of gravity (K = GMaMb/R^2), once the density of the universe is less then the critical density, there is no way to reverse the expansion. As fact has it, the density of the universe currently is about 10% of the critical density, which discredit the Big Crunch theory.

Now let us say that the atheists could have it right, and so could the Jew, the Christian and the Moslem. The origin of existence may be either way. Yet, consider the proofs and choose responsibly where the evidence points.
Having dwelled on the issue of GodÂ’s existence, let us probe further into Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The three admit the existence of God, and share parts of the Old Testament. Yet, they come to a point of divergence in Jesus. Judaism and Islam

Who is this person claiming Godship? The claim is either true or it is untrue. If it is untrue, Jesus must be either a deliberate liar, or a lunatic. If the claim is true, on the other hand, then he is God indeed, howsoever improbable it may sound to us.

Well, could Jesus have been a liar? What did he lie for? It was his confession that He was the Son of God that sent him to the cross. Besides, consider the 11 persons who were constantly by his side day and night for years. Would they be deceived by such a lie? Also, there is the sermon on the mount, lauded as being of the highest moral standards by many. Could these come from a liar?

Was Jesus a lunatic? History attributes to Jesus a wisdom surpassing all his contemporaries. The answers he gave to trick questions posed by the Pharisees astounded even them.

God, if He exists, has to be the center of the universe. Jesus points to himself as the centre of the universe, being at once the most self centred and yet most selfless man recorded in history.

The evidence is laid. Now it is up to you. What is your choice?