Proof of the Existence of God
Everyone has a different opinion about God. Some say that He does exist while others contend He does not. Some say that He is this while others say that He is that. Some say that His Spirit has said “this” to them, while to others what He has spoken to them contradicts what He has spoken to others. This can only indicate one of two things; God exists — or He doesn’t.
To say that God does not exist would moot all further argument and thus would be a very short cul-de-sac that would serve no purpose. How is a debate constructed about that which all agree does not exist? But to say that God does exist may yield some very helpful insights, meaningful dialogue and stimulating discourse. In addition, we may reach the conclusion through such debate that there is no God. Solely for the sake of argument then, let us say that God does exist.
The statement that God exists immediately raises several very thorny issues. Why would a loving God allow such evil in the world? Why would a one true God allow such differing opinions about his nature or even His very existence? Why would a loving, benevolent, peace-loving God allow Christian fanatics to interpret His existence one way while permitting Muslim fanatics to interpret His existence in a completely opposite manner? If we maintain our initial assumption that God exists then these facts present an interesting conundrum: either God created us and all of creation and then left us to our own devices or our concept and understanding of God is flawed.
If we further assume that God is intimately involved with the affairs of Planet Earth, the empirical evidence then indicates that our knowledge and understanding of God is woefully inadequate. That which we know about God simply cannot account for the many contradictions we see in the world. Jews believe in one God; Hindus in many. Islam identifies a God they call Allah while Christians simply call the Divine Being “God” or Jehovah. Christianity itself is splintered into many factions which attribute differing characteristics to the God they believe and worship and who they feel is guiding their affairs.
Within these factions we sometimes witness miracles, but more often not. Sometimes a child is healed, sometimes not. At other times, cancer suddenly goes into remission while for others cancer claims their lives often after a long, painful struggle. If we hold fast to the assumption that there is a God, these contradictions seem to indicate a gap in our reasoning or that there is no God, at least not one who is actively involved with the human race.
The fact that miracles sometimes do occur, that statues sometimes do bleed and cry, that angels sometimes administer to and comfort the sick and needy seems to support the existence of A God, but not one we currently recognize or of which we possess an understanding.
Deists all concur on the existence of God, but the empirical evidence reveals contradictions of that God to an everyday world. The Holy Spirit cannot say one thing to one person and also say a contradictory thing to someone else, can it? If we posit an example that there are two individuals, each of whom believes they are being spoken to by the Holy Spirit, we are unable to discredit their veracity because only God (if there is one) can look into a person’s heart and establish what they believe as the true voice of God is really the voice of God. We can only take their word that they believe what they say. If further, their claims are diametrically opposed to each other, our first reaction is that either or both are lying, either or both are mistaken, either or both are delusional or either or both are being lied to. If we conclude that neither is lying and that they are not delusional we are then left with one of three propositions; 1. they are being lied to 2. one or both are mistaken or 3. God really is saying two different things which are in diametric opposition to two different people.
It is entirely possible that one or both of these people are mistaken, but such a position would not further our case nor enhance our understanding of God or the existence of God. We could also assume that one or both of these individuals is being lied to by some malevolent spirit being, but such an assumption would logically present the perspective that if there are spirit beings they may certainly also be a God and our argument although diverted to some degree would in fact make a case for the existence of God, albeit a God quite beyond our comprehension of what a God must be like.
A safer and more stable route to ascertain the existence of God is to assume that both individuals are correct, they each believe they are so why not take them at their word? With this position, we can advance our argument and hopefully establish the existence or non-existence of God. If however, we assume that both individuals are correct, we are left with the challenging position that God has presented two entirely different doctrines to two different people. This leads to this sub-conclusion; if neither person is lying, if neither person is delusional, if neither person is mistaken, if neither person is being lied to by some malevolent spirit entity, then our concept and understanding of God is seriously in error.
Joan of Arc believed she was led by God. Constantine credited his greatest victory to the intervention of God, Mohammed conquered Arabia and founded Islam in the manner he felt he was being led by God, the Catholic Popes jailed, tortured or executed anyone who did not hold to their particular set of beliefs. Martin Luther felt he was being led by God as he nailed his 95 Theses to the church door while the Pope claimed this was a contravention of God’s will. Who was right? Could they all be?
It is impossible to establish the veracity of the convictions of historical figures; we cannot even establish the veracity of the convictions of those who currently live. Yet, we cannot doubt that there was some powerful, motivating belief which led these people to their actions often in the face of scorn and ridicule and even for some, martyrdom. Either this belief was as they stated — the will of God or it wasn’t.
We cannot travel back in time to assess the spiritual state of historical figures who followed what they believed was the will of heaven. All we have is the here and now and it is the empirical evidence of the present which must suffice to establish either the existence or non-existence of God. As we will see, that is enough.
As we have assumed the existence of God, if only for the sake of intellectual discourse, we have established that the empirical evidence is contradictory in nature, that which one person believes is opposed to what another person believes. The attributes of God held by one group stand at odds with the attributes of God held by another group. The very concept of a God is held in ridicule by those who insist there is no God nor any evidence of a God.
The Holy Spirit — believed by some Christians to be the “voice of God” cannot contradict itself. God cannot contradict Himself. Yet, we have established that the empirical evidence is contradictory which presents only two possibilities; God is not at all what we have believed or there is no God, no other possibilities are possible.
It is said that God moves in mysterious ways. God Himself is mysterious. If God is God, then his power and capacity must simply be beyond the comprehension of the human mind. If God is God, then His ways and thoughts — the very nature of God must be beyond human understanding. Any feeble knowledge, belief or characteristic of God that we may hold is not only a mere shadow of the truth about God, it may in fact be totally wrong. At this point, we have not factually established that there even is a God, so any such belief may itself be invalid.
To consider the existence of God, we must present a definition of God to which all believers and all atheists can agree. Let us present three possible distinctions that all believers and non-believers can agree upon. One, God is omnipresent, that He is everywhere at once, simultaneously. Being everywhere at once leads us to two, if God is everywhere at once He must also be omniscient: knowing all things at all times. One and two lead us to three but is not a direct manifestation thereof as two is a direct manifestation of point one; God is omnipotent, meaning He is all powerful. If He created the heavens and the Earth, created human life from the soil, populated the universe with galaxies, supernovas, stars and planets, we can all agree that God is also all powerful. If deists and atheists alike agree on these three distinctions, it is possible to establish the existence of God.
Although it is possible that, from here-on out, our every view about God, His attributes and nature are incorrect, any definition of God must include our three distinctions while also permitting the contradictions the empirical evidence presents. We must find a definition of God, that on the one hand is benevolent, loving and caring but on the other hand also allows wars, crime, disease, hatred, cancer and natural and manmade disasters.
We can immediately dismiss every religions’ view about God because none of them fit the facts as we have identified. We can immediately dismiss the viewpoint of every current deist position because every current deist position about God does not fit the facts. We can also dismiss every atheist position because neither does any atheist position account for the many miracles, interventions or healings which any brave and courageous investigator who diligently searches solely for the facts will discover. There is only one definition that fits all the facts and distinctions as we have uncovered them. We already concur that God is all powerful, all knowing and is everywhere simultaneously. For God to be everywhere simultaneously requires that God Be Everywhere Simultaneously. If God is everywhere simultaneously, God is every thing. God is all things; God is the sun and the stars, God is the moons and the planets, God is the trees and the earth, God is the deer and the hawk — God — is you and me. If we acknowledge that God exists in all places, we must concede that God is all things. If we accept that God is all things we must acknowledge that God is in being as a tree, is in being as a rock, is in being as the Earth, and is in being as the bee, we recognize then that God is Being all these things — He is the great I AM, ‘“I AM” all things.’ If we understand that God is in Being as all things we can only conclude that God is also in being as a human, God is a human being, God is Being Human, a human in being.
Although this is a great intellectual jump to make, it also is the only conclusion that fits the facts, possesses all three distinctions yet permits the contradictions we have observed in the empirical evidence. If God is “Being” all these things and He is also “Being” the human race, would that not also imply that a degree of His power, wisdom and capabilities are also present in the human race? Indeed they are, for it is these three distinctions, omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence that the human race has wielded to form and shape the world we live in. We see that God does not contradict Himself and can do no wrong, but at the level of man — He (we) can. We see that at the highest level, God possesses all three of His distinctions and we, as human beings — also possess the living powers of a living G(g)od.
We are the human race and we are God, we have all the power of God and the world all around us is the world we have created. We have not done well, but that is only because we have not recognized ourselves as gods (small “g”), and we have mishandled our power — unknowingly — to create a world of greed, lust, war, power, hedonism, materialism, disease, crime and famine.
Without doubt there is much beauty and love in the world, we see evidence of this often, perhaps some of us see this daily. But we all witness and often directly experience the anger, hatred and cruelty humans can do to each other often on a 24/7 basis. We cannot doubt the beauty in the hearts of some of our fellow human beings, but neither can we deny the evil that resides in the hearts of others.
Now that we recognize ourselves as god, we can claim our power as god — consciously — and only by reaching for God can we be fully human. To be truly human means being truly God. To be truly God means being truly human. Only then will each of us — each human being — become a true fulfillment of the image and likeness of God — a human being.
Being fully god, does not imply nor presume that we are God with a capital “G”. The God with a capital G is as much beyond us as the human body stands beyond the concept of a single cell which is only one of billions that compose the body. That single cell contains the blueprint of the body, represented spiritually as “the image and likeness of God” and possesses a microcosmic portion of the powers of the greater body (God), but in comparison, there is no comparison.
It is said that God is love. This is the guidepost and goal we must steer by and obtain while we claim our power as gods. We have seen that humans — left to themselves — are contradictory in nature; we treat some people with compassion while others we treat severely. As humans, we know that we can commit great acts of selfless service, but also great acts of cruelty. Humans hold bitterness, hatred, lust and anger in their hearts and these factors mold and shape the world around us. If we hope to build a better world, we must be a better people. The dominant thoughts of the collective conscious of the human race produce the reality we see all about us.
The world of the future is ours to create and will be created by us whether we seek to do so or not or whether we plan for it or not. Without solid intent and careful planning the world of the future will look much like the world of the past — only worse. Without a deep commitment to a positive future; a future governed by love and our acknowledgement of our connectedness to each other at the spiritual level, the world we build will be built on the lust, greed, hatred, bigotries, materialism, hedonism and anger we hold within.
The only difference between that future world and our current one is that the future world will be subject to mass acceleration due to advances in technology, communications, education and travel. The evil that would be created in a world without love and spiritual awareness will spread rapidly to every corner of the planet. Weapons of mass destruction will filter out across the world and if lust for power, natural resources, land, and anger, hatred, greed, bigotry, materialism and hedonism are the guideposts which we live by, these weapons will eventually be used. Any war so initiated could itself accelerate and travel around the world engulfing the whole planet in Armageddon.
To claim our power as gods and build a society and civilization of peace and progress, of choice and possibilities, of love and happiness, positive in all ways and at peace with its neighbors, we must recognize our responsibilities as gods and the truths which surround those responsibilities.
The truths we must recognize are these: we are gods, each of us is a god and we are all gods within the body of God. It is as if we are cells of a living body. As such, we must treat each other and all other living things — with the same level of tolerance, compassion, love, respect and reverence with which we treat the organs and cells of our own body.
Our bodies are the home and temple of the Sovereign God; He lives within us, therefore we must care for His temple with the utmost care and respect. An additional truth is that the power we wield over the elements is limited only by our belief in such power. Therefore, we must develop ourselves spiritually, humbly and in love to wisely use and enhance that power. We must recognize that our love for others and our ability to develop in the spirit is limited by the degree of love we hold for ourselves. It is selfless service on the part of each person, using the innate talents God has given you to serve each other which will best promote our development as a person, as a people, as a society and as a civilization.
Humanity — you — seek a positive, progressive future, free of the wars and crime of the past, free of the violence and crime, free of the hatred and anger. We seek to be free of the uncertainty, the fear and of the divisions and dissension that divides us. You desire, as do we all, a safe, happy home of love, respect and peace. You seek a civilization ethnically diverse, full of the vagaries and nuances of what it means to be truly human yet united by a common thought: we are god, we have the ability to build the world we desire, we must love our neighbor as ourselves and we will do so, all in service to the Most High God and to His Son Jesus Christ.
The goal ahead is better than the one we are leaving behind. It must be or the world we create will destroy us all. The human experience we strive for is better than the experience we have had. With God’s help and the wisdom we have accumulated, the world we build will be exactly the kind of world we all desire; peaceful, progressive, loving, respectful and humble to each other, ourselves and God. The choice is upon us, the choice is upon you, we can choose the path we have been traveling for the last several millennia, or we can make a new choice, a better choice; we can choose the Way of God. The choice is yours, choose wisely.
