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DOES GOD REALLY EXIST?
I was reading an excellent article just a few days back about God and God’sexistence or one can say about somebody who we like to call “The Almighty”. Thearticle appeared in , everystudent.com by Marilyn Adamson on 17
th
of March 2009.We have now started questioning about HIS very existence. How prudish on ourpart. I would take my readers to one of my small articles in scribd.com titled “aremortals more powerful than god? ” Where I have written about a dialogue that hadappeared in the film Jurassic Park. The dialogue goes like this,” God createdDinosaur, God created man, God destroyed dinosaur and man created dinosaur” This really echoes our attitude towards God and his very existence, because herewe have started playing GOD.Therefore at the end of everything that we do, havedone, we do come up with this question time and again, does God Really Exist?Do we really want an objective answer to this question? Here are some importantand interesting observations that can set one’s mind ticking. Discoveries inastronomy have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the universe did, in fact,have a beginning. There was a single moment of creation.Advances in molecular biology have revealed vast amounts of information encodedin each and every living cell, and molecular biologists have discovered thousandsupon thousands of exquisitely designed machines at the molecular level.Information requires intelligence and design requires a designer.Biochemists and mathematicians have calculated the odds against life arising fromnon-life naturally via unintelligent processes. The odds are astronomical. In fact,scientists aren't even sure if life could have evolved naturally via unintelligentprocesses. If life did not arise by chance, how did it arise? The universe is orderedby natural laws. Where did these laws come from and what purpose do they serve?Philosophers agree that a transcendent Law Giver is the only plausible explanationfor an objective moral standard. So, ask yourself if you believe in right and wrongand then ask yourself why. Who gave you your conscience? Why does it exist?People of every race, creed, color, and culture, both men and women, young andold, wise and foolish, from the educated to the ignorant, claim to have personallyexperienced something of the supernatural. So what are we supposed to do withthese prodigious accounts of divine healing, prophetic revelation, answered prayer,and other miraculous phenomena? Ignorance and imagination may have played apart to be sure, but is there something more?If a person opposes even the possibility of there being a God, then any evidence canbe rationalized or explained away. It is like if someone refuses to believe that peoplehave walked on the moon, and then no amount of information is going to changetheir thinking. Photographs of astronauts walking on the moon, interviews with theastronauts, moon rocks...all the evidence would be worthless, because the personhas already concluded that people cannot go to the moon. Similarly one has tothink about these with a non prejudiced mind set. Again let us think or rather askourselves some other pertinent questions. The Earth...its size is perfect. The Earth'ssize and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygengases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth's surface. If Earth weresmaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were
 
larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.3 Earth is the onlyknown planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustainplant, animal and human life. The Earth is located the right distance from the sun. If the earth would have been a little closer, than its present position, to sun thecorresponding heat would not have allowed life to form. If the earth was a littlefarther away from its present position then the cold would not have allowed life toform. A designer is required to design this perfect place with all the perfectcalculations and all the perfect peripherals like the moon which we call the EARTH.Water...colorless, odorless and without taste, and yet no living thing can survivewithout it. Plants, animals and human beings consist mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human body is water). You'll see why the characteristics of water areuniquely suited to life:It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water allows us to live inan environment of fluctuating temperature changes, while keeping our bodies asteady 98.6 degrees. Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants cantherefore flow upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to thetop of even the tallest trees.Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the winter. Anintelligent and extremely deft chemist was at work when water was made out of 2molecules of oxygen and 1 molecule of hydrogen. There is an imprint or one cansay a finger print of intelligence. Shall we call that as GOD? The human brain...simultaneously processes an amazing amount of information. Your brain takes in all the colors and objects you see , the temperature around you,the pressure of your feet against the floor, the sounds around you, the dryness of your mouth, even the texture of your keyboard. Your brain holds and processes allyour emotions, thoughts and memories. At the same time your brain keeps track of the ongoing functions of your body like your breathing pattern, eyelid movement,hunger and movement of the muscles in your hands. Think of the entire humanbody or that of any multi cellular organism or a unicellular organism and think of theprecision that these machines are working with. These machines have the capacityto rectify itself, to correct itself. A very intelligent designer and a sculptor was atwork. Shall we call that as GOD? The first of six Vedic philosophical systems, Nyaya (logic), offers three proofs of theexistence of God:1. existence of order in nature and man (teleological argument)It establishes intelligent design but it is not clear how many beings were involved increating the order and if they were supreme or not.2. existence of different conditions for different living beings (different karma of individuals must come from higher intelligence) This argument is used for example by King Prthu in SB 4.21.27: "My dearrespectable ladies and gentlemen, according to the authoritative statements of sastra, there must be a supreme authority who is able to award the respective
 
benefits of our present activities. Otherwise, why should there be persons who areunusually beautiful and powerful both in this life and in the life after death?"3. existence of revealed scriptures which basically speak about the same topics andone God The scriptures say that the existence of God can be inferred neither from senseperception (pratyaksa) nor from logic (anumana) but it can be understood from therevealed scriptures (sabda): "Supreme Truth is neither established nor refuted bylogical argument." (Vedanta-sutra 2.1.11 paraphrased) Vedanta-sutra refutesvarious atheistic and semi-theistic philosophies and establishes the supremacy of Brahman. Brahman is understood either as impersonal brahmajyoti in schools of Advaita Vedanta, person Bhagavan Visnu/Krsna in Dvaita Vedanta, or both inAcintya-bhedabheda-tattva philosophy of Gaudiya Vaisnava Vedanta. Vedanta-sutraalso mentions teleological argument: "Within the effect (world) the cause (Brahman)can be seen just as cobweb makes one [intelligent person] think of a spider."(Vedanta-sutra 2.2.15 paraphrased)Also according to Vedanta-sutra 2.2.1,2,8 matter cannot cause creation because itcannot be shown how and why the passive dead matter started to act. The realevidence is however present on the countless pages of Vedic scriptures. For HindusGod, as is, is beyond any attributes of form, color, shapes ... That is, God does nothave any specific form or name. In this state God is referred to as nirguNa brahman(attributeless god). However God takes forms as perceived by humans and thisperceived form is called saguNa brahman (god with (good) attributes). These formscould range from calm to fierce to yogicGod is the Almighty and Supreme. So how can there be anything good or badagainst It? If the good things are the creation of God and bad things of some otherevil force, will the gravitational force of the earth be attributed to God or the otherforce, as it is vital good element for us to live at the same time kills somebody whofalls down from a high-rise building! In the system made by God, normally one getsto enjoy the good or bad things based on what have been their inclinations and theactions they made because of that. (This is called karma). There is no evil (satantype) against God. In fact atharva veda puts it very clearly,"na dvitIyo na tR^itIyashchaturtho nApyuchyatena pa.nchamo na ShaShThaH saptamo nApyuchyatenAShTamo na navamo dashamo nApyuchyateya etaM devamekavR^itaM veda" There is none second to It, neither third not even fourth. There is none fifth to It, neither sixth not even seventh. There is none eighth to It, neither ninth not even tenth.It is the only Supreme. This is to be known.
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kgeakin

I must say that your arguments for the existence of a supreme being are quite weak. I think that it is unlikely that a supreme being exists, but not impossible. You succumb to the great human flaw of egocentricity in your argument. Just because we cannot understand the origins of life and the universe doesn't mean a god was involved. The universe is not ordered, it is ,in fact, in a state of constant chaos. The human belief in a god watching over us is primarily due to our great fear of the unknown and events beyond our control. The belief in a supreme being watching over us and an afterlife cushions our puny human minds from the fear of death for example. Why would we have souls? Why would there be an afterlife? What purpose do these things serve? I fear that we humans will never let go of these ideas which offer us false comfort and little else.

reply07 / 02 / 2009
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