There are 26 choices, 26 votes for Mechanical Angel's debate

Who is your God?

Well, what I want to explore here is not only who believes what, but why they believe it. I don't want any debate as to WHO IS RIGHT... but more of what you think is acceptable in your own opinion.

• The God I believe in is everyones' God

  As Muslims we believe that a Creator exists and that this Creator has assigned a criterion from which we base our actions. Furthermore we will be accountable for all of our actions we perform. Hence, Islam is of paramount concern for Muslims, for it shapes his viewpoint on life as well as his actions. Islam seeks to answer the question of life through the use of the mind. Therefore following blindly the religion of our forefathers or celebrities is wrong according to Islam. Each one of us must establish his or her belief through the use the mind.

  'Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs people who think deeply' [Quran 3:190]

  It is through this deep thinking that Muslims must establish the belief in where humanity, life and the universe came from, and what will happen to us when we die. In order to answer these questions we need to prove whether a Creator exists and whether the Quran is the word of the Creator. These two aspects of belief are the basis upon which the Shahada(declaration of Islamic belief) is built.

  Can science answer the question - 'Is there a Creator?'

  Some argue science disproves the need for the Creator and hence there is no need to resort to a set of religious beliefs. They say this because they believe that science has answered the questions as to how things came into existence and that this precluded the need for a Creator.

  In reality science does not deal with 'why' things exist as they do but 'how' they exist. For example science can explain 'how gravity affects movement of bodies', but it cannot explain 'why gravity exists'. Science may explain the charge of an electron but it fundamentally cannot explain why it has a negative charge. Hence science has limited application to explain how the universe operates. In addition science requires to test and experiment the thing it wishes to understand, therefore the issue of a Creator will be beyond the ability to test and experiment upon thus the question of a Creator is beyond the remit of science. In order to illustrate this if we were to look at a painting in the light of science, then science can explain the different colours, the components that make the colours, the material used to make the canvas etc. But science could not explain that a painter was needed to produce the painting. Therefore science is limited to only studying that which is within the universe and can be tested and so it is invalid to use this approach in answering the question of whether a Creator exists or not.

  As Muslims we would use a different method to establish our thoughts about the existence of a Creator and this method is termed as the 'rational method of thinking'. By this we mean that rational thought is built upon four components that is; the reality, the senses that transmit the reality, the distinguishing brain and previous information. Therefore, the process of rational thought is where one senses the reality using his senses that transmit it to the brain, which links the reality that is sensed to the previous information, hence producing a thought. If we return back to the example of the painting when we sense the painting we realise that the paint does not necessarily fall into an intricate pattern that produces the painting instead something other than the painting is also required to produce the painting - that is a painter.

  So using this rational method of thinking we can discuss the rational proof for a Creator.

  The rational proof for the existence of the Creator

  In order to understand the question of whether there exist a Creator or not we first have to sense the universe around us. By doing so we come to the clear conclusion that everything within the universe is defined by certain attributes and that these attributes are quantifiable. So whether we sense water with its particular boiling point, or the sun with its particular size, shape and temperature, or if it's an atom with its particular atomic number all of these are definable and quantifiable - hence we would term these things 'limited'. So no matter what is sensed within the universe all things are ultimately limited. Further the universe is the sum of all that exists, and because all that exists is quantifiable and definable then the universe is the sum of all that is quantifiable hence the universe is also quantifiable. A further point to note is that all limited things that are sensed cannot exist on its own accord, that they also require other limited things to exist. For example, this paper has a certain size and shape, thus we will term it limited but the paper also required wood to exist. Wood is also limited and also requires trees to exist in order for it to exist, and trees require sunlight and carbon dioxide for it to exist, the sun requires the fusion of hydrogen for it to also exist. In truth anything we observe or sense within the universe are limited and dependant, which is they require other things to exist in order for it to exist.

  This leads us to three possible conclusions.

  Everything depends upon each other in an infinite chain of interdependent limited things.

  Everything depends upon other things in an elaborate cycle such that they achieve mutual dependence, without the need for something to initiate it.

  There needs to exist something independent that initiates creation i.e. a Creator.

  Firstly, it is impossible for everything to depend upon other things in an infinite chain. To prove this point imagine a row of dominos, for the last domino to fall over it needs to wait for the proceeding domino to fall first, and for that domino to fall over it also needs to wait for its' proceeding domino to also fall first. Now if there were an infinite chain of dominoes, meaning that there is no beginning domino to initiate the fall of dominoes, then would any of the dominoes fall over? Of course not. In reality an infinite number of dominos means each domino would have to wait for an infinite amount of time, meaning they would have to wait forever. herefore if everything in the universe depends upon another thing and this chain goes on forever then nothing would exist as they would continually wait for the proceeding thing to exist. Therefore a chain of interdependent things that goes on forever cannot exist.

  As for the second possibility that everything depends upon every other thing in an elaborate cycle we can also show that this cannot occur. If we return to the analogy of the water cycle then we can say that for water to exist it depends upon rain and for rain to exist it depends upon clouds and clouds depend upon evaporation of water. However water does not exist as yet, hence nothing in the cycle exists until something initiates the cycle. Further we can understand this point by another simple illustration by stating that A depends upon B and B depends upon A, this is a form of mutual dependence. So for A to exist B needs to exist but B doesn't exist until A exists, therefore nothing would exist. This simple demonstration proves that things cannot depend upon other things in a form of a cycle i.e. mutual dependence without something external first initiating the cycle.

  Hence this leads to the final possibility as the only possibility to explain the universe around us. That is something independent requires to exist upon which every other thing ultimately depends upon. For this independent force to exist then it must be other than limited, i.e. other than quantifiable and definable. Therefore this independent thing must be unlimited. This necessitates that this unlimited, independent force chose to create and was not forced to create. Choice signifies will and intelligence. As a result we come to the rational conclusion that an independent, unlimited, intelligent force created the universe. For Muslims we call this Creator, Allah.

  Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him. (The Quran 112)

  11%  Voted for by coldheat, fayaz, Trinh Rizci.

  View 1 comment Hide Comments

  Please login or register to comment.

  Registration is required because of issues with spam. It is fast and free! This author would LOVE to get a comment from you, please join!

  • right now

    Adding your comment:
  • Trinh Rizci
    May 27, 2006
    Edit | Reply

    Wow

    You really explain your beliefs well. This specifically: "Islam seeks to answer the question of life through the use of the mind. Therefore following blindly the religion of our forefathers or celebrities is wrong according to Islam. Each one of us must establish his or her belief through the use the mind. 'Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs people who think deeply' [Quran 3:190] It is through this deep thinking that Muslims must establish the belief in where humanity, life and the universe came from, and what will happen to us when we die. In order to answer these questions we need to prove whether a Creator exists and whether the Quran is the word of the Creator." I completely agree with that idea; it isn't true belief if you haven't really delved into it from all directions. If you don't question what you believe, can you honestly say that you believe it? Kudos to you for your very inciteful opinion.

  Please register or login to comment! It's totally free
• right now

  Adding your reply:
• Your Comment: