:: Random Thoughts From a Diseased Mind ::

:: Sunday, January 05, 2003 ::

The existence of God and the certainty of Knowledge.
Over the past four hundred years, a great deal of philosophical and metaphysical thought has been consumed with the certainty of knowledge. Questions such as "What is the foundation of human knowledge?", "What can we truly know with certainty?" and "How can we avoid being deceived in our judgments by misrepresentation of sensory information?" have plagued thinking persons. This debate is hopelessly intertwined with the debate over the existence of God. Descartes, and others, have taken positions stating "I perceive an all powerful and all knowing God who is benevolent and assures that I am not deceived."

While the existence of God is not a foregone conclusion, let us assume that God does exist, and for the sake of discussion allow me to refer to God in the conventional masculine gender as "He". If God exists, and is all powerful (again, it should not be assumed that simply because God exists, He is all powerful), than He can transcend and even change physical laws at will. It therefore follows immediately that there is no guarantee, written or implied, that God will not change our physical laws. Tomorrow, God may decide to eliminate gravity, or eliminate colors. There is simply NO way to prove that today's physical laws will hold true tomorrow. It then follows that there is absolutely no certainty in any human knowledge what so ever. Yes, I can reasonably assume that the laws of nature, the wind, the gravity, will all exist tomorrow the same as today, but there can be no guarantee. We can only operate on faith, that a change will not occur. This puts Man in an unfortunate position. There is no longer any point in arguing or even concerning oneself with the certainty of knowledge, for there is none to be found. We are at the mercy of a [hopefully] benevolent God not to suddenly pull the plug on his creation.

If one believes in Creationism, than it is essential that God be all powerful or in other words "infinite"; for God creates the entire Universe out of nothingness. He creates matter out of thin air (vacuum in this case). There can be no doubt what so ever that God's powers would have to be infinite, at least in the terms of our understood universe.

However, it may be the case that our Universe is only a self contained structure and that God and possibly other entities exist in some other dimesional construct. In that case, God may have brought matter IN to our confined space, or universe, for the purpose of the Creation. In this scenerio, God need not be infinite; merely very, very powerful compared to us.

If God is all powerful, does that imply that God is also perfect? It would be difficult to argue otherwise as there would be nothing to "compare" God to as a reference of perfection. Surely there cannot be two all powerful Gods out there. So, I would have to conclude that an all powerful God would also have to be perfect. If it is the case that God is perfect, why would He create Man as an imperfect being. I need not demonstate the imperfections of Man here; they are surely self-evident. Did God create Man imperfect to make him suffer? Surely not, as that would be sadism, a grave imperfection. Did God create Man through evolution, so that He could watch him grow to acheive perfection? Possibly so. But it must be difficult for an all powerful being to sit back and watch his creation grow, and fight and kill, and suffer, to hopefully acheive that end.

Suppose I say that God wants Man to work through these difficult stages to acheive greatness. God knew that in World War II, over twelve million innocent people would die to help Mankind evolve to a greater being. But, why not eleven million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine people? He could have surely made the same point and still saved one life from the suffering and pointless death? By further reduction, why could not all those innocent people have been saved? Surely that must represent a fault in God to allow such a gratuitous waste of Life.

If God does NOT exist, there can be a great deal more certainty in knowledge. There would be no all powerful being capable of changing physical laws, deceiving us for His pleasure. In fact, it is only in the absence of an all powerful God that there can truly be any certainty in human knowledge.

I do not state here whether God exists or not, as I have not yet any logical proof either way. I merely wish to bring light to the misconception that God's existence assures us a more accurate human knowledge.
:: Jim 12:59 PM [+] ::
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