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FALSE
ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF EXISTENCE
Mediaeval
European conceptions about the nature and existence
of the universe were strongly underpinned by the
authority of the Church which in turn relied upon
arguments from scriptures that had long since
deviated from their true originals. As modern
scientific thinking developed, it met a great deal
of hostility from the Church whose authority it
challenged. The rift in European culture between
science and religion deepened steadily until the two
became irreconcilable. Eventually, religion came to
be seen as a domain of blind beliefs and consolatory
rituals about which science could have nothing to do
with God, let alone deferring to the authority of
Divine Revelation. The Darwinian account of
evolution sealed and popularized a tendency to
regard existence as self-originated and
self-sustained, a process which unfolded by itself
according to laws which would, sooner or later, be
understood fully (and therefore to some degree
manipulable) by human beings. Many scientists (by no
means all) have in principle and practice maintained
that natural causes or so-called laws of nature are
sufficient to explain all phenomena.
While
the Prophets who, despite having lived in different
places and at different times, were unanimous on how
existence originated and is sustained-as indeed they
were on all other essential issues pertaining to
life and existence-and again while a considerable
number of scientists agree with the Prophets on this
matter, scientists and philosophers who favor
naturalistic and materialistic views of existence
differ greatly in their explanations.
Before
passing on to discuss this viewpoint, we should
point out that unlike the Prophets who, despite
living in different places and at different times,
were unanimous on how existence originated and is
sustained-as indeed they were on all other essential
issues pertaining to life and existence-and again
unlike a considerable number of scientists who agree
with the Prophets on this matter, scientists and
philosophers who favor naturalistic and
materialistic views of existence differ greatly in
their explanations. Some of them attribute
creativity and eternity to matter and attribute life
and consciousness to it. Others argue that nature is
eternally self-existent and claim to explain
everything by natural causes and laws. Still others,
unable to explain the origin of life, attempt to
explain existence with notions such as chance and
necessity. Quite briefly, we shall discuss the
impossibility of explaining existence unless the
existence and Unity of God is affirmed.
Nature
and Natural Laws and Causes
Natural
laws have a nominal, not a real, existence
Natural
laws have a nominal, not a real, existence. They are
propositions tendered as explanations of particular
kinds of event or phenomenon, they allude to
imaginary forces inferred from the motions or
relationships of events or phenomena. The law of
gravity or the law of reproduction and growth in
living organisms or other laws such as magnetic
attraction and repulsion are not entities whose
existence is verified through our own external
senses or through instruments that enhance those
senses. Whatever truth the law of gravity, for
example, may be said to have, can we claim that the
real universe (one in which that law operates) has
(or must) come about because of it? Is it at all
reasonable then to ascribe the existence of
anything, let alone intelligent and conscious living
beings, to entities that exist only as propositions?
Natural laws and causes are inferred from
the motions or relationships of events or
phenomena in the universe
Natural
laws and causes are inferred from the motions or
relationships of events or phenomena in the
universe. Therefore they are, in principle,
dependent upon events or phenomena rather than their
origin or originators. Certainly, they are not
self-dependent or self-existent.
The existence of the universe as a whole and
of all events or phenomena within it is
contingent. That is, their existence is not
absolutely necessary-it is equally possible
for them to exist or not.
The
existence of the universe as a whole and of all
events or phenomena within it is contingent. That
is, their existence is not absolutely necessary-it
is equally possible for them to exist or not.
Evidently, there are almost limitless alternatives
for any particle of sustenance which could form the
building block of an embryo, to go to any one of its
innumerable cells. Anything whose existence is
contingent cannot be eternal and needs one with the
power of choice to prefer its existence over its
non-existence or merely potential existence.
All contingent entities are contained in
time and space and therefore have a
beginning
All
contingent entities are contained in time and space
and therefore have a beginning. Anything that has a
beginning must certainly have an end also, and
cannot therefore be eternal.
Natural causes are in need of each other to
bring about an effect
Natural
causes are in need of each other to bring about an
effect. For example, an apple needs an apple blossom
for its existence, and the blossom needs a branch,
and the branch a tree, and so on, to the seed of the
tree which needs earth, air and moisture to
germinate and grow. Each cause is also an effect
and, unless we accept as many deities as the number
of causes, we must look to a single cause outside
the chain of causes and effects.
Many deaf, blind, ignorant, unconscious
causes and laws cannot come together by
themselves into the subtle and complex
arrangement we recognize as a living
organism
For
a single effect to come into existence an infinite
number of causes must come together and collaborate
in a way so coordinated and reliable that we call
their collective operation ‘natural laws’. For
example, a single apple requires for its existence
the co-operation of air, earth, sunlight, water, the
23 degree inclination of the earth’s axis, and the
complex rules of germination and growth of seeds and
plants. So many deaf, blind, ignorant, unconscious
causes and laws cannot come together by themselves
into the subtle and complex arrangement we recognize
as a living organism, still less into a living
organism such as man who is not only living and
conscious but also intelligent and responsible-able
to answer questions about his intentions and
actions.
There is not an appropriate relation or
acceptable proportionateness between causes
and effects
A
tiny seed contains in itself a huge tree. A human
being, the most complex of creatures, grows from a
female ovum fertilized by a microscopic male sperm.
In short, there is not an appropriate relation or
acceptable proportionateness between causes and
effects. Extremely weak, simple, ignorant and
lifeless causes result in very powerful, complex,
intelligent and vigorously living effects.
All natural phenomena and processes have
their opposites
All
natural phenomena and processes have their
opposites; north and south poles; positive and
negative poles; hot and cold; beautiful and ugly;
day and night; attraction and repulsion; freezing
and melting; vaporization and condensation; etc.
Something which has an opposite and needs its
opposite to exist and be known by means of its
opposite cannot be a creator or originator.
Causality is not enough to explain things
and events
We
often witness that although all the causes necessary
to the existence of an effect are ready, that effect
does not come into existence, and, conversely,
something happens or comes into existence without
any causes that we can recognize or understand as
such. Also, the same causes do not always bring
about the same effects. It is because of this that
some scientists reject the idea of causality as a
way of explaining things and events in the universe.
Although the most capable of ‘causes’ or
‘agents’, man is so weak and helpless as
not to be able to resist even a microbe
Among
causes, man is the most capable and eminent,
distinguished with intellect, consciousness,
will-power and many other faculties and inner and
outer senses and feelings. Yet he is so weak and
helpless as not to be able to resist even a microbe
and he is caught up in endless needs and pains. If
man, being the most capable, intelligent, powerful
and conscious of causes, has no part in his own
coming into existence and no control over the
working of even his own body, how can other causes
have creativity?
Natural causes have neither knowledge nor
will nor power so that they can be
responsible for things to come into
existence which evidently require knowledge
and will to come into existence
Materialists
take the conjunction of events for causality. That
is, if two events coexist, they imagine that one
causes the other. In their determination to deny the
Creator they make claims like: water causes plants
to grow. They never ask how water knows what to do,
how it does it and what qualities it has that enable
plants to grow?
Does
water possess the knowledge and power to grow
plants? Does it know the laws or properties of the
formation of plants. Or, if we attribute the growth
of a plant to the laws themselves or nature itself,
do the laws or nature know the properties of the
formation of plants? While some sort or amount of
knowledge, will and power are absolutely necessary
to make the least thing, for example, to build a
cottage, to write an article, should it not be
necessary an all-encompassing knowledge, and an
absolute will and power to make this universe, so
complex, amazing and miraculous that in the ‘age
of information’ our knowledge about it is very
scanty.
Consider
a flower. How does its beauty come about and who has
designed the relationship between it and man’s
senses of smell and seeing and faculty of
appreciation? Can the unconscious, ignorant and deaf
seed, or soil or sunlight have done this? Do they
have the knowledge, the power or the will even to
make a flower, let alone make it beautiful? Can man,
the only conscious and knowledgeable being on the
earth, make a single flower? A flower can only exist
with the whole universe in place first: to produce
one single flower, therefore, one must be able to
produce the whole universe in which it exists, that
is, have absolute power, knowledge and will, which
are the attributes of God alone.
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