Is There a God/Higher Power

Is there a God/Higher Power

For those of us that believe in a higher power/God this may seem a trivial question but recently I felt the need to start a group on Facebook addressing the debate that goes on among theist and non-theists about this issue.  The range of topics have been the creation of the universe from a theist viewpoint to the view of non –theists. Differences have been rampant but the underlying question remains “Did God/Higher power create the universe and all its wonders or was it merely by chance”? Scientist have been studying this problem for hundreds of years and with the advent of modern technology, archaeology, historical research a solid answer still has not been found. Creation was it an accident or planned? I have thought about this for a very long time and decided to give my own take on the issue so follow me on a journey through time. Some of the evidence presented will be based on what is known today, some on supposition, some on imagination and some on faith, as I do believe there was/is a higher power guiding us. Join me on a journey through time.

The Beginning/Introduction

In order to begin a journey through time and creation we need to choose a beginning. As has been proposed there is the concept of infinity that everything is on a continuous cycle but even so for our journey we must choose a starting point hence the beginning of “our” universe. How did it all start? According to the Abrahamic religions e.g. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, God created the universe/earth as stated in the King James Bible Genesis 1 versus 1-31. ⁽¹⁾

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

² And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

³ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

⁴ And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

⁵ And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

⁶ And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

⁷ And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

⁹ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

¹⁰ And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

¹¹ And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

¹² And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

¹³ And the evening and the morning were the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

¹⁵ And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

¹⁶ And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

¹⁷ And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

¹⁸ And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

¹⁹ And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

²¹ And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

²² And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

²³ And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

²⁵ And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

²⁹ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

³⁰ And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

³¹ And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

As we can see here, the description of the creation is explained according to Biblical tradition. The question that arises is what is the length of a day? Science through carbon dating and other methods has set the age of the earth at approximately “4.5 billion years old”, according to Universe Today⁽²⁾

This leads to some serious debate on how “God” could create the earth in six days as most assumed that was six 24-hour days. Six days versus over 4.5 billion years hmm so why is there a discrepancy. Theists have contemplated this question for ages/hundreds or more years. Is there a simple answer? This depends on how liberal one is in their thinking or how open to other points of view. Non-theists would argue there is no hard evidence that a higher power created the universe/earth/life. A set of circumstances came together at random and behold everything happened by accident worlds were created, and on earth, the myriad of life forms evolved from a set of single circumstances and we now have life, as we know it. First, I respect the non-theists point of view as we are all entitled to our views but I do not agree with it.

First argument against chance/by accident creation no guiding force e.g. higher intelligence:  It defies the basis of simple logic. The chances that the exact conditions were to happen for any set of results happening by accident are astronomical.  Perhaps the laws of attraction could be introduced meaning that you have atom A and atom B in a solution now based on science atom A needs an electron and it joins with Atom B to form atom AB.  Possible under the present understanding of science but for a specific set of atoms to combine with another set of specific atoms to form molecule AB without a guiding force bears a lot of consideration, possible but probable again the laws of chance make it an iffy bet at best.  If you are a betting person would you take odds on a situation like this? Rewards high, risks incalculable not sure if I would take the bet.

Other belief systems have their perspective on creation, Buddhism , according to Daily Buddhism.com “In fact, Buddha, in the Acintita Sutta, is supposed to have said, “Conjecture about [the origin, etc., of] the world is an unconjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.”⁽³⁾

The Aztec had their version of creation: “In the beginning was the void.  It was at some ancient time in the Aztec creation story that the dual god, Ometecuhtli/Omecihuatl, created itself.  (Looking back, of course, the Aztecs believed that the many opposites that they saw in the world would have to somehow unite in t(4he origin of the world.)  This god was good and bad, chaos and order, maleand female.  Being male and female, it was able to have children.  It had four, which came to represent the four directions of north, south, east and west.  The gods were Huizilopochtli (south), Quetzalcoatl (east),Tezcatlipoca (west), and Xipe Totec (north).”⁽⁴⁾

Research has shown that every civilization has its version of creation. Therefore, the question begs to be asked, WHY? Universal thought or a universal link begs to be asked. Were the ancients simply repeating a story so old that its beginnings have been lost in time, perhaps?

As a huge fan of educational programs, I have watched many on the creation of man, alien theorists (e.g. Ancient Aliens) and recently learned something, perhaps our history is recorded in our DNA, interesting thought. So now, for our journey, again fact, fiction, supposition or faith you be the judge.

To be continued in The Journey