If you take a look up out in the sky on a seemingly clear night, try and ask
yourself how the stars, the moon and everything else came to be. Again the
question of existence takes over your mind the same way it did everyone else's
years ago. How did the world begin? What was the cause? Who was the cause? A
couple of weeks ago, I had the most interesting conversation with my brother.
Actually, it was more like a provoked conversation to help me begin this paper.
I asked him, "Do you believe that there is a God? A God who is said to be
creator of all things, the one responsible for life and everything that happens
to it? A being so mighty and great?" Of course, like he and any other
catholic would say, "yes!" From there I was anxious to begin an
argument based on what I had learned from the previous topics in my philosophy
class on the existence of God. I asked him how one can attach himself to such
belief based on what others say, what he has heard and from a holy book that was
said to have come from God but dictated by man? How could he put all reason of
existence behind nothing he has experienced on his own but only what others
claim they have? Then a light shined on me. I was expecting him to give me
reasons that questioned my faith. Instead, he casually turned and threw a
question back at me. "Do you believe that there is such a thing as one
million dollars?" I hesitantly answered, "yes," knowing what he
was coming to. And then he asked me if I have ever seen one million dollars? I
replied, "no". From there I saw his point. "What we believe has
nothing to do with whether God exists." -Daniel Kolak I was never raised
with a solid basis of Christian influence. In fact, I was never made to attend
Sunday school where I would be taught the whole essence of my religion. I did
though, go to mass every Sunday with my family, only to find it very funny how I
did not really know or understand anything about the religion. I did not base my
belief on God because of books and conditioned teachings because I was never
exposed to any. In truth, I do not base it on anything at all. I don't need to
listen to proofs formulated by scientists and philosophers such as St. Thomas
Aquinas and his Five Cosmological proofs. I do not need to hear the story on how
it was said that Jesus Christ saved us all, or about Moses and the Ten
Commandments. I don't know why but I just do. Don’t get me wrong, I have not
closed my mind on this belief about God. I have learned that it is not good to
attach our self to anything and close all doors on other possible ideas.
"Being able to shift points of view is one of the main skills philosophy
has to offer, not so much for the purposes of changing our views, but for the
purpose of freeing ourselves from attachment of our own point of view so that we
can really see and understand other's points of view." -Daniel Kolak This
is where the role of your philosophy class came into place. It was more so to
enable me to understand the other side and take on another perspective in hope
that I will learn more about the ideals that I believe in. So why is it that
philosophy teachers should be limited and restricted in accordance to the
institution? Why is it that they are treated as a threat to Christianity and the
teachings of religious schools? When in reality, all that these teachers are
doing is allowing their students to grow by understanding something at all
angles and allowing them to think for themselves. "…but they cannot harm
nor destroy God, if there is a God." I took this line right out of the
reading for it gave such a big impact. A line that should be posted, for all
religious believers who are appalled when an atheist speaks his/her mind, to
see. Why are these people so threatened? Can't their faith withstand the
striking? Or is it not strong enough? When I heard your lectures, read your
readings and read my own selected reading, I came to see the other side of my
belief. I saw how a non-believer in Christ would stand by his belief. The only
reason why we are so fixated on believing that there is a God is because we use
this belief to explain the unexplainable. We use them as reasons on why things
happen and sometimes put blame on the bad things that happen to make them more
easier to accept. According to people, God is the source and the moral center of
society and that if there was no God society will fall apart. The system is kept
in order by the Divine Theory on what is considered right or wrong. Without it,
there would be a clash of ideas and total chaos would occur. If there really was
a God, than it means that God created the universe and like an author, controls
everything that happens in the story. He was able to take the time to carefully
plan out the world and write the script. He knows what will happen and the
outcome of each event. God is able to actualize this world from the many other
worlds he could have come up with. Why is it though, that despite the fact that
God knows the outcome of each event still chose to comply with the world we live
in now. For example, according to Kolak in the book, "In Search of
God", if God knew that Adam was going to eat the apple that would condemn
the rest of the world to punishment, why didn’t he make it so that Adam
decides not to eat the apple? If God has control over all of this than why would
he choose a world which he did not approve of? Perhaps, God chose the things
that happened to argue that he wanted to teach the people because like everyone
always says, "God works in mysterious ways". So why is it that God, to
work in such mysterious ways, have to cause so much sufferings? Where was God
when thousands of people would die every year because of natural disasters and
diseases? Where is God when innocent people are victims of suffering slow and
painful deaths? When I was exposed to Zen Buddhism, I was intrigued by its
peacefulness. It was probably the most out of the six points that struck me the
most. The one that I would love to further explore and investigate. It is like
being in the center of all beings and prevails over all religions. The thought
of freeing the mind from all obstacles and divisions to simply live at peace and
not question why things are the way they are seems fascinating. Perhaps, later
on, I will. I have opened my mind to all insights and took in consideration the
possible reasons that would draw me away from my belief. Though the question if
God really does exist has nothing to do with what I believe. I have come to
realize that throughout the years I have believed in him without any sufficient
basis or knowledge of the religion and I still will continue on believing
despite the arguments that I have been exposed to. Whether or not he exists,
does not matter to me. He can either exist or not exist and yet I will still
believe. I believe that there is such a thing as one million dollars. Though, I
have not experienced it, I do believe that there is. "To see is not to
believe." -Immanuel Kant The next time you ask yourself how the world
began? What caused it? And who caused it? Don’t strive to look for empirical
evidences to determine if a God really does exist. If you do so, it will be a
never-ending search without an answer. Instead, choose a path that will pave for
you a direction in life. Whether or not God does exist, I choose to believe not
because of reasonable justification but because with this belief, it gives us
something to look forward to even in the worst situations. Society is given a
sense of hope that life will become better for all.