Why do people start believing in God. Should modern man believe in God? Biblical values do not match modern ones
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For centuries mankind has believed in God. No matter what continents and countries people live in, they all visit temples, worshiping higher powers. Why do people do this, why do they believe in God? The answer is simple: the population of this or that country was already born with a certain faith, for example, Hindus, Muslims, Greek Catholics, etc. People are not allowed to doubt their faith by convincing them of the existence of God.
In addition, there are some other social situations that cause believers to adhere to strictly established religious rules. Every church creates communities and gives parishioners a sense of support when needed. Many areas of pragmatic life have nullified their values, and religious communities have filled such voids. Belief in God convinces people that this is how you can find a mentor in difficult times.
Most people, when analyzing the complexity of creating the universe or contemplating the beauties of nature, realize that there is something more in our universe that could create such magnificence, as well as the physical world that surrounds us.
In the past, all religions have put forward their judgments about the history of the origin of life. Each of them states that everything was created by a higher power - God. However, this is one of the most answers why people believe in God.
Perhaps the main reason for believing in God comes from the personal experience of a single person. It is possible that someone heard an answer to prayers, someone received a warning at a dangerous moment, grace descended on someone, and he recovered, while becoming a happy person; someone, having received a blessing, successfully completed the work he had begun. So there is a feeling of happiness and peace, it encourages going to church, getting acquainted with the sacred scriptures.
Today, a huge number of people, despite the countless achievements of technology, are in a depressive unfortunate state. This is due to social problems and some kind of life deprivation, as well as due to the desire of the majority to compare their personal lives with the lives of successful people.
Also, people believe in God in order to become happy, to understand. Some individuals need strict rules that allow them to control their actions, while others, on the contrary, need more self-expression and freedom. Belief in God allows a person to understand his goals and values. Faith makes it possible to predetermine one's priorities, rethink relationships with loved ones, requirements for oneself and society.
Religion helps to find the answer: what is the meaning of life. For every individual, this question remains the main one throughout life. This spiritual problem has to do with determining the ultimate goal of existence. Not everyone is able to answer what is the meaning of being. And even realizing the meaning, not every person manages to substantiate it with arguments. But what is interesting is that in every individual there is a need to find meaning and rationally justify it. Solving the question of the meaning of life, the human faces the inevitability of choosing one of two possible alternatives, since the set of worldviews is limited as a result to two directions: religion or atheism. Man has to choose between religion and atheism.
It is difficult to define what religion is. However, one can definitely say that religion is a fact of social life. The word "religion" literally means harnessing, binding. It is likely that originally this term denoted the attachment of a person to something unchanging, sacred.
The concept of religion was first used in the speeches of a Roman politician and orator in the 1st century BC. BC e. Cicero, who contrasted religion with another word meaning superstition (mythical, dark belief).
The very concept of "religion" came into use for the first time in the centuries of Christianity and meant a philosophical, moral and deep system.
Initially, an element of any religion is faith. Faith has been and will be an important property of the consciousness of the individual, the main measure of spirituality.
Any religion exists due to religious activities. Theologians compose works, teachers teach the basics of religion, missionaries spread the faith. However, the core of religious activity is a cult (from the Latin language - veneration, cultivation, care).
The cult includes the understanding of the totality of actions performed by believers with the aim of worshiping God or some supernatural forces. These include prayers, rituals, religious holidays, divine services, sermons.
Cult objects, priesthood, temples may be absent in some religions. There are religions where the cult is given little importance or it can be invisible. Although in general in religion the role of the cult itself is very significant. People, carrying out a cult, communicate, exchange information and emotions, contemplate the magnificent works of painting, architecture, listen to sacred texts, prayer music. All this helps to increase the religious feelings of the parishioners, unites them, helping to achieve spirituality. At the same time, the church imposes its judgments and rules, which can negatively affect the psyche of people.
Pros and Cons of Religion
For centuries, religion has successfully enveloped human consciousness with a “web” of unfulfillable, constructions of the universe, afterlife, etc. Strengthening itself in the minds of people and in the memory of generations, becoming part of the cultural potential, religion has received some cultural, ethical and socio-political functions.
The functions of religion are understood as ways of religious influence on the life of society. The functions of religion generate both pluses and minuses.
The advantage of any religion is that faith helps believers to more easily endure negative emotions. In other words, religion gives consolation, leveling negative emotions (despair, grief, sadness, loneliness, etc.). Religious consolation is a specific form of psychotherapy that is effective and cheap. Thanks to this consolation, mankind was able to survive in the historical past, and survives now.
The second plus of the function of religion is expressed in the fact that it contributes to the communication of people with a common worldview.
Communication is a significant need and value in life. Limited or lack of communication makes people suffer.
The majority of pensioners are especially acutely experiencing a lack of communication, but it happens that young people fall into this number. Religion helps everyone overcome this negative side of life.
The minuses of religion are noted only by historians, since theologians are convinced that religion has no minuses.
Historians rank the alienation of people on the basis of worldview as a minus. This means that parishioners of different faiths treat each other either indifferently or hostilely. The stronger the idea of chosenness in religion is promoted, the more pronounced is the alienation between believers of different faiths. However, there is a religion (Bahaism) whose moral code condemns such behavior and classifies it as a moral vice.
The second disadvantage, according to historians, is the decrease in the level of social activity of believers.
Social activity is a non-religious activity, the purpose of which is the service of society, for example, socially useful work, political activity, scientific and cultural activity.
Religions, due to their ideological function, prevent people from participating in social and political activities (participation in rallies, elections, demonstrations, etc.). This happens, as if through direct prohibitions, but often due to the fact that there is no time at all for social activities, since personal time is devoted to prayers, rituals, the study and dissemination of religious literature.
Atheists, trying to understand believers, wonder what motivates people to believe in God.
Sometimes religious personalities think about this, observing the diversity of religious movements.
Some believe that belief in God is a matter of personal preference, others believe that without faith a person becomes an inferior person, others prefer to keep quiet because of the belief that people themselves have come up with faith in God. All opinions are contradictory, behind each is a conviction that reflects the individual's view of faith in the creator.
So, people start believing in God for the following reasons:
- birth in a believing family. Religion depends on the locality in which the family lives (for example, Hindus live in India, Catholics in Italy, Islamists in Morocco, etc.);
- some individuals come to faith because they feel a need for God. They are consciously interested in religion, the creator, thus making up for what they lack. They are convinced that the appearance of mankind is not accidental, everyone has a purpose. Such faith is not a temporary impulse, but a deep conviction;
- even an individual who is far from religion, having experienced life's trials, turns to God, for example, during a period of serious illness;
- some, having understood the answer to their prayers, begin to believe in God according to their personal desire, expressing their gratitude to him;
- pushes a person to faith. He may not actually have faith, but he will give the appearance of a believing person for fear of being judged by others or believe for fear of what will happen to him after death.
The reasons why people believe in God are endless, but they all come down to the fact that an individual can have a superficial or deep faith. This will be reflected or not in his words and decisions, and the words spoken out loud "I believe in God" are not always true.
Speaker of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"
And so, some “stand their ground” to the last and die without repentance and communion. Neither the persuasion of church-going children or grandchildren, nor the tangible presence of the Church in the information space helps. Others, even at the end of their days, open their hearts to God, begin to go to church, and prepare for eternal life.
And when you stand at a funeral, the question “why does a person believe or not believe in God” seems to be by no means an abstract philosophical one, and the thought “how much depends on the person himself - to believe or not to believe?” Does not seem at all idle.
Archpriest Alexy Herodov, rector of the Church of the Hieromartyr Vladimir in Vinnitsa, says:
– My deep conviction is that a person believes in God for only one reason: such a person needs God, and the person wants God to exist. And a person does not care if Gagarin saw God in space or not. Such a person does not need proof. The proof for him is his ardent desire, and only then the whole world, which eloquently testifies that without God he could not exist.
A believer seeks God all his life, although he does not see with his eyes. He perfectly understands that he does not see, but his heart knows that God exists. The initiative of faith always comes only from man. The first and most important step a person takes himself. And already in response to this, God gives a person help that a person feels personally. Unbelieving people think in vain that God has deprived them of something, has not given them faith. I am deeply convinced that there was simply no place to put this faith. Our heart is open before God.
– Does a person have a special gift of faith, the ability to do so?
- There is. Everyone has this gift exclusively. All the good pathos in our life we create ourselves according to our desire. But we do not synthesize. Building material is equally available to everyone, but everyone acts according to the word of the Savior: “A good person brings out good from the good treasure of his heart, and an evil person brings evil out of evil.”
Why do so many people want to believe and can't?
– Because in human life there are things unimaginable and unthinkable. There are many phenomena that we have heard about, and we want to get them, but we do not know what they look like. It is a fact. The gospel calls a way to gain something. It says: "The kingdom of God is in need, and the maids delight it." This principle is not accidental. We see it in Holy Scripture many times. God, as it were, sets a task, and leaves a person to solve it by laboring. For example, he displays animals in front of Adam, so that he in turn gives them names. Or he says to Adam and Eve “be fruitful and multiply”, and does not tell how, so that they themselves fill it with meaning, so that it is their life, and not someone else's. So the Gospel creates a space that is rather strange at first glance, so that a person can personally fill it with his love. So that a person does not have a reason to feel bitterness about the fact that the treasure of his heart was not stolen by what he was told in advance, and was not given a place for his personal love.
– Is there a criterion for the authenticity of faith? This– believes sincerely, and this– pretends? Moreover, he deceives himself.
- Criteria are required, but it is better to answer this question from my previous comment. A person recognizes only those things that are experienced by him, are familiar to him. For this reason, someone else's experience of faith, although useful, can also be understood only through personal labor. It is work, not work. You will find out later that it was work, but for now you are looking - as if you are moving mountains.
It can be difficult to tell a believer from a non-believer. For one very important reason. Many people become churched, as it were, from the bottom up - from church tradition to Christ, instead of properly becoming churched - from Christ to tradition. The tradition itself does not lead anywhere, and at the same time it is very "caloric", so that you can earn all sorts of "digestion" disorders. And that is precisely why people who become churched through tradition act, as they think, prudently. At first they are devoured to the point of disgust by tradition, then they become "philosophers", but they never reach Christ. "They can't anymore." Like Vovochka's girlfriend who doesn't drink or smoke because she can't anymore.
- What do people who do not believe in God count on? And those who say that God is in their soul, that all religions are equal, and that God is one for all?
– My conviction is that such people, as well as atheists, and even suicides, which, in general, are one and the same, are simply original before God. They think that God will certainly be “deceived” by the “beauty of their souls.” Thus, they oppose themselves to everyone around them, pose, and think that God will definitely pay attention to them in this way. This is a sly calculation, and the end of it is death. Unfortunately, these "witty" learn the result of their cunning too late, beyond the threshold of death. It's scary to even imagine how they would like to return. To experience such anguish - and you no longer need any hell.
– What will be the posthumous fate of unbelievers and those who did not go to church, did not partake of the Mysteries of Christ?
– I believe that they will not inherit any salvation, but I am far from forbidding God to come up with something for them at His Righteous Discretion. If I see them in the Kingdom of Heaven, I won't be offended.
Prepared by Marina Bogdanova
People believe in the evil eye, conspiracy theories, racial superiority, aliens and guardian angels. Why are we programmed to believe in the first place? Because that's how the human brain works. Disbelief, skepticism and scientific approach require efforts to overcome this innate mechanism of believing. Science is guided by the principle "everything new is wrong until it is confirmed", the brain is set to the opposite: "everything that I noticed is true until it is refuted."
We owe such credulity to the frontal lobes, which are able to build logical connections, or patterns. If we see a pair of boots and a briefcase at the edge of the bridge, we immediately imagine a person jumping off this bridge. But this mechanism suffers from the verification department: we willingly believe in the observed patterns, but with great difficulty and errors we can separate real patterns from fictional ones.
Errors are of two kinds, and they are explained by the well-known example of the tiger in the grass. Let's say we are an ancient man walking on the savannah in search of prey. Suddenly, we notice red spots in the grass and hear a rustle. An error of the first kind (type I error), false-positive, is when we take these spots and rustle for a tiger and run away, but in fact it was the wind and flowers. We came up with a logical chain that does not exist. What is the cost of such a mistake? Small - we'll run a little.
But there are errors of the second kind (type II error): if this is really a tiger, and we do not collect the red spots and noise into a coherent picture, we will be eaten right there. The price for a Type II error is death. At these rates, natural selection will favor all-believing creatures, dominated by Type I errors, to thrive.
Believing in something is the discovery of dependency. As real - I believe that this mister is watching me, because he is following me around. And fictional: this Mr. was cured of cancer, because his wife prayed for him. The fictitious addiction is the first type of error - there is no serious connection between prayer and recovery, but the wife believes in this connection.
There is an evolutionary explanation for the constant search for patterns (tiger in the grass): this is how we survive and reproduce better. But there is another aspect: a person feels very insecure in a situation that he does not understand. Chaos is an extremely uncomfortable intellectual environment for us.
Science is a great way to sort out real patterns from unreal ones, but it's extremely young, a couple of hundred years old, seriously. Before that, nothing that a person saw around him could be explained: lightning, plague, earthquakes, illnesses and healings - everything required at least some explanation.
Our belief in the supernatural is directly related to how much we consider our lives to be manageable. People with an external locus who feel they have no control over anything are much more likely to believe anything. The spirit that you can appease is already an element of control. To create the illusion of controlling the situation, beliefs exist.
What happens in our brains when we believe? Belief in the supernatural is linked to the activity of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, most notably dopamine. Peter Brugger and colleagues at the University of Bristol found that people with higher levels of dopamine are more likely to see connections in unrelated events and discover patterns that don't exist.
This is due to the fact that, as suggested by Brugger, dopamine changes the so-called signal-to-noise ratio. Noise is the entire amount of information that a person receives, a signal is a significant part of this information. The more dopamine, the more real and imagined addictions we see. A person with an average level of dopamine will associate the noise in the underground with mice, and a person with a high level will associate great-grandmother stories about an Indian cemetery.
Dopamine improves the ability of neurons to transmit signals, thereby improving, for example, our ability to learn and be creative in problem solving. But in high doses, it can lead to psychosis and hallucinations. And here lies one of the possible connections between genius and madness, as suggested by Michael Shermer, editor-in-chief of the Skeptic magazine. If there is too much dopamine, the signal-to-noise ratio will be too close to one - all information will be interpreted as meaningful. And then the psychosis begins.
As examples of two such types - "patterns just right" and "patterns too much" - Schremer cites two Nobel laureates: the sane, witty and social Feynman and the insanely talented John Nash - a hallucinating paranoid. Feynman saw just enough patterns to make discoveries and cut off non-existent connections. Nash considered everything to be a significant pattern (he made many Type I mistakes), which led to stalking mania, imaginary friends, and conspiracy theories.
In any conversation about faith, a logical question always arises: let people believe in what they want, even in unicorns, what's the trouble with that? But the herbalist's belief that his decoction cures cancer is by no means harmless. Like the belief that “our nation is better”, or “all the troubles are from the Jews”, or the belief that pushed people to shoot Pentagon guards in order to find out the “secret of 9/11”.
Faith is so stable because the brain is extremely deftly looking for an explanation for the found pattern, so it is easy to believe that aliens exist: Texas housewives are being stolen, crop circles are multiplying, UFOs are flying in two lanes. When we try to explain and rationalize a belief, we make another common cognitive error: as soon as we see a match (even a remote one) with our theory, we immediately shout “I told you so!” We ignore inconsistencies. So, if one prediction of the soothsayer came true, we will immediately forget about a hundred that did not come true.
Believing is the natural state of the body, and people can only make every effort to separate real connections from fictitious ones, so as not to harm themselves and others. So far, there is only one universal and extremely effective method for this - science.
Lesha Ivanovsky
T&P
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If a pigeon is closed in a cage and given food only after he pecks at the button, he will quickly understand what is required of him. But after some time, he will think: why are they feeding him? Apparently, something is required of him in order to receive food. He will begin to flap his wings before pressing the button. And he will believe that they give him food for flapping his wings ...
Belief in the inexplicable is understandable. Why are we strong in hindsight, believe in spirits, and can easily explain the causes of the economic crisis? With the beginning of the cognitive revolution in psychology (and social sciences in general), many researchers began to ask themselves the question: is it possible to use discoveries in the field of human consciousness in order to explain religious thinking? One of these discoveries was just the moment of truth.
Pashkovsky V. E.
This book is a brief clinical guide that outlines modern ideas about mental disorders associated with the religious-archaic factor. Until now, such guides by domestic authors have not been published in Russia. The book provides a clinical description of mental disorders of archaic and religious-mystical content: religious-mystical states, delusions of possession and witchcraft, depression with a religious plot of delusions, delusions of messianism. A separate chapter is devoted to the problem of psychiatric aspects of destructive cults. The book contains data on the history of religion, introduces the reader to the course of modern religious ideas, which should help in working with believing patients.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Amosov (December 6, 1913, near Cherepovets - December 12, 2002, Kyiv) - Soviet and Ukrainian cardiac surgeon, medical scientist, writer. Author of innovative methods in cardiology, author of a systematic approach to health (“method of restrictions and loads”), debatable works on gerontology, problems of artificial intelligence and rational planning of social life (“social engineering”). Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1969) and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Hero of Socialist Labor (1973).
Faith, Hope, Love… I wonder if anyone has ever wondered why we always use these meaningful names in this and not in any other sequence? What is it - an accidental consonance, harmonious rhyme, or is it really for Russians that faith always stands ahead of hope and even love? Scientists from the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences do not take anything for granted and check any harmony with their algebra: shares, percentages, statistics, margins of error. That is what happened in this case as well. Sociologists of the Institute of Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences have tried to measure the "level of religiosity" of Russian citizens and have drawn very interesting conclusions.
Psychologist Justin Barret compares believers to three-year-olds who "think other people know almost everything." Dr. Barrett is a Christian, editor of the journal Cognition and Culture, and author of Why Does Someone Believe in God? According to him, children's inherent belief in the omniscience of others decreases as they grow older due to experience. However, this attitude, which is necessary for the socialization of a person and productive interaction with other people, is preserved with regard to faith in God.
With the help of belief in the irrational and supernatural, people cope with stress and danger, scientists say. In the short term, little things like wearing a talisman can boost performance and give you a sense of self-confidence. That is why, the researchers emphasize, under adverse economic conditions, the number of articles on astrology and other parapsychological phenomena is increasing.
I lived - a prisoner in the world of atheism. As long as I live in this world, I was inspired so much around that there is no God. I studied at the best university, found a good job, made a solid career, got married - in general, like everyone else, I enjoy life. Material life. After all, I achieved this with my atheism.
Somehow, returning from work, I accidentally saw two people I did not know on a familiar bench, who were passionately talking about faith in God. I became interested, and I asked to listen to their conversation for a few minutes. One of them claimed that he was a believer and tried in every possible way to prove his case, while his interlocutor censured everything that was said about faith in God. In general, it was my like-minded person. Before, somehow I didn’t have to argue about faith, since all the time my thoughts were occupied with work and home, and this dialogue became interesting to me primarily because I wanted to assert myself in my life views.
I decided to join the dialogue. My first question was: “Why does a person need faith in God? Faith is a dream with which a person tries to fill the void? Our opponent was not taken aback, adequately parrying my statement. He replied: “Faith is a feeling that is embedded in the consciousness of a person. No matter how much he resists it, he still believes in something. I was a little surprised by this answer, and according to my views, I said: “I am a modern person! Why do I need faith? I have everything, I am satisfied with life. Why should I waste time on something that does not benefit me?
I already thought that I would introduce my interlocutor into a stupor, but he was not going to retreat. His answer shocked me to the core. He said: “Do you, being a modern man, deny any signs of faith? This cannot be! You, for example, believe in the laws of physics, chemistry or biology. There are many phenomena and things that you do not see, but believe in their existence. Air, wind, sound waves, electric current - all this you recognize and believe in their existence. You do believe! You also believe in the existence of good and evil, justice and injustice. You deny faith because you are unwilling to perfect your unique feelings that you have in your mind. Denying faith in God, goodness and justice become for you a formality that you want to pass on to your children, but faith allows you to feel with all your heart how precious all these qualities are.
His words made me wince. There was a moment when I wanted to strangle him for stubbornness, but inside I began to realize that I was resisting, and not he. And somehow, spontaneously, I burst out: “I don’t need life after death either in heaven or in hell - I just live and don’t touch anyone.” Again, I had some kind of imaginary confidence that I would get the better of him. Why is faith necessary? swirled around in my head. After all, I have always walked through life, rejoicing in my successes, and then some stranger makes me doubt my established views. Already evil takes that I can not adequately refute his answer.
To my statement, the believer also found an answer that was unexpected for me: “Do you deny heaven and hell (He smiled)? Heaven and hell you see and feel every day. After all, you want to have a comfortable rest - this is paradise, someone oppresses or insults you - this is hell, no one wants this for themselves. The faith of a person allows you to see heaven and hell everywhere, considering this a great life test. The fact that you live and do not touch anyone does not mean that you do not pass the test. The whole worldly life of a person is a test: today he can experience mental anguish, tomorrow he will be in grace, while thanking his Creator for the mercy shown. Death is just a transition from this world to the eternal world, where the best blessings that the human soul receives will be rewarded.
Somehow I didn’t have to think about trials, although I related everything that happened in my life to fate. But still I decided not to retreat. My parents taught me to solve my own problems without the help of God. Why am I worse than a believer? My like-minded person sat silently: apparently he did not want to interfere with our conversation, as he despaired of convincing the believer. Having collected all my thoughts, I asked my interlocutor, perhaps, the main question: “Why does a person need faith? Why believe in God?
Before answering, my interlocutor ran his hand over his face. Then he turned his gaze elsewhere. Remarkably, I did not notice any fatigue during the entire time of our conversation, I even, one might say, enjoyed it. But my head was seething in thoughts, in search of worthy arguments for refutation. The answer to the last question surprised me. He said: “You know, if a person did not have faith in God, then he would constantly fight with his kind. I know that my arguments make you effervescent, and this effervescence is a momentary awakening of your faith that God has put in you. If there was no faith, then a person would not show such emotions and would treat everything with indifference. But your questions and interest in this issue and, as a result, the manifestation of emotions in search of a refutation is the very spiritual awakening that is inherent in every person, no matter how he relates to such a concept as faith. If a person does not seek the truth and meaning of life, then he sees himself lost. But he may not feel this, because he considers this loss to be correct, showing a tendency to material prosperity.
Am I a lost person? Emotions overwhelmed me because I could not think in such a way as to logically refute everything he said. I wanted to run away from here, but where? Even after this conversation, his words did not leave me. I may never meet him again, but he gave me the opportunity to rethink some of my principles. I'll have to think, since GOD gave me such an ability as a person.
Arguments for the existence of God[edit]
"God of White Spots"
Main article: God of white spots
Evidence for the existence of God based on gaps in scientific or plausible natural explanations.
Proof from the degree of perfection
“In our conscience there is an unconditional demand for the moral law. Morality is from God. »
From the observation that most people follow certain moral laws, that is, they realize what is good and what is bad, it is concluded that there is an objective morality, but since good people do bad deeds, and bad people are capable of good , a source of morality independent of man is needed. It concludes that the source of objective morality can only be a higher being, that is, God.
The fact that a person has a moral law - conscience (which differs from earthly laws only in greater accuracy and inexorability), and an inner conviction in the need for the final triumph of justice, indicates the existence of a legislator. Torment of conscience sometimes leads to the fact that the criminal, having the opportunity to forever hide his crime, comes and announces himself.
Cosmological
“Everything must have a reason. The chain of causes cannot be endless, there must be the very first cause. The root cause of everything is called "God" by some. »
It occurs, in part, already in Aristotle, who distinguished between the concepts of being random and necessary, conditional and unconditional, and declared the need to recognize the first beginning of any action in the world in a number of relative causes.
Avicenna mathematically formulated the cosmological argument for the existence of God as the single and indivisible cause of all things. A very similar justification is given by Thomas Aquinas as the second proof of the existence of God, although his formulation is not as strict as that of Avicenna. Subsequently, this proof was simplified and formalized by William Hatcher.
The cosmological argument looks something like this:
Every thing in the universe has its cause outside itself (children have their cause in their parents, details are made in a factory, etc.);
The universe, being composed of things having their cause outside of themselves, must itself have its cause outside of itself;
Since the universe is matter existing in time and space, possessing energy, it follows that the cause of the universe must be outside these four categories.
Therefore, there is a non-material cause of the Universe, not limited by space and time, not possessing energy [not in the source].
Conclusion: God exists. From the third point it follows that he is an immaterial spirit, outside of space (that is, omnipresent [not in the source]), outside of time (eternal), and does not depend on energy [not in the source] (omnipotent) [not in the source].
Genesis[edit | edit wiki text]
The problem of the relationship between being and non-being is considered as the original philosophical problem. The central question of this problem is: what serves as the beginning and foundation of the world - being or non-being. As part of the paradigm of the philosophy of being, it is argued that being is absolute, and non-being is relative. According to the philosophy of non-existence, non-existence is original, and being is derivative and limited by non-existence. For Abrahamic religions, the book of Genesis (Genesis 1.1) gives an answer to the question of what is the most initial: “In the beginning God created the heaven (spiritual, angelic world) and the earth (visible, material world)…”.
Eternity[edit | edit wiki text]
Eternity - a sign of transcendent being, certainly supratemporal - is found in Indian theosophy, in some of the Upanishads; this concept was also developed in Greek philosophy (especially among the Neoplatonists), became a favorite topic for reflection of both Eastern and Western mystics and theosophists. We first meet him in the revelation of the eternal God among the Jews.
Varieties of the cosmological argument[edit | edit wiki text]
Calamic argument[edit | edit wiki text]
In light of the Big Bang theory, the cosmological argument goes like this:
Everything that has ever appeared has a reason
the universe came into existence
Therefore the universe has a cause
This kind of cosmological argument, due to its origins in Islamic theology, is called the kalām cosmological argument.
Leibniz's cosmological argument[edit | edit wiki text]
Leibniz's cosmological argument takes a slightly different form. He claims that every single thing in the world is "accidental"; in other words, it means that it is logically possible for it not to exist; and this is true not only of every single thing, but of the whole universe. Even when we assume that the universe has existed forever, then there is nothing inside the universe that would show why it exists. But in accordance with the philosophy of Leibniz, everything must have a sufficient reason, therefore the Universe as a whole must have a sufficient reason, which is outside of it. That sufficient reason is God.
Teleological[edit | edit wiki text]
“The world is too complex to arise by chance. »
The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, observing the expedient arrangement of the world, came to the idea of a "supreme mind" (Νοΰσ). So, Socrates and Plato saw the proof of the existence of a higher mind in the structure of the world.
The essence of this argument can be stated as follows:
Indeed, the extreme complexity of the structure of the universe testifies to the Great Master, who created such a complex bulk of the world and filled it with such complex settings that it is simply impossible to explain it by chance. If a conventional video camera hardly approaches the level of sophistication of the eye, then how could our eye create a blind case? If echolocation cannot be explained by chance in humans, how can it be explained by chance in bats? This is sheer stupidity!
Thus, the universe, which has a very complex structure, must have an intelligent creator. The anthropic principle is also very interesting here.
This argument is also called the "watchmaker's argument": "If there is a watch, then there is a watchmaker who made it." It was developed, among other things, by the British scientist William Paley (1743-1805), who wrote: “If you found a clock in an open field, then, based on the obvious complexity of its design, you would come to the inevitable conclusion about the existence of a watchmaker.”
Representatives of patristics also spoke about this, for example, Gregory the Theologian in word 28: “For how could the Universe be composed and stand if it were not for God who carried out and contained everything? Whoever sees the beautifully finished harp, their excellent arrangement and arrangement, or hears the playing of the harp itself, he does not imagine anything other than the one who made the harp or plays it, and the thought rises to him, although perhaps he does not know him personally. .
A special case of this argument are those that rely on the existence of complex structures found in nature (eg, the DNA molecule, the structure of insect wings, or the eyes of birds or humans; and complex human social properties, such as language). It is stated that such complex structures could not develop in the course of independent evolution, and, therefore, were created by a higher mind.
Ontological[edit | edit wiki text]
Main article: Ontological argument
“More perfect is that which exists both in imagination and in reality. »
From the concept of God inherent in human consciousness, he concludes about the real existence of God. God appears to be an all-perfect being. But to represent God as all-perfect and to attribute to him existence only in human imagination means to contradict one's own idea of the all-perfection of God's being, because that which exists both in imagination and in reality is more perfect than that which exists in mere imagination. Thus, it must be concluded that God, as an all-perfect being, has existence not only in our imagination, but also in reality. Anselm expressed the same thing in another form: God, in theory, is an all-real being, the totality of all realities; being is one of the realities; therefore it is necessary to recognize that God exists.
Psychological[edit | edit wiki text]
The main idea of this argument was expressed by Blessed Augustine and developed by Descartes. Its essence lies in the assumption that the idea of God as an all-perfect being exists forever and could not be formed as a result of a purely mental activity of a person (his psyche) from the impressions of the outside world, and therefore its source belongs to God himself. A similar thought was expressed earlier by Cicero, who wrote:
When we look at the sky, when we contemplate the celestial phenomena, does it not become quite clear, quite obvious that there is some deity of the most excellent mind who controls all this?<…>If anyone doubts this, then I do not understand why he does not also doubt whether there is a sun or not! Why is one more obvious than the other? If this had not been contained in our souls as known or assimilated, then it would not have remained so stable, would not have been confirmed over time, could not have taken root so well with the change of centuries and generations of people. We see that other opinions, false and empty, have disappeared with the passage of time. Who, for example, now thinks that there was a hippocentaur or a chimera? Is there an old woman so out of her mind that she would now be afraid of those monsters of the underworld, in whom they also once believed? For time destroys false inventions, but confirms the judgments of nature.
This argument constitutes some complement to the historical argument.
Historical[edit | edit wiki text]
This argument comes from the notion that there is not a single non-religious state, and was offered mainly at a time when there really were no states with an overwhelming majority of non-believing citizens.
Possible formulations of this argument are as follows:
“There is no people without religion, which means that religious veneration is natural for a person. Therefore, there is a Deity.
“The universality of faith in God has been known since the time of Aristotle, the greatest Greek scientist ... And now, when scientists know all the peoples without exception that inhabited and inhabit our earth, it has been confirmed that all peoples have their own religious beliefs, prayers, temples and sacrifices. "Ethnography knows no non-religious peoples," says the German geographer and traveler Ratzel.
The ancient Roman writer Cicero also said: “All people of all nations, in general, know that there are gods, for this knowledge is innate in everyone and, as it were, imprinted in the soul.”
According to Plutarch: “Go around all the countries, and you can find cities without walls, without writing, without rulers, without palaces, without riches, without coins, but no one has yet seen a city devoid of temples and gods, a city in which there would be no prayers were sent up, they did not swear by the name of the deity.
“The fact that a person reaches out to God, feels the need for religious worship, indicates that the Deity really exists; that which does not exist does not attract. F. Werfel said: “Thirst is the best proof of the existence of water.”
Religiously experienced[edit | edit wiki text]
Near-Death Experiences - Some near death survivors report seeing deceased relatives, hovering above their physical body, or experiencing other supernatural experiences. Such evidence is considered by believers as proof of the immortality of the soul and the existence of the afterlife.
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