Posted by
Bob Siegel on Saturday, March 29, 2008 11:46:04 AM
In my book, I’d Like To Believe In
Jesus, But… I make the point that God’s existence cannot be proven or disproved. Instead of claiming to prove the existence of
God, Christians and other theists should offer evidence. I define evidence
as that which points to a high probability that a given claim is true. I define
proof as something we can observe
with our own senses. In science, nothing is proven unless it is repeatable.
Since none of us were there when the universe came into existence, we cannot prove
or disprove God.
There is, however, another definition of proof, that of an observable,
working equation. Let me say this as carefully as I can: If we want to use this
mathematical definition, then there is a
proof for the existence of God. At the
moment we are not talking about the God of the Bible. That’s a whole different
subject and we would have to study historical evidence for those kinds of
conclusions, but the proof for some type
of deity? Sure! Absolutely! In fact,
it’s really quite simple:
Something
had to always exist. You can’t get something out of nothing.
This something had to be a personality, not a human, necessarily, but
some kind
of thinking, feeling, sentient being. Why do I say that? Because
otherwise
there is no explanation for the origin of personality. This is the
fundamental
hurdle in the field of artificial intelligence. Can a computer ever
become self
aware? Is it possible to recreate the brain with its ability to think?
Can
sentience be produced in the laboratory? Only time will answer
these questions but
meanwhile they beg the much bigger question. Since stars and rocks and
dust cannot think and since chemicals (outside the chemicals of the
brain) cannot think, where did personality come from? Do we
get the personal from the personal or
do we get the personal from the impersonal?
Now
we can add it up like an equation: 0+0=0. The alternative
equation goes like so: If something had to always exist,
if you can’t get something out of nothing, and if the personal must
come from
the personal, then this something which always existed is some kind of
eternal
personality. We have offered a proof for the existence of God.
This is Bob Siegel, making the obvious, obvious.
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Part
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How
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How
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How a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Five
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“The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or
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