Carmelo Cutajar, Vittoriosa
Ample proof of the existence of God
Here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists. Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, "If God does exist, would I want to know Him?" Here then are some reasons to consider.
Does God exist? The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer (God) who not only created our universe but sustains it today.
The earth... its size is perfect. The earth's size and corresponding gravity holds a layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gasses, extending about 50 miles above the earth's surface. If earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury.
If earth were larger, its atmosphere would certainly contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter. Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gasses to sustain plant, animal and human life.
The earth is located at the right distance from the sun. If the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any closer and we would burn up. The earth remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates around the sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating on its own axis, allowing the entire surface of the earth to be properly warmed and cooled every day.
The moon. Our moon is the perfect size and distance from the earth for its gravitational pull. It creates important ocean tides and movement so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans are restrained from spilling over across the continents.
Water. No living thing can survive without water. Plants, animals and human beings consist mostly of water. It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature changes, while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees. Water is a universal solvent. It is chemically neutral.
It has a unique surface tension and can flow upwards bringing nutrients to the top of very tall trees. When water freezes, it floats and fish can live in the winter.
The human brain....processes an amazing amount of information: colours, temperatures around us, objects we see, the sounds we hear, emotions, thoughts and memories, the ongoing functions of our body, the ability to reason, to plan, to take actions and to relate to other people.
God does not force us to believe, though he could. Instead He had provided sufficient proof of His existence for us to willingly respond to Him. The earth's perfect distance from the sun, the moon, the unique chemical properties of water, the human brain, all these and much more attest us to knowing God. These proofs make us believe that God exists.
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Joe Mifsud
Mar 5th 2010, 23:50
To date there is as yet no scientific proof for the existence of God, BUT also there is no proof that God does not exist either.
Both schools of thought are equally entitled to their beliefs.
I would like to ask atheists if any of them can explain how the world, the universe, existence came to be. Irrespective of whether your belief is based on the big bang theory or other, I am asking specifically how did the very first particle, atom, existence, state, come to be, i.e. how did the theory start in the first place.
If you cannot answer this, then perhaps it is time to start considering that your theory may be wrong, or just that your theory has not yet been proven right... But the fact remains that to date they all still stand as theories.
Stefan Mallia
Mar 12th 2010, 15:32
It is not us that are making an extraordinary claim. If you claim that god does exist it is you who are making an extraordinary claim and therefore the burden of proof is on you and not me. Obviously you can belief in whatever you want but if you think it is your duty to spread god's word at least come up with some decent evidence :-/ , not something like how perfectly adapted we are to this earth (as you may know there are a vast amount of inhospitable planets out there in the universe). No we cannot explain the world other than through theories, which may also be very false in reality, but at least we have the decency to admit that we may not know everything about the universe. Why are you afraid to admit this rather than make up claims such as the existance of god? Please note that your only knowledge of his existance is through what you have learnt from other people. Which brings up the question...do people have the capacity to lie and or be fooled by other people?
Stefan Mallia
Mar 1st 2010, 19:02
Have a look at this youtube channel, these people present very interesting and rational arguments, unlike the person who wrote this article... http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAtheistExperience I really liked this particular video where they point out that the bible was actually written by man not god. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VxE7OOl6Qo
Matthew Ciantar
Mar 1st 2010, 18:56
I don't like how you say that what you've managed to dig up about the Earth are little proofs that God exists. Remember, Earth didn't get this way in 1 day(or 7 days),Dinosaurs(which Jesus forgot to mention despite them living on the Earth for hundreds of millions of years, which is about how much humans have been existing times million.. they have been officially discovered about 1700 years after Jesus died)were before us, and before them there were fish, before them there were shells etc....It is very easy to digest the idea that all this complexity came about without a god as guide since life on Earth started with much much much simpler organisms and we had an unbelievable time to evolve into what we are today. Earth isn't this way because of us/so that we may live, we're living because of the way it is, we adapted to it... if it was engulfed by water there'd be nothing here or just aquatic organisms.True, there are no planets with life in them we know of, but what percentage ofthe universe has humankind seen?There's probably manyplanets with life on them since life forms adapted themselves to live in those planets' characteristics.
Rory Roybal
Feb 21st 2010, 04:18
Yes, special creation by God is obvious, since experience throughout history reveals advanced complexity always comes from an intelligent designer. Irreducible complexity in our most advanced technology exists only because it is designed by a living intelligence, so how can people believe otherwise with infinitely more irreducibly complex machinery such as very specific conditions to support life on Earth, simultaneous existence, reading and writing of the vast DNA language, in addition to micromachinery to build life so sophisticated that our finest computer technology appears massively archaic by comparison?
We are told evolution is science and creation is religion, but this is false. Neither are science, since both views can't be observed, tested, repeated or falsified as as required for proof by the scientific method. Since both views require faith to believe, they are both philosophies or religions, but do not meet the qualifications for true science. See the real story at:
http://www.articlesbase.com/christianity-articles/miracles-of-god-evolution-or-false-prophets-1460044.html
Joe Xuereb
Feb 14th 2010, 19:07
I'm an atheist, and, although it has nothing to do with me, I'm happy to see that many have decided to use their head during life's difficult journey. To the others I can only say - we agree to differ. From then on, you go your way, like a sheep in a flock, along a strictly prescribed route or else,** and I go MY way, journeying along the Road Less Travelled. Knowing that at night I sleep easy, not owing anybody anything. And knowing too that nobody hates me. Well, there may be some who do because I 'shake and stir' their rickety belief system. But that;s a problem more their's than mine.
** They are told they have free will. Some free-will when they have eternal damnation in hellfire dangling in front of their noses from a stick! Unto them I say, do an act of humility - there's a paradox for you! - and accept your eventual, inevitable death with nothing for afters, no pudding, and you are halfway there. Quite simple really. But accept as the norm being blackmailed into submission by something unsubstantiated and implausible in any case, and you are well and truly done for.
Joseph Depasquale
Feb 12th 2010, 13:25
Just making observations that have been noted by scientists years ago is no proof of god or any sort of deity. All religions have one thing in common and that is the ability to lead gullible people by the nose and make them believe in alot of hokum.
Honestly people......your blind faith and the flawed arguements you make to fiercely defend what is essentially a truckload of beliefs that are not even original but derive from older beliefs never ceases to amuse me
y tabone
Feb 12th 2010, 13:09
so W.Azzopardi n Leo Bartolo - u admit to living a life for someone else? the guy in the sky controls ur actions? no, right? so u dont need him at all to live a good life now.
i am an atheist - i am not ashamed at all - actually the opposite. i feel good that i did the research and that i came up with my own decision.. i didnt just follow mummy n daddy, or a teacher at school.
i live my OWN life - i will not murder anyone cos i know its wrong and not cos someone will ground me or tell me off.. if you won't commit murder cos ur god says no, [n not cos u truly believe you shouldn't], then i believe you are the "MENACE of society"
Kevin N. Camenzuli
Feb 11th 2010, 09:05
(.../ continued from the previous post)
As a born-blind person can never really perceive the notion of colours, we cannot perceive (let alone analyse scientifically) anything that lies beyond the spectrum of sight, sound, taste, feel and odour.
Some may claim to have the sixth sense of intuition... i.e. some sort of direct connection to the rest of Reality beyond our "sensual feelers" and their technological extensions. This has been vaguely described as ESP or extra-sensory perception, but religious/spiritual experiences may also have something to do with it. Which means some may know certain things without being able to explain how they got to know them.
Could it be, then, that some spiritually oriented people can take "shortcuts" to yet-to-be-discovered or otherwise undiscoverable extra-sensory pools of knowledge? Could it be that perhaps "science" and "religion" are two different approaches towards unravelling ultimately the same things?
Maybe not, but maybe...
Kevin N. Camenzuli
Feb 11th 2010, 09:04
Blind skepticism is as bad as blind faith.
Surely religious fanatics go overboard with their beliefs, BUT it is also true that our scientific knowledge is still very limited and there are lots of things we still don't know. Just fathom this: physical reality is actually a quasi-illusion... the immense space separating electrons from the nucleus of each atom makes the physical existence we're so well acquainted with rather sparce. So, our own bodies, even solid granite, are made of mostly empty space. It's indeed the "energy" (or did I hear someone say "spirit"?) that knits the universe together that's more relevant than the tangible and visible "things" around us and within us - the "soul" of the universe rather than its "body"... but that's a long story to delve into here...
Also, when we speak of "science" we mean "science as we know it", that is: only what we can perceive through our 5 limited bodily senses, not Science with a capital "S", ie. reality in its wholesomeness. Sure enough we invented some instruments that can extend our senses, like UV detectors, since our eyes by themselves can't otherwise track UV light, but these are extensions, not new senses.
W. Azzopardi
Feb 10th 2010, 14:03
Chris Reiff
I don't know about you but speaking for myself , if I did,t believe in God I will help people and and do charities all the same because that is in my character. But probably I would not forgive my enemies and do good where I like and when I like only.
Chris Reiff
Feb 9th 2010, 22:56
Why do I have to believe in a God, subconsciously or not, to live a good life?
Leo Bartolo
Feb 9th 2010, 11:10
So Chris Reiff is an atheist. So are Buddhists and they have great respect for my God as I have respect for Buddha, for Muhammed for Luther, Ghandi etc. I tell you one thing Chris if you are living a good life then unknowingly you believe in God. If not and you are living recklessly and dangerously because for you God does not exists, then you are a menance to society. Saying this I am of the opinion that you are living a good life
W. Azzopardi
Feb 8th 2010, 18:50
William P Flynn. Evolution has nothing to do with this argument. Nobody is saying that God necessarily created earth as it is today. If you are an atheist and as you say understand scientific thinking tell me about the very beginning, how from nothing something came into existence .If you do i will consider becoming an atheist too. I know I will wait in vain for an answer.
W. Azzopardi
Feb 7th 2010, 22:35
@ Chris Reiff I believe in God not in idols. He has no name so you can call Him whatever you like, as long as you has the intention of worshiping Him the real and only one. If you believe there is no God you must believe in other things much more hard to believe.Either you believe the universe and life existed from ever' something no scientist believe and is unimaginable, or else you believe that from nothing not even vacuum , everything came into existence ,all by itself. It is like saying I do not believe somebody invented the computer I am using and I prefer to believe it exists just by accident.
William P Flynn
Feb 7th 2010, 22:22
@W.Azzoppardi Atheists don't believe in god because they understand scientific thinking and evolution. You believe in God, somebody you say you can never hope to understand, because you don't know how to (or care to) think scientifically and you don't (or care to try to) understand evolution. And then you play Pascall's Wager that your god is the right one. Sounds like Pascall's "Roulette" to me. What you claim as logic is fatally flawed.
Chris Reiff
Feb 7th 2010, 15:31
W.Azzopardi, read up on Pascal's Wager. There are thousands of deities that you should worship to be sure that you're worshipping the real one.
Also, us atheists never said we understand God (as we believe there is no God), but it seems you do make it clear that you understand him and his works, because you KNOW (even though there is absolutely no proof) that God, Yahweh, not some other God like Mithras or Vishnu or Zeus, created this world.
Pule' Carmel
Feb 7th 2010, 11:39
Same state of god or God back then, a he or a she!
W. Azzopardi
Feb 7th 2010, 11:07
If I live as if there is a God and there is no God, when I die I will not be disappointed, because there will be nothing and I will stop to exist . But if I live disbelieving in God and there is a God, when I die I will be very disappointed. Of course there is a God , otherwise how are we all here arguing if He exists. We were not here from eternity so we either created ourselves which is nonsense or we came into existence from nothing which is the same nonsense. The only logic is Somebody created us. How can somebody pretend to understand such a Being or His works. It is easier for an ant to understand how man landed on the moon.
William P Flynn
Feb 7th 2010, 10:45
The writer of this article should look up the meaning of "proof" in the dictionary.
Pule Carmel sounds as though he experienced something in the highlands akin to what those Bronze Age shepherds and nomads experienced thousands of years ago. His knowledge is far greater than theirs; but he still jumped at the same conclusion more or less.
L.Ron Hubbard meets Moses?
Chris Reiff
Feb 7th 2010, 10:40
@S Zammit:
A comical reply: Thor is the true God, whether you accept it or not. He never closed a door for you, you closed the door yourself.
On a more serious note: Did God leave the Jews all doors open when they were gassed in WWII? Did God leave all the Haitians' doors open? Is he picky?
Say what you want, you can tell me that your god exists millions of times, but you lack one thing, and one thing only: PROOF. One single word that dements the whole lie that is religion.
Ramon Casha
Feb 7th 2010, 07:05
@vincent a galea: And what if, when you die, you find Lord Ganesha glaring angrily down his tusks at you, and demanding to know why you worshipped the wrong god? What if he tells you that he would have preferred you to worship nobody at all than to worship the wrong guy? That is the fallacy of Pascal's Wager (that's what your argument is called).
Charles Muscat
Feb 7th 2010, 06:26
Religion is the root of all evil. The world would have been a better place if religion never existed.
gaffarena joseph
Feb 6th 2010, 23:54
Mr, cutajar,
Your arguments do not make me belief in God.
Sure someone created universe, but who am I,to talk and write about something that our
mind cannot solve,and you with your picture and writing solved everything.
I, want to ask those who think they know God, more than me, but im sure I, will be hearing the same old answer.That God, knows what he is doing.
Recently in haiti a boy was found alive after 10 days buried ,and to my surprise I, heard it was a miracle from above, but may I, ask what about those thousands that died ?,surely there was no miracle for them.
Please,better if we do not try to to think that we know more than others about this subject,because we do more harm than good
Pule' Carmel
Feb 6th 2010, 23:52
3God, once he transformed himself into entities we know, (and do not)He chose to leave reactions to go free and evolve without his control. God plays no dice with us, but he transforms himself into entities we need, and it is our own energies which will make them work as we want them to. We have to pass our own examinations, and practice hard to win a game of football, and we must always get out of the way of a knife, or a bullet, or diseases.
If in our schools we learn to appreciate a little bit of science, then we are slowly starting to understand the last recent states of God, and it is a long struggle to get to the initial states. We will never do it through, arts, literature, philosophy, conventional religions, and spoken languages. We may get to know Him a little better if we stop and think in silence as I did while I roamed around the clouds in Scotland above a hill near St Mary’s Loch. I will never know Him, only of Him.
Pule' Carmel
Feb 6th 2010, 23:51
2 On further heating the result will become a highly energetic zone filled with separated and individual sub atomic particles the size of an electron producing electric currents in all forms. Heat, is radio magnetic energy, and along this operation, it will display itself at different frequencies from being transparent infrared to the all the visible spectrum till it disappears once again on the ultra violet higher frequencies. All this will result in the Universe being solely a homogeneous turbulent Electromagnetic energy. If this is not god, then I am sure this was a transformation of still higher order reactions till eventually we come to a state which we call God. Some reaction, which I claim to be an expansion reaction, cooled all this down, where evolutionary reactions between particles resulted in what we are now. My own parents, through theirlives have been followers of all physicalLaws, and now that they died, they returned to a form of energetic state which the universe permits.
Pule' Carmel
Feb 6th 2010, 23:49
1In my youth, I met God in the Scottish Highlands, when I was walking by myself amongst the clouds, on a small “mountain” near St Mary Loch and also watching the salmon going up the river and jumping the Dam at Pitlochry. Since young I had always felt the energy radiating from all the people I lived with, and somehow I felt it radiating out of any inanimate object. I had questioned what is it I feel in all the things around me? Then when I learnt about the power of all energies in all forms, I concluded that God was all around me caring for me, in a form that I very slowly began to minutely understand. God was a higher order state, so related to my engineering operators. To sum it up in a somewhat comprehensible form, let us take the heat operator, and let us increase the heat in any solid object around us, using extracted heat from space around us, as heat pumps do. The temperature will rise such that the solid will slowly turn into liquid state and further heat will change it into gas which on further heating would change into plasma.
Simon Agius Muscat
Feb 6th 2010, 21:51
@Victor Pulis
Yes I have somewhat concluded that that is what makes most sense to me. (And I put absence in inverted commas ( " " ) for a reaon, because even though he is present, you have willfully decided to distance yourself from him)
Also, I will not refrain from stating that my puny intellect has no chance of ever considering attempting to understand God. I only attempt to understand what I am able to grasp.
Well, I will not distance myself from the fact that I would tell that to someone who is dying of cancer. If you want, watch the next Xarabank on Friday, it is on someone who is dying of cancer, yet lives in God's love every day.
Also, I personally understand that yes, I am an "inconspicuous speck in the backwater of an immense universe". Especially beside God, I am just an inconspicuous speck. Try to understand God, who decided to become one of these inconpicuous specks himself out of love. I would personally call him a madman. I do sometimes in prayer. Yet He decided to do so, to come give me hope that in death, I will meet him.
W. Azzopardi
Feb 6th 2010, 21:47
There are two things I find very easy to comprehend:
1. If something exists somebody must have created it.
2. I cannot possibly ever understand God and His workings.
Ivan Mizzi
Apr 8th 2010, 00:59
So, with your logic, if god exists somebody must have created him. Agreed. Man did.
William P Flynn
Feb 6th 2010, 21:35
@VincentGalea
Then you would be living your life according to Pascal's Wager. Google it and see its fallacy.
It is the fear of death you express that has enabled the god peddlers able to control and oppress mankind to this day.
victor pulis
Feb 6th 2010, 20:58
You have come to the conclusion that heaven = is where youexperience God fully (?!) while hell = god's absence (another?!)
Funny how you had to resort to Plato a pagan to understand (?!) God's presence on Earth.
As for free choice, where is his infinite love if you get sent to hell for eternity if you make the 'wrong' choice?
Believers in god always end their arguments by saying that we cannot understand god then they go to any length to do just that.
You said not to worry, since he gives us no situation we are not able to handle, no weight we cannot lift =) tell that to the young husband and father who is dying of cancer leaving behind a widow and orphans. to give you one example. I am not blamng god since I don't believe in an intelligent entity. Iam just challenging your argument. unless and until man realises that he is just a grain of sand on an inconspicuous speck in the backwater of an immense universe and stops picturing himself as something important and an image (?!) of god who created the universe how conceite can one get there's no hope.
Richard Galea
Feb 6th 2010, 20:27
I disagree with the Christian doctrine that say that we are born with an original sin......However I still believe that there is a God within each and every one of us....we humans by nature are Divine and we are here for a mission not salvation.....
The Divine Human is the only known entity which can per sive the whole universe while at the at the same time the whole Universe is unconscious
Strange ....that as the Universe get more chaotic and relative with time, humanity get more Divine by getting more conscious , unique and Absolute.
Throughout time Humanity had many mystic revelations from Zoroaster Moses Jesus and Mohamed........But we also had scientific revelations, such as Pythagoras, Galileo, Newton, and Kepler.
What our Church need to accept is that we humans have at least two ways how we can enhance our Divinity.....either through Faith or Knowledge.
A. Chircop
Feb 6th 2010, 20:17
Why are we always tied to traditional ideas about god and the universe ?
For instance, let's suppose that indeed a creator God exists or has existed. Must that mean that there is an after-life? Not necessarily. Maybe he is just a grand architect of natural laws and he designed only a biological life for us.
Must he necessarily be a god of moral judgment, or decide whether tragedies happen to us or not? Maybe he is just an experimenter who set up the universe and is observing how it unfolds without interference or judgment.
Maybe our reality is just an illusion. Maybe we only exist as a computer simulation created by an alien super race, and we only think that we are real. How's that for a different possibility? :) Or maybe the universe did start by accident and created it's own physical laws as it unfolded.
Why is there something instead of nothing? It's the eternal question. Religions postulate gods as their answer. Then again, many today won't believe in that, but will worship the opinions of scientists, statisticians, doctors, politicians ... God is Man's most interesting creation :)
D Phillips
Feb 6th 2010, 19:58
Tony Buttigieg
For your information, He took it with his Nikon D3000 Digital SLR Camera just prior to shutting off the lights over western europe, He does like his photography.
S Zammit
Feb 6th 2010, 19:58
continued .....You are certainly not going to find God by commenting on the times disapproving His existance. Since you are an atheist the least you can do is respect other people's religion.
Why not read a book about a saint for example St.Charles de Foucauld. A person who had lost faith in God but then realised He really existed. ''As soon as I found that God truly exists, I felt that I had to give my whole life to Him'' He was killed while giving his life to the poor. He died as a martyr. This is already enough proof that He is real. You see God works in other people and their actions. You should see both sides of the coin before drawing up silly conclusions.
S Zammit
Feb 6th 2010, 19:57
@Chris Reiff
Let me tell you something...God exists and that is the Truth. Wether you accept him in your life is up to you. God never closed a door on you, its you who closed a door in Him. He is always ready to come in your life.I see God everyday:- In other people,saints, in animals and the birds, in insects. I see Him in everything. It is very true that science came a long way and we have understood many things but one but one must apply both Reason and FAITH. Science can never prove or disprove God's existance.
The reason why there is so much sin because we are using God's gift of freewill not responsibly. We are ignorant and selfish as we want to disclude God from our lives when He gave us so much that we little do appreciate.
''A young man challenged a Rabbi, ''I will give you a hundred pounds if you can prove that God exists. The Rabbi answered, ''I will give you a thousand pounds if you can disprove the existance of God''
cont...
Simon Agius Muscat
Feb 6th 2010, 19:57
@ victor pulis
That is a question which even I took a long time to come to a conclusion to. As I have reasoned it: Heaven - Hell are states, rather than places.
Heaven is where one experiences God fully
Hell is where God is "absent"
The World is where God is present, but we only see the "shadow" of God (Plato explains this better than I.)
His INFINITE Love ,as i have stated twice, includes free choice. This free choice includes Heaven/Hell. So if you, for you, God does not exist, how can you even consider that Heaven exists?
That and I was going to mention for you not to understand God but you got there before me :)
@ George Debono
Do not worry, he gives us no situation we are not able to handle, no weight we cannot lift =)
Tony Buttigieg
Feb 6th 2010, 18:35
Where you got the picture from the Vatikan or NASA?
Darren Galea
Feb 6th 2010, 17:41
Which god? The one born of a virgin impregnanted by a super angel? Or one revealed via a prophet?
This "argument from design", apart from being old, is rather boring and has been refuted time and time again.
Chris Reiff
Feb 6th 2010, 17:36
@Leo Bartolo:
where was God when the Earthquake hit Haiti? It's a mystery isn't it?
Now please prove to me that Thor doesn't exist, that Mithras, Vishnu, Ra, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorn, and the Easter Bunny don't exist.
The burden of proof lies on the believers. And there is absolutely no proof that there is a God, because everything can be explained by evolution. The only question which is yet unanswered by science is what created the Big Bang? Many people immediately jump to the conclusion that alas, a god must have done it. But intelligent people should never jump to any conclusion without proof. Science will soon show us what really happened, and until then, I remain an atheist.
victor pulis
Feb 6th 2010, 17:26
Not believing in God doesn't mean leading a bad life. In fact those who don't believe in an afterlife (and consequently in a reward/punishment) have more merit for living a good life if there was a God. How many believers would change their wy of life if tomorrow the pope were to announce that there is no God?
Alfred E. Zammit
Feb 6th 2010, 17:13
Building the Large Hadron Collider to simulate cosmic conditions at the beginning of time has taken 10,000 engineers and physicists from 44 countries over 14 years at a cost of over $10-billion. And they’re still at it! May they succeed in re-creating something that, as Richard Dawkins would have it, happened by accident.
In his 839-page work “Does God exist?” Hans Kueng concludes:
“After the difficult passage through the history of the modern age …, considering … the objections raised … , seriously confronting Nietzsche’s nihilism, … comparing the alternatives of the Eastern religions, entering also into the question, “Who is God?”, and of the God of Israel and of Jesus Christ; …
it will be understood why the question “Does God exist?” can now be answered by a clear, convinced Yes, justifiable at the bar of critical reason”.
“Does God exist? Despite all upheavals and doubts, even for man today, the only appropriate answer …. begins with faith – Te Deum, laudamus, ‘You, God, we praise’ – and ends in trust: In Te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum! ‘In you, Lord, I have hoped, I shall never be put to shame’.”
vincent a galea
Feb 6th 2010, 16:41
I would rather LIVE and CONDUCT my LIFE believing that there is GOD and then die and maybe there would be nothing; INSTEAD of not believing in GOD and when my present existence ends, I find HIM THERE confronting me in the next one!!!!
Ian Galea
Feb 6th 2010, 16:29
I also have ample proof God exists ... he turns out for Manchester United many times ... He goes by the name of Ryan Giggs!!
J. Debono
Feb 6th 2010, 16:09
In my opinion there is no doubt about evolution.
Life and the world as we know it today, used the resources there were and evolved to use the best of the resources.
However there is a question that we as human beings can never answer.
Where did matter come from?
Even the big bang theory does not answer the question - the explosion of a single very dense mass (or even energy that turned into mass),
as we can then ask:-
Where did this mass come from?
I'm not implying there is surely a God,
but unless someone answers that question I will believe in a God, whether the Catholic, Muslim, Induist or any other God.
Simon Agius Muscat
Feb 6th 2010, 15:22
@ Andy Towler
Of course you can tell me I am mistaken, same as I can tell you you are.
And my second part of my comment pretty much answered your question to Mr Cowie. God's infinite love includes the fact that we have free will and we are forced to do nothing. Death is not there to be a comparison to Life, because if you are living, then you are dying.
Adam & Eve brought about the fall of man through sin, the rebellion of Creation against Creator, yet God's love was so vast that he was ready to become one of us to lead us back to him. Who knows how many lives of those lost could have been saved, had everyone follow Christ's teachings on love. We have the perfect solution in our hands, yet we forsake it, most of the time.
Lucky, God's infinite love includes patience (For a full list: 1 Corinthians 13), he's patient enough to wait for us to get back on our feet.
George Debono
Feb 6th 2010, 15:22
Simon Agius Muscat
@ God = Infinite Love.
If so why doesn't he do something about my miserable pension ??? :-)
U ejja !
G
victor pulis
Feb 6th 2010, 15:10
@ Simon Agius muscat
God = Infinite Love. That includes the fact that God gives us freedom to make our own choices. So if God's love is INFINITE why does he punish with eternal damnation? Eternity is a very very long time and no matter how evil one may have been in one's life to be punished for all eternity is a bit too harshand out of all proportion to the crime.
Don't tell me, I shouldn't try to understand God right?
victor pulis
Feb 6th 2010, 15:02
So what about the innumerable zillion planets that don't have the above attributes? God must be a very wasteful divinity!
Mr. Cutajar, it was not always like this and it will not remain as it is. The moon is moving away from the earth and one day gone will be the tides with all the repercussions. The Earth will one day be consumed in the fire of our dying sun and the universe will go on as if nothing had happened. We are just a speck in a vast immensity. Nothing special about us humans.
Leo Bartolo
Feb 6th 2010, 15:01
A beautiful and intelligent letter. Well done!. It's a pity that such a letter had to be tarnished by irrational opinions about God's existence. Throughout world's history, millions of persons tried to oppose God's existence but they failed because God exits. Can anyone prove otherwise?
A. Chircop
Feb 6th 2010, 14:32
(Continued)
I consider myself an atheist/agnostic (when it comes to the 'super-being' concept of God), but when one does not take religious thoughts literally, one can realise that they are actually very close to what science has discovered. The sequence of creation in one of the versions of the Genesis (earth, water, life in water, life on earth, then humans) is basically identical to the theory of evolution, and indeed science today tells us that life started in the oceans, then colonised the surface of the earth, and developed various life forms of which we are one of the most recent additions.
The story where God fashioned Adam out of mud before giving him life, could represent the fact that the organic matter that composes us is the same that makes up the earth, the plants and the other life forms, where decaying matter becomes part of new organisms in an endless natural cycle. So we can see that whoever thought up those stories had indeed a great sense of wonder, and also a strikingly accurate intuition - if we are able to appreciate the deeper and broader meanings and not take things literally.
Andy Towler
Feb 6th 2010, 14:25
@Mr Muscat: As a roman catholic you can tell me what you want. In turn I can tell you that you're mistaken.
@Mr Cowie: Do you mean that your god allows or causes bad things to happen and millions of people to die in order to show us how nice people can be when they help others? Seems pretty sick and twisted to me. If such a deity existed we should be opposing it, not worshipping it.
A. Chircop
Feb 6th 2010, 14:17
It all depends on how one defines 'God' - do we have to take things literally and think of God as an almighty super being who controls and everything? Or is it a much broader concept?
I see Carmelo's definition of God as "the capacity to retain a sense of wonder about ourselves and the universe" - when you stop and ponder how the mere fact that we and everything that surrounds us exists, why everything is just the way it is, is awe inspiring. And our capacity to be awestruck by it all, is in itself awe inspiring.
We could call this feeling, "the presence and manifestation of God", or we can call it the wonder of nature, the interplay of physical laws, the endless dance of the universe, the great spirit, or anything we choose - but it's still the same feeling.
Raphael Vassallo
Feb 6th 2010, 14:11
Using the same logic: shouldn't the absence of atmosphere, water and an orbiting satellite on Mercury therefore be proof that God does NOT exist?
Cutajar's argument rests on a well-known fallacy. The conditions on Earth are well suited to our existence precisely because life has evolved to adapt to these conditions, and not vice-versa. If the gravity was different, or there was less nitrogen in the atmsphere, or if there were two moons, or no moon at all, then the earth would have either been unsuited to life to begin with (like all the other planets in our Solar System, as far as we know...) or else we would have evolved to suit these hypothetical conditions, just as well as the real ones.
In which case, Carmelo Cuajar would now be arguing that the fact that there are two moons, or a nitrogen-free atmosphere, or low gravity, is also 'ample proof that God exists'...
Marco Grech
Feb 6th 2010, 13:08
Any attempt to prove the existence of god by the argument of Intelligent Design has one simple, irreconcilable fallacy - who designed the designer? Oh, pardon me, I forgot ... he existed since the beginning of time and nobody designed him. Wow ... easy way to skive the question!!
Gerry Cowie
Feb 6th 2010, 12:53
What an interesting letter!
It is understandable that those who do not believe jump straight to the bad things which happen in this world, which is somewhat misleading however.
For instance, what about all the good things which happen in the world? Would Mr Towler, who wants personal proof from God himself of his existence, walk away from Him, having asked Him about all the good things?
How about considering that when bad things do happen, how people rally round to help and support those involved?
If you try to imagine absolutely nothing and what nothing might be like, you get to a complete block. Then try to imagine how the world got here to start with. How did all the gases involved get there? Where did they come from? Why did the so-called "big bang" happen? If there was nothing there, how could anything have happened at all?
It follows that there is a greater power than any of us could imagine out there whom we call God. Science simply cannot explain all this and indeed never will do, because it is not prepared to acknowledge that God exists. Neither therefore will they ever unlock the secret of creation!
Ramon Casha
Feb 6th 2010, 12:52
A stream of water collects in a pool and is amazed... the hole in the ground fits it perfectly!!! It must have been designed explicitly for it - the shape of the hole is an exact match for its own shape! Proof that the hole was intelligently designed!
Does it occur to you that the earth is so perfect for us because life has been evolving to survive its conditions for billions of years?
So far, we've barely begun to detect the existence of planets outside our solar system, and it will be a long time before we're able to explore them. For all we know, this kind of planet is quite common. Even if only one in a million planets could sustain human life, that would mean billions of planets.
George Debono
Feb 6th 2010, 12:33
God or coincidence?
Aldous Huxely is reputed to have expressed the speculation that if you put a monkey in front of a typewriter for eternity he would accidentally type out the entire works of shakespeare by accident....
By such a co-incidence conditions on our planet suited the origin of life (also by a co-incidental encounter of some nitrogen/carbon/oxygen/etc atoms in the primordial soup) and the rest is history...
I am afraid, Mr Cutajar, your assessment is way too simplistic.
Read Teilhard de Chardin (and Richard Dawkins) and then come back again...
G .
Simon Agius Muscat
Feb 6th 2010, 12:30
@ Andy Towler.
As a Roman Catholic, I can tell you that God is omnipresent and omnipotent. (Everywhere and Almighty, in layman's terms)
God = Infinite Love. That includes the fact that God gives us freedom to make our own choices, which is why intervening is not an option. It is the rebellion of man against God that brings about all of your mentioned events.
William P Flynn
Feb 6th 2010, 12:13
Pierre-Simon Laplace was a famous French astronomer in the Newtonian league. He once had a meeting with Napoleon who wanted to congratulate him for his immense contribution to astronomy and mathematics.
Napoleon, always the larrikin, asked Laplace why he left out god from his works.
Laplace, an atheist, replied: 'Je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là.' ("I had no need of that hypothesis.")
Napoleon, greatly amused, afterwards repeated this reply to Lagrange, who exclaimed, 'Ah! c'est une belle hypothèse; ça explique beaucoup de choses.' ("Ah, it is a fine hypothesis; it explains many things.")
God is, at best, a fine and convenient hypothesis for lazy minds.
Joseph Seisun
Feb 6th 2010, 12:06
@ Carmelo Cutajar
I agree with your views. Just looking around us in our everyday lives, we see inteliigent designs: buildings, roads, cars, planes, tv, phones etc, etc. Does one question that these were designed by an intelligent being? Obviously not. Then we look up and see the endless space filled with infinite wonders of galaxies, stars and planets. And guess what? Suddenly all this happened by chance!! Yeah right.
As you said, God does not force us to believe in Him. He has given us intellgence and free-will. It is up to us then!
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
D. Scerri
Feb 6th 2010, 11:56
The earth sits in what is known as the "Goldilocks zone". This is an area that "is just right" for life to exist.
When one considers the number of galaxies out there, the number of stars in each galaxy and the fact that we are now seeing that stars having planets orbiting them is not unique, but the norm, the simple mathematics tells us that we are not alone in the universe.
I'm happy that the Catholic church in the '80s decided that the world was not flat. Perhaps in time they will realise that the earth is not unique.
These proofs make me believe that science exists.
Ian Galea
Feb 6th 2010, 11:45
If god really exists then he has a lot of explaining to do!!
Karl Consiglio
Feb 6th 2010, 11:35
The egg is the chaos of the bird
Joe Cassar
Feb 6th 2010, 11:29
Well said, Mr Sultana Peregin. But I wouls use the word "evolved" rather than "adjusted".
renald williams
Feb 6th 2010, 11:20
I agree and humbly beleive also ... Trinity Evangelical Christian, peace and health both to those who beleive or not.
Chris Reiff
Feb 6th 2010, 11:19
We live on this world because the world is fit for life. I don't see anyone living on Jupiter or Saturn. Why aren't these worlds perfect? Didn't God like the idea of people living on those planets? Also, the probability of having one planet out of billions and trillions that can hold life is....pretty large. Your point proves nothing.
You forgot earthquakes, tornados, and all the natural disasters....Are those perfect too? Are they proof of God?
You forgot the Andromeda galaxy which will hit the world in a couple of million years....Is that perfect? Did God intend that? Was that good design?
The human brain is a great proof for evolution my friend. Just like the eye, it is extremely complex yes. I suggest you read up on Dawkins' explanation for this. He argues that the eye (and brain in your case) is perfect proof of evolution, and proves that there actually isn't a god.
May I suggest some books on this? The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals an Earth without Design, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins; and The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.
C Gatt
Feb 6th 2010, 11:19
I exist therefore there must be a God. Which is about as clever as saying I won the Euro Jack pot (the chances of which are millions to one) and therefore there must be a God!
By the same token we should say. There are earthquakes which kill hundreds of thousands so there must be a God. There is hunger and injustice and cruelty, animals that can only survive by killing other animals, itself an act of violence, a world which self-destruct every fe million years to evolve new life forms, from amoebas to small fish to dinosaurs to mammals, so there must be a God!
How quaint to see Medieval philosopher still living amongst us and wanting to share their wisdom.
a sultana peregin
Feb 6th 2010, 11:08
who came first? the chicken or the egg?
what came first? a 'perfect' word to accomodate animals and plants? or animals and plants adjusted themselves to the 'perfect' world?
i believe the latter
Andy Towler
Feb 6th 2010, 11:05
None of this is proof of anything except the laws of physics and random chance.
And to answer your early question, if your god proved to me that he exists, I would ask him about his involvement or absence in Darfur, the Holocaust, Haiti, the African famines, the list goes on. Then I would walk away.