Conceptual Reality
How do I know God exists?
St. Augustine once answered a similar question. The question was "How do I know I exist." St. Augustine's answer was in essence, I do. And if I do not, I would be mistaken, but to be mistaken I must exist. Therefore, I exist. "Sic fallor sum" (If I am mistaken, I exist.)
Let me give a similar answer to the question of God's existence - if it be but more complex.
We rant and rave against God or deny God because this world is unjust and unfair and sometimes unlovable. But as C. S. Lewis once said:
"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing the universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it?... Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own, but if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too - for my argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless - I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality - namely my idea of justice - was full of sense."
If C.S. Lewis' eloquence is not convincing, let me spin it in a different direction for you.
All of humanity has a sense of justice and love. It is what we wish for and what we yearn for. That and happiness. But that is for another article.
My argument is long-winded, so please follow through to the end.
Justice. It keeps the peace and gives what is deserved. But justice without love is mechanistic. It is heartless and cold. In other words, it is a following of the letter of the law that loses the heart of the law. Unjust. Also love is both merciful and gracious. Justice without mercy is dogmatic. It is hard-headed and demeaning. Mercy is not getting the punishment you justly deserve. Grace is getting the good that you don't deserve. Letting someone off easy without forgiveness is not only hypocritical, but fake. Mercy without grace is apathetic. Grace without goodness is insanity. To get good that is undeserved, a true understanding of what is good must first be understood, otherwise it isn't truly merciful or gracious. But good cannot be preferential, for that makes it irrelevant. Good and evil are not synonymous to like and dislike. Like and dislike are opinions. Good and evil are facts. To be facts, goodness must have a standard. A standard of ethics. But if it is a standard, it must supersede any opinion of man. It must come from laws set within the very cosmos. But mindless science cannot come up with these standards of ethics. Just as science cannot make up the laws of logic, it only follows such laws of logical - it only answers questions of how, not of why - science cannot be the origin of the standards of ethics. If it is not of a natural, scientific origin, it must be of supernatural origin (by definition outside the purview of the natural). Thus just from the fact that we have a sense of justice and love, it is a proof that there must be a supernatural, intelligent being (whom we refer to as God) who wrote these laws of good and evil. It is the only understanding of morality that makes sense. Any other attempt turns right and wrong into mere opinion. This does not save morality. It destroys it. Either there is good and evil. Or there is no true justice and love. Because justice and love are not opinions. Whether we know true justice and love or not. It still must be. If I am right, it proves there is a God. If I am wrong, it proves there is a God.
Let me summarize - Justice without love is mechanistic. Love without Justice is a mockery. Justice without mercy is dogmatic. Mercy without grace is apathetic. Grace without goodness is insanity. Goodness demands a standard of ethics. Standards must come from without, meaning not within humanity. The answer must supersede science itself, thus it must be supernatural. Supernatural, as we understand it, means the existence of God. Therefore, since we know of love and we know of justice, we know of God.
Jared Williams
St. Augustine once answered a similar question. The question was "How do I know I exist." St. Augustine's answer was in essence, I do. And if I do not, I would be mistaken, but to be mistaken I must exist. Therefore, I exist. "Sic fallor sum" (If I am mistaken, I exist.)
Let me give a similar answer to the question of God's existence - if it be but more complex.
We rant and rave against God or deny God because this world is unjust and unfair and sometimes unlovable. But as C. S. Lewis once said:
"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing the universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it?... Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own, but if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too - for my argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless - I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality - namely my idea of justice - was full of sense."
If C.S. Lewis' eloquence is not convincing, let me spin it in a different direction for you.
All of humanity has a sense of justice and love. It is what we wish for and what we yearn for. That and happiness. But that is for another article.
My argument is long-winded, so please follow through to the end.
Justice. It keeps the peace and gives what is deserved. But justice without love is mechanistic. It is heartless and cold. In other words, it is a following of the letter of the law that loses the heart of the law. Unjust. Also love is both merciful and gracious. Justice without mercy is dogmatic. It is hard-headed and demeaning. Mercy is not getting the punishment you justly deserve. Grace is getting the good that you don't deserve. Letting someone off easy without forgiveness is not only hypocritical, but fake. Mercy without grace is apathetic. Grace without goodness is insanity. To get good that is undeserved, a true understanding of what is good must first be understood, otherwise it isn't truly merciful or gracious. But good cannot be preferential, for that makes it irrelevant. Good and evil are not synonymous to like and dislike. Like and dislike are opinions. Good and evil are facts. To be facts, goodness must have a standard. A standard of ethics. But if it is a standard, it must supersede any opinion of man. It must come from laws set within the very cosmos. But mindless science cannot come up with these standards of ethics. Just as science cannot make up the laws of logic, it only follows such laws of logical - it only answers questions of how, not of why - science cannot be the origin of the standards of ethics. If it is not of a natural, scientific origin, it must be of supernatural origin (by definition outside the purview of the natural). Thus just from the fact that we have a sense of justice and love, it is a proof that there must be a supernatural, intelligent being (whom we refer to as God) who wrote these laws of good and evil. It is the only understanding of morality that makes sense. Any other attempt turns right and wrong into mere opinion. This does not save morality. It destroys it. Either there is good and evil. Or there is no true justice and love. Because justice and love are not opinions. Whether we know true justice and love or not. It still must be. If I am right, it proves there is a God. If I am wrong, it proves there is a God.
Let me summarize - Justice without love is mechanistic. Love without Justice is a mockery. Justice without mercy is dogmatic. Mercy without grace is apathetic. Grace without goodness is insanity. Goodness demands a standard of ethics. Standards must come from without, meaning not within humanity. The answer must supersede science itself, thus it must be supernatural. Supernatural, as we understand it, means the existence of God. Therefore, since we know of love and we know of justice, we know of God.
Jared Williams
