Logic, Faith and God
(Gujarati version at સત્ય, શ્રધ્ધા અને તર્ક)
Discusses relationship among the three.
All logical analyses have to start with some postulates accepted as obviously correct axiomatic truth needing no proof. The fewer the postulates the more reliable would the analysis be. However, the very selection of the postulates involves some degree of faith[1]. On the other hand many religious discussions include logical arguments. Logic and faith are therefore not necessarily mutually exclusive in all cases but may be complementary and interdependent in some cases.
Science and religions seem to be antagonistic but do not have to be. The belief that science can or will some day answer all questions is as much a matter of faith as the belief in God. On the other hand the belief that a particular book contains answers to all questions is faith in that book but not necessarily in God. Science and God are most probably two sides of the same coin looking away from each other but ones that would be worthless if separated from each other.
Faith is not a substitute for logic but an extension to it. When the boundary of logical analysis is reached, faith takes over. We then accept certain ideas to be obviously true and base our decisions on them. In cases like this our personal preferences, often influenced by the propaganda we have been subjected to, govern our choice of the theories we accept or reject without realizing that the accepted theory is just that, a theory which could as well be wrong. This leads to varying religious concepts and inter-religious conflicts.
Only when the boundary of logical analysis is reached should faith take over. Therefore those issues that can be decided by logical analysis must not be decided on the basis of faith. Also, as our collective knowledge grows, the limit of logical analysis must keep moving into the areas previously assigned to faith. Therefore, mankind does need to keep revisiting the issues and modifying its beliefs in light of new knowledge as it becomes available. Not using our God-given intelligence where we can is also an insult to God.
There are areas of inquiry that are beyond even faith. Our attempts to seek answers to questions such as “Why is there so much evil?” can only lead to self-contradiction, confusion and frustration. It is better to leave such questions unasked and accept the situation as it is. Such unanswerable questions may be placed in an area that may be called 'God's Prerogative'.
In any case, the debate of science versus God is unnecessary. Many religious leaders make full use of the scientific inventions for their propaganda while still denouncing science as being against God! A more productive effort would be to develop a clear picture of the postulates accepted while analyzing a particular situation and to insure that the results derived do not violate them.
It would be interesting to review one of the controversies in light of the above.
The most acerbic controversy is that between the Creationists and Evolutionists. There is an abundance of scholarly books and essays in favor of or against one or the other of the two. But a common sense examination of the story of Genesis does not seem to have been made.
Let it be accepted as a postulate that the universe was really “designed and created” by a “super-intelligent God” who is also “omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent” just as the proponents of Creationism would like us to believe. This basic description of God is violated by the story of Genesis itself, which fails to answer the following questions.
1. Would God really have needed six days to create the universe?
2. Being Almighty, could not God have created the world within a trillionth of a nano-second?
3. Why would an omnipotent God feel so tired as to need rest on the seventh day?
4. Did God want to create mankind?
5. If God did not want to create mankind,
a) Why did Ge give reproductive organs to Adam and Eve?
b) Why did Ge make Eve a fertile woman?
c) Why did Ge not cause a miscarriage of Eve?
d) Why did Ge make their children fertile?
e) Who were the parents of Cain’s wife?
f) Could God have been so helpless as to accept mankind against Gis own will?
g) Why would God later love mankind so much as to send 'God’s only begotten Son'?
h) What did the mankind do to deserve such love?
6. If God did want to create mankind,
a) Why would God try to prevent Adam and Eve from having sex?
b) Could it not have been God’s way to make them have sex?
c) Why then do we consider even spousal sex as sin? Could it be because the religious leaders want the followers to keep feeling guilty?
d) Is not it very likely that God intended spousal sex to be Gis best gift to mankind?
e) Would not the super-intelligent God have realized that the only way Adam and Eve could become grandparents would be through incest?
f) Would Ge have permitted such “initial incest”?
g) Would not Ge have the foresight to “create” at least two, if not more couples so that they could multiply into a mankind without engaging in incest?
h) Are we are all products of incest?
7. Is it not possible that God first created the initial quantities of mass, energy as well as the laws of science and then used them to make the universe evolve automatically just as Ge has set up many automatic systems such as those to make days and nights and change seasons? (Theory of “Created Evolution”!) (God vs Religions 1, UnGodly Genesis)
Obviously, the story of creation as told in Genesis does not befit God’s great virtues and is quite un-Godly. Therefore, proving Evolution to be incorrect does not automatically prove Creation to be correct. Those who want to believe and make others believe in creation need to rewrite the story to make it compatible with the “fundamental” attributes of God.
Similar reviews of many if not the most of the stories and practices of all religions also reveal that they are contrary to the very postulates regarding the great qualities of God and therefore un-Godly. May the reader do hisr own thinking to identify them.
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[1] The word “faith” is used here in the sense of confidence, trust or conviction and not religion.
God vs Religions, UnGodly Genesis