Is God's Existence Possible?

[Tree of Life]

By "God" I mean a maximally great being. God would be the only necessary being upon whom everything else depends. The universe would be contingent and God alone would be necessary. God would be the cause of the universe, the source of moral values, the source of rationality, the source of beauty, and the source of personality. God would be "the good".

God would be all powerful and all knowing. His character would be the very standard of justice. Everything in creation would be related to him and it would be impossible to understand anything rightly without understanding its relation to him.

Is it possible that God exists? Or is it impossible? Explain your answer.

 

[durangodawood]

a maximally great being
the only necessary being
God would be all powerful and all knowing

I'm having real trouble understanding what these mean. The words are in sensible english, but the concepts are pretty much un-graspable.

 

[Tree of Life]

I'm having real trouble understanding what these mean. The words are in sensible english, but the concepts are pretty much un-graspable.

Let's start with the concept of a necessary being. You might believe that the universe itself necessarily exists. Do you believe that the universe was created? If so, it's possible that the universe might not have existed. But if the universe is uncreated then it's impossible for the universe to not exist. It is therefore a necessary being which does not need any sort of cause.

 

[Tree of Life]

I'm having real trouble understanding what these mean. The words are in sensible english, but the concepts are pretty much un-graspable.

All powerful simply means that nothing is too difficult for God. This does not mean that God is able to do things that are logically impossible. This challenge has been shown to be an absurdity.

 

[Tree of Life]

I'm having real trouble understanding what these mean. The words are in sensible english, but the concepts are pretty much un-graspable.

All knowing means that nothing is hidden, mysterious, or unknown to God. God would have knowledge of all actualities and all possibilities.

 

[Tree of Life]

I'm having real trouble understanding what these mean. The words are in sensible english, but the concepts are pretty much un-graspable.

Maximally great means that no greater being is imaginable according to any metric.

 

[rockytopva]

I am a lab technician at a large factory with over 20 years experience working with all kinds of spectrometers. In some cases we would energize elements using acetylene and nitrous oxide which would produce a very big flame. From that source of light we would determine a concentration of chemistry according to a specific wavelength of light. The experiments with light and energy led me to believe everything is energy and light which has frozen into many forms.

It is important, for the sake of spirituality, that we divide the man into three parts… Physical, Spiritual, and Intellectual. If E = mc2 then we can divide and conclude that...

Mass (m) = Energy (E/c2) And there are three varieties...

Natural E/c2 - All mass is basically cooled plasma, the sun is the visible form of E/c2
Mental E/c2 - Our thinking can produce creativeness, light, and good things
Spiritual E/c2 - E (motivation, warmth, love) / c2 (faith, hope, charity, joy)

The Natural E/c2 in the form of mass produces a gravity that attracts other objects
The Intellectual E/c2 produces a gravity that draws us to study
The Spiritual E/c2 also has a gravity that draws and makes religion attractive

The energy and light is eternal stuff, which by mathematical equation cannot be created or destroyed, but only manipulated throughout the eternal ages. This is also biblical as the Spirit of God hovered over mass that was without form. And Saint Peter has all mass dis-associating back into the plasma from whence it was forged....

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. - 2 a Peter 3:10

The mathematical formula E=mc2 makes the absence of God impossible.

 

[Chriliman]

By "God" I mean a maximally great being. God would be the only necessary being upon whom everything else depends. The universe would be contingent and God alone would be necessary. God would be the cause of the universe, the source of moral values, the source of rationality, the source of beauty, and the source of personality. God would be "the good".

God would be all powerful and all knowing. His character would be the very standard of justice. Everything in creation would be related to him and it would be impossible to understand anything rightly without understanding its relation to him.

Is it possible that God exists? Or is it impossible? Explain your answer.

It is an elegant explanation for why there is something(experience) rather than nothing(literally nothing).

I’m interested as to why people oppose the idea and I think it has a lot to do with who/what they think God is. I think much of the opposition stems from supposed actions God took in the OT.

I’m sure there are few who’d oppose a God who wants to make life, even their individual life, the best it can be.

 

[Tree of Life]

It is an elegant explanation for why there is something(experience) rather than nothing(literally nothing).

I’m interested as to why people oppose the idea and I think it has a lot to do with who/what they think God is. I think much of the opposition stems from supposed actions God took in the OT.

I’m sure there are few who’d oppose a God who wants to make life the best it can be.

Some might say that the universe does not need an explanation because the universe is the necessary being upon which everything else is contingent.

 

[Chriliman]

Some might say that the universe does not need an explanation because the universe is the necessary being upon which everything else is contingent.

Yea, I think I’ve heard that before. Problem is the laws of thermodynamics makes it impossible for the universe to have always existed. It had to come from something beyond itself, whether that be God or multiverse or something else entirely, is where the discussion should begin.

 

[Tree of Life]

Yea, I think I’ve heard that before. Problem is the laws of thermodynamics makes it impossible for the universe to have always existed. It had to come from something beyond itself, whether that be God or multiverse or something else entirely, is where the discussion should begin.

I agree with you, but many who believe in the necessity of the universe do not. We'll see if any of them care to chime in.

 

[Steve Petersen]

Yea, I think I’ve heard that before. Problem is the laws of thermodynamics makes it impossible for the universe to have always existed. It had to come from something beyond itself, whether that be God or multiverse or something else entirely, is where the discussion should begin.

The Second Law says energy is eternal.

 

[Philip_B]

This is an interesting question. Most Christians will want to produce an emphatic yes. Nonetheless there are some problems with the idea. The first four words of Genesis point us to this - In the beginning God - which is to suggest that at the moment that existence becomes possible God was already. In the largely existentialist framework that predominates contemporary thinking the verb to be is foundational. That works reasonably well for most of what we are likely to encounter. The thing about God is not that God does or does not exist, because God is beyond existence. Without God existence is not possible.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin spoke of God as the Alpha and Omega point. JB Phillips suggested to us that our idea of God is too small. Paul Tillich hinted at much of this when he suggested that ontology precedes teleology. The Incarnation of God, brilliantly expressed in the first 18 verses of the Fourth Gospel should be telling us that without Jesus we would know nothing of God, but sadly some mistake this by trying to contain and constrain God to the limits of our experience.

God is beyond existence.

 

[Tree of Life]

God is beyond existence.

This sounds confusing. Do you mean that God necessarily exists? If so, I agree. God's existence is not like any other creature's existence because all creatures depend upon God. But God does not depend upon anything outside of himself. God is therefore the only being that necessarily exists upon whom the existence of all other things depend.

Is this what you mean, or something else?

 

[Tree of Life]

So far no non-Christians have voted or taken a position. How come?

 

[Chriliman]

The Second Law says energy is eternal.

Oh definitely took a lot of energy to form the universe, but that doesn’t mean the universe is eternal.

 

[Philip_B]

This sounds confusing. Do you mean that God necessarily exists? If so, I agree. God's existence is not like any other creature's existence because all creatures depend upon God. But God does not depend upon anything outside of himself. God is therefore the only being that necessarily exists upon whom the existence of all other things depend.

Is this what you mean, or something else?

What I mean is that existence is not a quality of God, but rather outside of God existence does not exist.

 

[Tree of Life]

What I mean is that existence is not a quality of God, but rather outside of God existence does not exist.

Existence is actually not a quality of anything. When we say that something exists, we are not describing the thing. Rather, we are describing the world.

"Nascar exists" does not describe Nascar. It describes the world.

 

[Petros2015]

Sure. Imagine you are a AI computer program in a virtual world/universe that the Creator had coded. The 'Big Bang' is now the 'Big Boot'. God exists outside of time and space in the virtual world; he can pause it, make it run faster, slower. There's literally nothing within the virtual space that he can't do. All the AIs are coded with morals and ethics, sense of beauty etc that he put there.

God isn't actually necessary in this case after he starts the Creation, it would tick on without Him. At least until someone yanks the power cord on the server. Is God necessarily 'good' in this example? You'd have to take a look at Creation I suppose and come to your own conclusions.

One thing I can say. He sure likes Stars.

 

[com7fy8]

I would say yes to everything you say, except I might have reason for issue with what

His character would be the very standard of justice.

It depends on what you mean by justice. His character is our standard of how our character needs to become, not only how we practice justice. Character is deeper than actions of justice.

I guess you could mean His character is the standard of how our nature needs to be in order to practice real justice. If this is what you mean, I agree. And I understand that we will be going through major correction of our character for the rest of our lives, and so we in this life will not be doing real justice like would really be good. But, at least, we in Jesus are growing in how God is transforming our character to be more and more like Jesus.

And so, then, God's ongoing process of such correction in us is real justice

What you basically mean by God, I would say, is possible.

And I find it quite a wonder, that there is any existence, at all. And we have conscious existence, too. And ones of us experience there being One such as God who is love and absolutely beautifully wonderful, plus almighty in immunity against any and all cruel and dominating feelings and emotions and evil, and kind and caring and sharing as family with us His children. It is a wonder, indeed, how He exists on His own and never started to exist.

And yet we have people who claim He does not exist. And these ones claim we humans are made only of material existent stuff. Yet, how ever did nonliving materials and energy forms evolve to make humans who can experience God as I have just described Him from my and other people's personal experience????

If material being is and started everything, then energy and matter evolved to make me and how I am able to experience God and be changed by this God from being a perpetual bully and then a religious self-righteous screwball and then trust in Jesus and get correction to seek how God turns me into a person who loves and cares for any and all people . . . more and more with this correction which is testified in the Bible (Hebrews 12:4-14, 1 John 4:17-18). I find it interesting how ones claim that dead material produced me with this conscious experience. I mean, by the way, that God is quiet, not silent; we need to be quiet and still and trust God to share Himself with us, but as He deeply corrects our nature so we become capable of personally sharing with Him. Then we can be personal in our caring, not only theoretical and ideological, not only trying to control people with our one-size-fits-all ideas and methods.

I don't think I got this from materials and how humans can be in how we relate. Material dependent and impersonal ways of dealing with people can keep us from sensing and sharing with God so we know He is.

And there is the noise of "bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking" and "all malice" and unforgiveness > in Ephesians 4:31-32 > noise which keeps us from experiencing and enjoying God who is quiet in family caring and sharing and generously forgiving love.

So, of course, there is more to God, than your list has said.