You mean there is no Santa?
You mean there is no Santa? |
By Farzad Roohi |
It was last week, over a beer talking, when I was challenged by a friend who says that I must believe in the existence of God because I have no evidence that God does not exist. At the time, the power of alcohol was in the favour of God and left me defeated in our so-called intellectual debate. However, the beer kept me in heaven as a slave for a short time before I was back on Earth, back to my freedom of mind and thought. It was in this state of my mind when I was able to rationalize why I cannot believe in the existence of God.
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Rationally, we must assume that things do not exist unless we have evidence that they do. Most of the people who believe in God follow this rule as well; for instance, they don't believe in unicorns, even though they cannot definitively prove that no unicorns exist anywhere. So, you don't have to provide evidence for something which does not exist. However, if you claim that something exists then you must bring objective and compelling supporting evidence for its existence. For me to believe that you have twenty billion dollars in your bank account, you must show me a statement of your account. And even if I truly believe (based on my own feelings) that you have twenty billion dollars; my belief does not make you rich when in fact you don't actually have this amount of money. After thousands of years of effort, no one has come up with an impenetrable logical proof of the existence of God. Nevertheless, some people feel that they can logically prove that God exists. But, how much can you rely on your logic? The answer is, unfortunately, not much. Reality is not decided by logic because logical rules do not always preserve truth. This could be due to the presence of a flaw in the system of your logic such as wrong premises. Therefore, reality is not necessarily logically consistent. Some people argue logically that since God is well-defined, then he or she must by definition exist. For example, God is omnipotent, omniscient, and the creator of the universe; therefore, God exists. Well, you know quite enough about the definition of Santa Claus such as his look, outfit, reindeer, and many other things related to him. But, does this really mean that Santa Claus exists? In the grand finale of mind, what I am left to find out what is really going on in this universe is observation. And of course, when logic and reality disagree, reality always wins. Therefore, after I come up with a clear definition of God, the only thing which can definitely convince me of the existence of God is to find an objective and imperious piece of evidence. If there is a God who is omnipresent and in touch with our universe, the effects of his or her presence must be measurable and detectable. And if God is not objectively detectable, then I can conclude that God does not interact with our universe in any way. In this case, it makes no difference whether or not God exists. Kids tend to believe whatever they are told, because they are gullible and naïve. The brain of a child is shaped by evolution to absorb anything, good thing, bad thing, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, unicorns, God, gods, and so on. It takes time before a child is grown up to realize that there is no such a thing as Santa Claus. The question still remains: why is it easy for most people to rule out Santa Claus but not God from their life equation? I leave it up to you to answer this question. Farzad RoohiThere really is is no Santa Claus: proof |
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