Now I know there's a thread centered around the whole God vs Religion thing but I find it too centered around the abrahamic monotheistic faiths to make my post. I am a theist, but I am not religious due to my beliefs in religion, but for other reasons I shall state in my post.
Well, the universe’s origin has been discovered in the form of the Big Bang Theory, which is upheld by the vast majority of scientists around the world. Scientific theory is the closest piece of rationale based on systematic thought and testing that us as humans can say we have to the actual truth in the understanding of the ways of which the laws of nature and physics work; therefore the theory that we originated from a singularity, provided it is evidenced(which it is).
With this in mind, ponder what one’s existence is. Essentially, everything from our universe’s initial cosmological evolution, the formation of solar systems, galaxies and planets to our existence today is a result of causes and effects. If one follow backwards the causal chain of our existence back to the singularity from which the universe originated, one finds themselves at the end of this chain of causes and effects; but that poses the question: what is the cause of the singularity? Surely it must be theffect of a cause, nothing can cause itself to exist. But then if the singularity is caused, what is the cause of the singularity’s cause? One could go on for a very long time doing this to no avail. Thus one must conclude that there must be a first, uncaused cause of which temporality does not apply.
This conclusion may sound absurd to many, as humans apply relative temporality in order to conceptualize various premises they come across in day-to-day life. An alternative conclusion one may offer is that the universe is the first cause of our existence. The problem is that despite that seeming to be a rational argument, it begs the question: How can the universe cause itself when it is bound in temporality?
One may think after reading this, that I am religious for these reasons. This is not neccesarily true as I only identify this cause as that; a cause. Not a being with infinite potential, not an all-merciful, all-just and benificient creator of mankind. My only claim to knowledge with regards to the cause is it is just a cause not bound within time, matter and space as it is what caused these very things itself! To apply relative attributes to the cause is indeed, absurd. Despite this, I am a theist. I just don’t worship this cause, I don’t give a name to this cause unless I feel like doing so. But I am religious, and I shall give the reasons why later on in this text.
This may cause a bit of confusion with one reading this. Allow me to clarify; I believe that this postulated prenatural being exists, but I do not believe that this being has sent scripture to earth in order for us to live are lives according to. This is not because I think it is absurd to believe that, but my thinking hits a wall when thinking in terms of religion as it begs the question: “How do you prove that this scripture came from this immaterial being?” One cannot conclusively prove that it does, nor can one prove it does not as there are concepts in some scriptures(the Qur’an for example) which present scientific premises not discovered until thousands of years after the scripture came into light(namely, the universe’s expansion) which cannot be ignored.
In light of all of this, I am religious. Why? I was thinking one day and I thought to myself, “What is the harm in taking this being and living in accord with the rules of a religion?”. So I drew a table with all the possibilites of living life in accord with a religion against whether God existed in accord with the religion or not. This table shows a better advantage of living a life religiously, since if God exists in accord with the religion, I go to heaven and if he doesn’t, I rot. I have no way of knowing which is true, the only claim to knowledge I shall have is that there is a First Cause. I did this table without knowledge of Pascal’s Wager, which posed a similar premise. Which religion do I attribute myself with? The one of my parents; Islam. For convenience and I rolled a dice with 6 major religions and got it anyways.
Well, the universe’s origin has been discovered in the form of the Big Bang Theory, which is upheld by the vast majority of scientists around the world. Scientific theory is the closest piece of rationale based on systematic thought and testing that us as humans can say we have to the actual truth in the understanding of the ways of which the laws of nature and physics work; therefore the theory that we originated from a singularity, provided it is evidenced(which it is).
With this in mind, ponder what one’s existence is. Essentially, everything from our universe’s initial cosmological evolution, the formation of solar systems, galaxies and planets to our existence today is a result of causes and effects. If one follow backwards the causal chain of our existence back to the singularity from which the universe originated, one finds themselves at the end of this chain of causes and effects; but that poses the question: what is the cause of the singularity? Surely it must be theffect of a cause, nothing can cause itself to exist. But then if the singularity is caused, what is the cause of the singularity’s cause? One could go on for a very long time doing this to no avail. Thus one must conclude that there must be a first, uncaused cause of which temporality does not apply.
This conclusion may sound absurd to many, as humans apply relative temporality in order to conceptualize various premises they come across in day-to-day life. An alternative conclusion one may offer is that the universe is the first cause of our existence. The problem is that despite that seeming to be a rational argument, it begs the question: How can the universe cause itself when it is bound in temporality?
One may think after reading this, that I am religious for these reasons. This is not neccesarily true as I only identify this cause as that; a cause. Not a being with infinite potential, not an all-merciful, all-just and benificient creator of mankind. My only claim to knowledge with regards to the cause is it is just a cause not bound within time, matter and space as it is what caused these very things itself! To apply relative attributes to the cause is indeed, absurd. Despite this, I am a theist. I just don’t worship this cause, I don’t give a name to this cause unless I feel like doing so. But I am religious, and I shall give the reasons why later on in this text.
This may cause a bit of confusion with one reading this. Allow me to clarify; I believe that this postulated prenatural being exists, but I do not believe that this being has sent scripture to earth in order for us to live are lives according to. This is not because I think it is absurd to believe that, but my thinking hits a wall when thinking in terms of religion as it begs the question: “How do you prove that this scripture came from this immaterial being?” One cannot conclusively prove that it does, nor can one prove it does not as there are concepts in some scriptures(the Qur’an for example) which present scientific premises not discovered until thousands of years after the scripture came into light(namely, the universe’s expansion) which cannot be ignored.
In light of all of this, I am religious. Why? I was thinking one day and I thought to myself, “What is the harm in taking this being and living in accord with the rules of a religion?”. So I drew a table with all the possibilites of living life in accord with a religion against whether God existed in accord with the religion or not. This table shows a better advantage of living a life religiously, since if God exists in accord with the religion, I go to heaven and if he doesn’t, I rot. I have no way of knowing which is true, the only claim to knowledge I shall have is that there is a First Cause. I did this table without knowledge of Pascal’s Wager, which posed a similar premise. Which religion do I attribute myself with? The one of my parents; Islam. For convenience and I rolled a dice with 6 major religions and got it anyways.
