If I understand the idea, Atheist believe that there is no type of universal intelligence in the background of the universe. Plato's forms exists only in Plato's imagination. The only metaphysical aspect to the universe is some mistaken phenomena that science has yet to address and which will ultimately be explained in strictly materialistic terms.
One can not address this question with empiricism. I have found no scientific methodology offered which would adequately explore this issue. So the answer to the question of the existence of God is ultimately one of subjective opinion. It seems this leave you with a 50/50 odds of having the correct assumption.
I point this out to reach my problem with atheism. If God does not exist in any form then I can not see how there can be such a thing as morality. Morality would require some organizing universal principal operating in this reality. Now I am not addressing any specific aspects of that morality or how that morality operates, just the fact for morality to exist there must be something generating the principals. It would seem to me this organization would require some type of intelligent consciousness. If God does not exist then morality is simply the subjective and relative opinion of the individual.
This would mean "right or wrong" would only exist in the sense of my personal goals related to my survival. I might add others to my morality since it would be helpful to me for others to survive, but morality would only exist as an agreement which facilitated my group's survival enhancing my personal survival. It would simple be an evolutionary function.
While I believe you could make an argument for this viewpoint I disagree. I feel there are at least some behaviors that are simple wrong. I could give examples of such behaviors and could easily fill this page with actions I feel are just simply "wrong". These "wrongs" have nothing to do with survival and in some cases would not facilitate survival of the group.
I also feel there is a "right" way to live one's life. There are some basic laws which facilitate a "good" life. These laws go beyond survival and add to a higher "purpose". If there is no God then this is a ridiculous statement. There would be no purpose to this life other than living it. Atheist say this is enough, just to live a your materialistic life. I disagree, if living this life simply means completing the biological processes of life and making various survival choices along the way with no higher purpose than survival then in my opinion life is not worth living. You are born, you live, you die, you are no different from an amoeba other than you have a few more behavioral options. I choose to believe there is such a thing as the "good life" and there is an overall purpose to this existence. I do not see how this could be true without some type of organizing principal to the universe. I refer to this as God.
Now, the nature of God is for the next book.
Well, basically, I see this as an exercise in futility. As Lennon said, "God did not create man, man created gods."
ReplyDeleteSounds reasonable to me. Atheism, at the other extreme, seems equally untenable, i.e., who is anyone to deny the possibility of a creator? If they can, then show me, prove it.
So I wonder, if after a hard day's work, an ant colony or porpoise pod debates, " If God does not exist in any form then...how can there be such a thing as morality. Morality would require some organizing universal principal operating in this reality." (Why??!!)
Yeh, I know, that sounds ridiculous, but not any more than assuming our right to consider such trumps theirs.
I think it would be "after a hard day's night".
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