If you are going to ask the “why” questions, you might as well get straight to the point.
Whatever your initial reaction is to that—try going deeper. This is one of those questions that fundamentally unifies all philosophies and religions. I mean, on the surface they give completely different answers. In fact, the first answer is one of the key ways you define those points of view. But when you go deeper nobody has any clue.
For the sake of discussion let’s start with a materialistic point of view: The completely secular idea that everything starts with the universe and the laws of physics. Of course, that just leads to, why does this universe exist? Sometimes cosmologists go deeper and explain how the laws of physics lead to a universe in a variety of ways. Sometimes you can get a discussion of a multiverse, many versions of the universe, or even an eternally repeating universe. However, this still leads to the question: Why do the laws of the universe exist? How did they get that way? Why are they that and not something else?
All of our attempts: Math, logic, ideas, and reasoning all have something in common—the assumption. You have to assume something in order to figure anything out from that.
When pressed further and further you always reach a point where the answer is “I don’t know” (or “we don’t know”, or something similar). Some of them will simply answer “the universe is self-existent.”
Of course, this ties into the most common counterpoint to the materialistic point of view, that of a supernatural view.
God made everything.
(To be fair, there are some who say “gods.”)
The Christian perspective is that God made it all. And the common answer to “Where did He come from?” is “He is Self-Existent” (or something similar). This seems neat and tidy. However, philosophically this is identical to the argument that the universe is self-existent. We don’t have any good, objective reason to believe that a self-existent God is better or worse than a self-existent universe.
And that brings us back to the fundamental problem. Nobody has a clue how to go further than this and it comes back to which assumptions you prefer.
As fundamental as that choice is, most choose it the same way they choose what to eat for lunch. By just doing whatever feels about right that day.
In fact, I would go further and say that, objectively, we don’t have any choice but to make this decision that way.
That is if we insist that we have to make such a decision in the first place. We could just be ok with the fact that we don’t know. Instead of arrogantly insisting that we know how it all works, we can just accept that we don’t know…and move on.
Seems like it’s probably something self-existent, as strange as that is to consider. Whatever it is, it’s probably beyond our normal comprehension. At least that’s what most cosmologists—and most religious leaders—tell me.
[A side note to all those who know I am Christian and wondering how this fits. I’m not abandoning my beliefs by pointing out this fundamental unknowability. I think the only valid answer to this question is a combination of humility and trying your best based on personal experiences. I do think that means we are in no position to judge anyone who has had different experiences. I think that’s why there are so many warnings not to judge people. The details beyond that are just details]
Another fun note about this topic is a lot of people think Einstein was an atheist. While simultaneously a lot of people also think he was deeply religious. Both try to use his quotes to further their beliefs. The reason there is so much confusion is that he was neither. He was a pantheist. He believed that the universe was God. It’s about the most in-between position I could possibly imagine. That doesn’t help anything in this discussion, it’s just something I find interesting on this topic. The man many people consider to be the smartest in a generation said that neither choice is right. I guess it’s not a dilemma.
Thank you for your blog. No downing anything in it. I was wondering the way you wrote this if you were falling away, but you answered that so I don’t have to ask.
I do have a small note about the judging others. We as Christians are to hold our fellow Christians to the faith they claim. We can not hold anyone that is not to anything we believe. Holding a brother to their claim is judging to a certain extent.
I will be back to read more.
Oh man, judgment is a huge topic in Christianity. You could study and discuss for days and days and still have more details to work through. For a short response, all I can say is that I agree that there is a time and a place for judgment. The context here is simply refraining from the blanket judgment of people who come to a different conclusion due to a different background. I’m definitely not saying that there is never a place for judgment.
And yeah, understanding other perspectives is different than agreeing with them.
Another perspective of judgment is, if you are being abused and that person is the source of that abuse then you are judging that person to be abusive you are not judging their out come and and what is God’s plan for that person. The same can be said for a happy person you can make a judgment that this person is a happy person.
You can also see a direction that someone is headed and according to your belief system, they are headed down the wrong path. You as a caring believer want them to course correct. This is a judgment that is made.