Is God's Existence Provable?
The existence of God is provable. Showing that God's existence is provable is distinct from showing that God actually exists. Also, we must always keep the following principle in mind: Proof is not made invalid simply because you may not immediately understand it. To understand the logical validity of the most basic proof takes an afternoon of study with the intent to understand it.
AN ANALOGY: In geometry, Pythagorean's theorem is provable, but even the most gifted teacher cannot prove it to a toddler. This is not due to a fault in the teacher but due to the toddler's lack of mathematical knowledge. Likewise, to understand the proof of God's existence requires sufficient time and patience to study. Ask yourself: How much time am I willing to spend on this? This is why faith is necessary for some. To believe in God's existence and live a good life, strict infallible knowledge is not required.
PROOF: Why does anything exist rather than nothing at all? Is there an ultimate - first and final cause of existence? Is there a way to answer this question? If the things existing now have their explanation in prior things onto infinity, then the existence of God cannot be proven. If, on the other hand, we discover a logical contradiction or impossibility in an infinite regress of existence, then we must admit that the existence of God is provable.
EXPLANATION: God means the "Ultimate Reality" - the foundation, the cause on which everything else depends. By admitting that there is an Ultimate Reality, you are not proclaiming faith in Jesus or Allah. You are not implying that God is good or evil. You are not affirming or denying any of the events in the Q'uran or Bible. What you are doing is simply affirming that if an Ultimate Reality exists, it is provable. How is it provable? It is provable because the opposite conclusion - that there is no Ultimate Reality can be proven false. Therefore, what remains must be true.
TECHNICAL EXPLANATION: It is logically impossible for there to be an essentially ordered series of causes that go on to infinity. The logical contradiction is this: An infinite number of bodies cannot be moved in a finite time. There is a distinction between an accidentally and an essentially ordered series. The former happen over the time whereas the latter happen immediately.
EXAMPLE: A man can be caused by his parents and his parents by his grandparents - onto infinity. There is no contradiction in this, because if a man's parents are killed, he still remains in existence. His existence depends on them in the order of time, but not essentially. This is called an "accidentally ordered series." On the other hand, when a person is writing with a pen, the writing ceases if the hand is removed and the hand ceases if the brain is removed. This is because the action of writing is dependent on those series of parts simultaneously. This is called an "essentially ordered series" and it cannot go onto infinity because an infinite number of objects cannot move simultaneously, since time is the measure of motion. Even if this absurd proposition was granted for the sake of argument, it would require an infinite source of power to move an infinite number of bodies simultaneously. This "infinite source of power" (omnipotence) can only be an attribute of God.
AN ANALOGY: In geometry, Pythagorean's theorem is provable, but even the most gifted teacher cannot prove it to a toddler. This is not due to a fault in the teacher but due to the toddler's lack of mathematical knowledge. Likewise, to understand the proof of God's existence requires sufficient time and patience to study. Ask yourself: How much time am I willing to spend on this? This is why faith is necessary for some. To believe in God's existence and live a good life, strict infallible knowledge is not required.
PROOF: Why does anything exist rather than nothing at all? Is there an ultimate - first and final cause of existence? Is there a way to answer this question? If the things existing now have their explanation in prior things onto infinity, then the existence of God cannot be proven. If, on the other hand, we discover a logical contradiction or impossibility in an infinite regress of existence, then we must admit that the existence of God is provable.
EXPLANATION: God means the "Ultimate Reality" - the foundation, the cause on which everything else depends. By admitting that there is an Ultimate Reality, you are not proclaiming faith in Jesus or Allah. You are not implying that God is good or evil. You are not affirming or denying any of the events in the Q'uran or Bible. What you are doing is simply affirming that if an Ultimate Reality exists, it is provable. How is it provable? It is provable because the opposite conclusion - that there is no Ultimate Reality can be proven false. Therefore, what remains must be true.
TECHNICAL EXPLANATION: It is logically impossible for there to be an essentially ordered series of causes that go on to infinity. The logical contradiction is this: An infinite number of bodies cannot be moved in a finite time. There is a distinction between an accidentally and an essentially ordered series. The former happen over the time whereas the latter happen immediately.
EXAMPLE: A man can be caused by his parents and his parents by his grandparents - onto infinity. There is no contradiction in this, because if a man's parents are killed, he still remains in existence. His existence depends on them in the order of time, but not essentially. This is called an "accidentally ordered series." On the other hand, when a person is writing with a pen, the writing ceases if the hand is removed and the hand ceases if the brain is removed. This is because the action of writing is dependent on those series of parts simultaneously. This is called an "essentially ordered series" and it cannot go onto infinity because an infinite number of objects cannot move simultaneously, since time is the measure of motion. Even if this absurd proposition was granted for the sake of argument, it would require an infinite source of power to move an infinite number of bodies simultaneously. This "infinite source of power" (omnipotence) can only be an attribute of God.
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