I Am - An Explanation of Existence
As a Christian we need to focus on just what we do believe and why. I
use to get plagued with doubts hitting my carnal mind even though my heart new
different. That had to stop, so I gave my mind the simple facts and would
bring them back to mind when any of those thoughts would come. Those
doubts came along few and few until now, I am not sure the last time they came.
When they enemy knows he cannot win, he moves on to other ways to try attacking
us.
The following is what went through my mind as an obvious carnal answer.
If a doubt ever comes, I simply start down a recap of this information such as
“we exist, thus something has to be eternal, that this something has to have
always been and will always be and it must be without change and it must be all
powerful and all knowing and…”. By that last “and”, those doubts would
flee since my mind already knew the rest.
Introduction
The word "Existence" is incredibly complex and probably one of the few that
stir up great controversies. The dictionary defines the word "existence"
as "The fact or state of existing; being". What does it really mean?
How does it even happen? How did it start?
Many religions around the globe as well as science, try to answer these
questions, but usually leave large gaping holes that we have to accept. In
this writing, I will suggest a method to answer these questions and point to
what I believe is a logical explanation of "Existence" and its origin.
Does religion have the answers?
There seems to be almost as many religions and belief systems on the planet
as there are people. Some suggest ideas on what existence is and how it
came into being, that in today's world, we view as crazy, while others seem a
bit more believable. The big question is which belief system, if any, is
correct? How can we actually know that a belief system is valid, be it
science or religion? Do we simply put our faith in what other people say
and rest our future on their opinions?
What do we really know? Are the different religious documents even
true? For that matter, are any records prior to a few past generations
real? There could be some great cover-up where all knowledge was created a
few hundred years ago. Maybe science is hiding the real age of these
documents. How do you really know, were you there? Where the people
you know there? Whom do you trust? What do you trust? What can
you prove?
Possibly, with simple logic of what we do know, we can build guidelines to
measure if even the basics of a belief system are correct. So, let us
start at the beginning.
Can we get something from nothing?
The first step is simple, we know we exist. The French philosopher René
Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am". Believing we actually exist and
have a realm of reality is easy for most people. If we exist though, where
did "existence" come from? What started "consciousness"?
Science leaves the question of the very beginnings unanswered. While it
tries to explain how our physical world or universe began, it does not answer
the question of where did matter or energy originate, nor where consciousness
actually began. We cannot "get something from nothing", there had to be
something in the beginning, but what? Of course, that also infers there
was a “was” a beginning to everything, maybe, maybe not.
The various religions of the world have many different opinions of how it all
started. Some are quite humorous, but at the end of the day, most still
leave you with vague answers at best. I myself questioned people who said
they believed in a God, as to where God came from and never got a straight
answer.
Some maintain the thought that there is neither past nor future that we live
in the "now". Following this thought, they claim that things only exist
when we observe them and cease to exist when we no longer see or interact with
them. A simple example is the refrigerator. How do we know when we
close the door, the food inside continues to exist, since there is no observer
to verify the matter, it may cease to exist and then when we open the door, our
observation actually brings the food back into existence? While this
example is a crudely simplistic, there are a number of people who actually
believe this is the answer.
Other religions believe we are on a cycle and that we keep evolving over many
lifetimes to perfection. If we are all in a cycle, where did the first
cycle begin? Since we change (evolve) then "we" cannot be eternal,
so there had to be a starting cycle. That gives way to the question, what
was there before the beginning?
Some believe that "as man is God once was and as God is man will become".
Can we really become Gods? What does it take to be a God? What is a
God? With this line of thought, we are still left with "what was before
the first man who became the first God"?
What is Eternal?
We cannot begin to explore the various belief systems without first touching
on yet another controversial set of words "Eternal" and "infinite". I
personally believe our limited human minds are incapable of comprehending either
of these words. At least, I know mine is not. Simply trying to think
of "Eternal", having neither beginning nor end, makes my brain hurt. An
example is a number line. It continues on forever in both directions,
positive and negative, without beginning or end.
One point to note, the word "Infinite" can be defined as a very large number,
but in this writing we will take the other meaning as without end, no limit.
Most things in our world are cycles. We have a tendency to think of
everything as having a beginning and an end. So, if we apply this line of
thought to what many think is the scientific account of our being, the question
becomes, what came before the so-called "big bang" and what came before that,
and so on? How about space? Many believe that universe is
expanding. If so, it is expanding into what? What is beyond the universe and
what is beyond that? Does the void go on forever, infinitely?
Remember, you cannot apply "infinite" to a measured point, simply be means of
measuring, you prove it is not infinite, as something which is measurable could
not be without beginning or end, you have to have a start and end to complete a
measurement.
At this point, we accept we exist, but does not this simple fact mean that
something has to be eternal in order for anything to exist? That is, if we
exist, there was a beginning, and if there was a beginning, what was before it,
and on and on. Eventually you arrive at the same problem, getting
something from nothing, which is impossible!
Since it is impossible for something to come from nothing and only something
come from something (or a combination of some things), there must be something
that simply "Is", without beginning and without end.
Why without end, why could not something just be eternal in the past and then
end after starting everything? If there were an end, then we would be back
to square one, looking for a beginning. For something to have an end there
must be a beginning, thus it is not eternal.
While there could be more than one "something" that is eternal, for briefness
of this writing, let us just label this something as "Eternal Entity".
This could also refer to more than one "Eternal Entity".
What requirement would there be for something to be eternal? Obviously,
it would have to be without beginning and without end. But, there is
another attribute this Eternal Entity would have to possess in order to truly be
eternal, it would have to be without change. Why? If this Eternal
Entity changed over time, it would be linked to time, such as the "Eternal
Entity was" or the "Eternal Entity will be". If it were related to time,
then it would not be eternal, which is outside the realm of time.
I believe another requirement would be "consciousness". For anything to
have consciousness, this "Eternal Entity" would have to possess consciousness,
as I do not see any answer for consciousness to have developed. The next
requirement would require “consciousness” anyway.
The Eternal Entity would also require "knowledge" and "power". If our
world had a beginning then this "Eternal Entity" or "Entities" would have had to
create the beginning, whatever we believe to be the beginning".
We have guidelines, now what?
Summing up the guidelines, we can conclude that there must be some entity or
entities with the following attributes:
- without beginning or end
- without change has consciousness
- with great
knowledge
- with great power
If we conclude there is an eternal being or beings, what does this mean for
us? Would not the fact that we know there is some Eternal Entity, drive us
to know "who" or "what" this Eternal Entity is? What would happen if
the Eternal Entity requires something of us? What happens if there is some
form of reality beyond our lives? Does it not behoove us to find a method
to contact this Eternal Entity, before we live our lives based on our own
desires and thoughts? Maybe this Eternal Entity or Entities can help us in
our lives.
Regardless of our religious beliefs (or lack thereof), we should try to
figure out what this Eternal Entity is and how that knowledge should affect our
lives. It really seems irresponsible to live our lives based on guesses,
carnal desires or other people's opinions. What sense does it even make to
live if we possibly waste the gift of life we possess?
Possible Beliefs
While on the surface it appears there are numerous religions based on these
guidelines, a closer inspection rules most out. Science does not go this
far, it only tries to provide a theory "after" the beginning, not before, so it
does not face anything as eternal. Of course, there are those who try all
kinds of creative fantasies to explain what was prior to the beginning, most
cannot agree on any plausible answers.
The Now belief:
Of course the first possible belief, the one mentioned previously which
suggests we live in the now and there is no past or future. This one begs
the question, "what is the reason for life"? If there is no past and there
is no future, then it does not matter what you do on this planet, you could just
rule your life by your carnal desires, the old adage "if it feels good do it".
It would not matter since there is no future and no past, have fun and do not
worry about it.
Eternal Energy:
Quite some time ago, I was exposed to a theory that energy is the only thing
eternal as it cannot be created or destroyed, it only changes form. That
sounded logical, but then the question came to mind, "where did consciousness
come from"? I could see that most material did not seem to have a
consciousness, such as the table, glass, floor, ground, etc. This left me
wondering where "consciousness" came from and how it came about from just
energy. I was told when it comes to living beings, it just happened, but
that goes back to getting something from nothing.
Another point of contention with this theory is what gives energy (or acts
upon energy) to force it into different forms? What constrains that energy
to maintain the various forms? I was starting to come up with more
questions than when I first started. Of course, when you get to the end of
this road, you end up in the same place as the “now” belief in that you have no
moral responsibly and life should be lived to please yourself and not worry
about others as you will just dissolve into big pool of energy when you die
anyway.
Religions:
The only other possible answers seemed to be possibly one or more religions.
Could some religion be correct?
The only religions I know of that actually fit the requirements of an Eternal
Entity with the attributes listed above, would be the Christian, Jewish and
Islam faiths. They all claim to have essentially the same root for their
God and a similar story of creation. Other religions do not seem to
measure up when you compare them to the guidelines we built earlier. Most
do not claim an eternal God or Gods that have always been, always will be and
are without change, not to mention the other guidelines.
While I do not know enough about Islam to see if all the guidelines apply, I
do know that all the guidelines will match the beliefs of Judaism and
Christianity. Both of these beliefs show a God that claims to be eternal
and has always been and will always be God. In some passages, it says that
God is without change along with God being all knowing and all powerful.
Even though Judaism and Christianity clearly meet our guidelines, they also
go one step further. When Moses asked God what His name is that he could
tell the people, who sent him, God gave a surprising reply, "He said to tell
them "I AM" sent him. This is interesting, as most religions do not suggest
anything outside the realm of time, but this clearly is a reference to God
living outside the frame of time.
Another passage in Gospel of John, Jesus said "before Abraham was, I am".
He did not say "I Was", but "I AM". This seems to place His claims outside
the realm of time, just as the guidelines demand.
It is also interesting to note that in Judaism and Christianity, God claims
to have created all things and that He spoke the worlds into existence, much
like the big bang science supports, that there was a point in time where all our
universe came into being.
Could there be more to the Bible than just another religion? Jewish
believers as well as Christians claim the book contains prophecies that have
already come to pass and others that will come to pass. Is this possible?
In Zechariah chapter 14 it appears to describe the effects of a nuclear bomb
where it says God shall smite them with a plague that will cause their flesh to
consume away and their eyes consume away in their sockets along with their
tongue to consume away in their mouth while they stand upon their feet.
This is clearly what happens in a neutron bomb explosion.
In the books of Daniel and Ezekiel, there appears to be prophecies to point
to the rebirth of the nation of Israel, which occurred in 1948.
Additionally, they prophesy the coming of Jesus (Yeshua) as a Jewish messiah,
which would be killed and resurrected along with many other prophecies of Him.
Can these things be true? Is the God of Judaism and Christianity the
true God and the answer to our questions?
Conclusion:
The purpose of this writing is to merely stir your interest to research and
seek out who or what this "Eternal Entity" is, not to force an answer upon you.
There are few possibilities listed here, but it is up to you to do the research
and find out what is true and what is false.
I have my beliefs, which of course, I believe is the true answer, but you
need to discover this for yourself. The mere fact that we exist and there
is some level of reality, is proof by itself that there is some Eternal Entity
and we need to find the truth about that Entity before it is too late. In
my belief it says that creation itself is evidence of the creator and that no
person has an excuse on the Day of Judgment.
Personally, I believe an honest person must admit there is a possibly some
Eternal Entity exists. If a person has that basic simply knowledge, then
it is their responsibility to find out more. You have a journey ahead of
you, but the end result is worth the work!
There is a point to remember, we cannot fabricate our own version of this
Eternal Entity, so that it fits our lives or beliefs, this Eternal Entity is
already what it "Is" and our beliefs cannot change that fact. We must face
the results regardless of what we find, shaping the results to fit into our own
box invalidates the quest.
Keep your mind open, your prejudices in check, make sure the beliefs match
the basic guidelines and you will find all the answers!
Good Journey to you!