GOD

I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is  

                                                                                        -AlbertCamus

 The question is not whether God is but what God is?

There is no concept that is as differently defined, evokes as many different reactions and is yet as powerful as the concept of God. Since childhood all of us are told by our parents and others about the greatness, power and glory of the lord. But the concept is generally told at a superficial level without being clearly or deeply explained or understood. The tests of rigorous logic and the new knowledge revealed by science are often not applied to this concept of god. 

The concept of god probably had its origins in man’s search for answers about his environment and about his own purpose in life. The concept is older than most of the organized religions that exist today. Most likely the concept developed with the development of language and human thought. The concept is not static; it has changed over time and will change in the future. Primitive man feared, worshipped and was in awe of the forces of nature like the sun, clouds, rain, thunder etc and also personified them. He also worshipped inanimate objects like stones and mountains. But as human knowledge progressed, man came to know that these things were not God but mere creations of god. In the past there were a number of mythological gods as well like the Roman and Greek gods who are no longer worshipped. 

In present times the most popular view about god considers him to be Transcendent (beyond the world) as well as Immanent (present within the world). The first attribute emphasizes his independence from and power over the world and the second one emphasizes his hold over and participation in the world process. He is also visualized in a personal way i.e. he is supposed to have a direct relationship with the individual; he listens to the individual’s prayers, helps him in distress and rewards or punishes him according to his actions. God is also believed to be omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (present everywhere), infinite and eternal having no beginning or end in either space or time. God is also associated with certain human characteristics or emotions like love, goodness, mercy, forgiveness etc. 

It is interesting to note the similarities about the concept of god in various religions. The attributes of a transcendent and an immanent god that are expressed in Gita find a resemblance to those in the Bible, the Koran and some other religious texts. There are other similarities as well in these texts. For eg. the rules of conduct of a yogi (Hindu ascetic) and the Ten Commandments have much in common. Now some people may think that these are a result of similar divine revelations or of borrowings from each other. But I believe that this is a case of parallel development of thought. As man is searching for a higher reality above him, so its characteristics must be far greater than those of man. As man is not omnipotent, god must be. As man cannot be omnipresent, god must be. As man is not omniscient, god must be. As man has a beginning and an end, god must be infinite. I suggest that if there are intelligent living beings on other planets, and I believe there are, then their concept of god will also be similar to ours, at least at some point of time in their existence. This will be because those living beings will share some characteristics with us humans. They will be born and will die. Like us they will not be omnipotent, omnipresent or omniscient. But like our god, there god will be. I also suggest that if intelligent living beings on another planet are involved in a struggle for existence as beings on earth are, then their concept of a personal god will also be similar to our concept. Their god will also be loving, caring, helpful, merciful and forgiving because in a situation of struggle for survival, qualities like non injury, love, mercy, forgiveness etc. will be virtues anywhere, everywhere. 

However, if we examine the most popular concept and attributes of god, we will find that there are some inconsistencies. These inconsistencies surface on applying new scientific knowledge or tricky but logical questions. I read one such question which challenges God’s omnipotence in Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief  History of Time”. Can god make a stone which he cannot lift? If he can but cannot lift it then he has limits and if he cannot make it, then it is also a limit to his powers. Another question challenges god’s omniscience. Does god know his limits? If he does, he has a limit and if he does not then also his knowledge is limited. It is within a man’s reach to give up his powers, position and even his life. But can god do that? Can god commit suicide?

 We often read or hear about the concept of predestination. It means that whatever happens, happens according to the will of god. Nothing is beyond his will. If a person does something good, it is because of god’s will and if he does something bad, it is also due to god’s will. Even the fact that a person is a believer or an atheist is the will of god. But if every act is willed by god, so why does he apply the measures of right or wrong to human actions? Why does he reward or punish? Even if a person kills, it is the will of god. So why should he go to hell? For obeying god? In fact by the above logic, everybody should go to heaven. So even Chengiz Khan and Hitler should go to heaven. There is no need for hell. If a person dies a natural death, we say that god took him away, that his time had come. But when somebody dies in an accident or is murdered, we bay for the culprits blood. Is it not contradictory?

 Some people do not believe in predestination but believe that god has given man free will. But if man has free will, it means that god does not know beforehand what is going on in this world. He is not aware of what you or I are going to do in the next moment. This puts a limit to his omniscience. The concept of free will is also qualified by the concepts of heaven and hell. If god gives us a free will then why does he reward or punish us for using it as we like? If after giving us a free will, he expects us to use it according to his wish as revealed through divine revelations, then what type of a free will is this? Is not god being whimsical? Then are we a result of god’s whims rather than his glory?  In the later part of this book, we will go a bit deeper into this concept of the free will.

 When I was in school, we were told in our moral science book that if two enemy soldiers fight, kill and die in battle, both will go to heaven. If that is true, then the perpetrators of 9/11 should also go to heaven as many radical Muslims think. After all they gave up their lives for their people and their faith. They believed as sincerely in their cause as a soldier who is ready to lay down his life for his people. The Nazis also believed in the justness of their cause. Their soldiers also fought WW II for their people and their country.

 We generally think of god in terms of his relationship with man. But it is also pertinent to ask what is god’s relationship with the grass which always gets eaten or trampled or with the deer or sheep which becomes the victim of the lion. Is god closer to the lion than to the sheep? Does he favour the strong and not the meek? Or does he not care at all about lower beings?

 The concept of an immanent and personal god has also come under threat with the growth of science. That is why religious leaders are generally critical about scientific discoveries and inventions. We once believed that god created man as he is. We believed that god created the earth. We believed that the earth was flat. We also believed that the earth was stationary and that the sun revolved around the earth. But new discoveries in biology, geography, geology and space science have proved these concepts wrong. So if god did not create the earth or man, would he still care to have a direct personal relation with man, would he still observe each human activity and then judge him? We now know that the universe is much larger than what we imagined before. Our earth is just on of the nine planets of a medium sized star which is one of the billions and billions of stars in our galaxy the milky way. And the milky way is just one of the billions and billions of galaxies in the visible part of the universe. So in a universe which is so large that the earth is just like a speck of dust, would god give so much importance to man? It is indeed flattering to think that.

                                                                                 continued on page 2

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