:salam2:
Usually I won't involve myself in discussions like these ones because it's like two rocks pushing up against each other. Neither is going to budge. However I've done a lot of thinking on this very topic in my spare time and think that I have some input that could be beneficial. I have a tendency to drag on and on instead of getting to the point, but I'll try to keep it brief.
Most debates of people of religion against atheists usually revolve around theories. For example, Creation Theory vs Big Bang Theory. You will have some who will say that God created us and others who will say we evolved. When people debate on this, you hardly ever see anyone change their mind about their viewpoint. I don't want to debate on this point because it's been done many times before and is frankly a waste of time.
When all is said and done it is ultimately the choice of any given individual to believe in God or not. I hope to break this choice down in a way that helps people to see in a basic form what they MUST believe.
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I'm going to speak from the perspective of an atheist to help me get to my point
Imagine for a second that we are viewing the history of the universe on a time line. As you work your way backwards into history on that time line, you can see past events such as wars, scientific discoveries, as well as every other thing that has happened in this world. Now imagine you keep going back in time further and further. Eventually you will reach the creation of the Earth. Whatever theory that you believe in doesn't matter. This "imaginary" time line is in fact real, the only problem is we don't know exactly what is in it. We know that the Earth had to be created somehow for it to be here. The only question we have is 'how?
Keep going backwards in time. If you were to ask people what happened before the Earth was created, most would say they don't know. Only very learned scientists would give an answer. Okay, let's say we know what happened before the Earth was made. What happened before that? And before that?
Keep asking this question over and over, assuming that we had the answers, and eventually you are going to reach a point in time where you are going to get a very strange answer, unlike any of the answers you will have received before this one.
....What happened before that? I have thought it over and have come to the conclusion that only 1 of 3 things can be the ultimate answer.
1. Everything in existence has never been created. Essentially, all of matter has no beginning. From a scientific point of view, this is insane.
2. Everything in existence created itself. We as humans consider ourselves to be the most advanced species on this Earth. However, we cannot create anything from nothing. We can manipulate the things around us, but to actually create anything is beyond our power.
3. Everything in existence was created from something else. However, that "something else" would fall into one of these three categories. If it falls into category 1 or 2, then it ends there and you have a conclusion. However if it falls into category 3 then you have a dilemma. If you have the universe being created by other creators, and those creators themselves being created by other creators, then eventually you must decide that these is an Ultimate Creator that was not created (God), because in order to be created there must be something before you. If everything that was in existence needed a creator, then there would be no life. This is because there can be no creator to initiate this "chain" of creators making creations, because all of creation would need a creator to start it all.
(I'm sorry if my explanation of point 3 is poor. It can be a hard concept to grasp and even harder for me to put into words, but logically it makes sense.)
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There is no other conclusion that you can come to to explain existence. If you read and understand conclusion 3, you will understand that it is not an acceptable answer to existence. And so you are left with choices 1 and 2. Either of these answers are mind boggling. It makes me wonder why some scientists scoff at the idea of God, and that the idea of God is laughable and insane, when what they MUST believe in is equally insane.
Conclusion 2 is, in my opinion, the weaker conclusion. How can the universe create itself from nothing, when we as humans could never even dream of achieving something much less great? The universe has no brain, no way of living or interacting. It is inanimate. To believe that it created itself is incomprehensible.
That brings us to conclusion 1. What we know as existence has no beginning. This conclusion in itself brings you to two sub conclusions. It is my belief that any rational person must believe in one of two ideas.
A. The Universe and everything in it has no beginning. All of matter has always existed in some form. It has changed in appearance over time, such as the formation of stars and planets, but the composition and substance has existed throughout eternity.
B. There is a Creator who has no beginning. This Creator has made the universe and everything in it as well as anything else It has willed to make. This is who we Muslims call Allah. He is our Lord, the one with perfect judgment and wisdom, who has power over all things. He is the one who sees and hears and knows everything. This is who we submit ourselves to in the religion that He has revealed to us through his prophets and messengers. We seek his forgiveness and hope to be of those to whom He shows His mercy.
I am sorry if any part of this was unclear. If anything needs clarification please let me know.
:salam2:
