by Ryan Thomas

Created on: September 17, 2008   Last Updated: February 05, 2009

The existence of God has been the single most debated subject in the history of Man's intellectual endeavor to understand the world around him. To find the answer to the question of God's existence would have profound implications for every man and woman from every walk of life. It is something that we all must take time to carefully consider, whether you are a scientist, philosopher, or car salesman.

When exploring questions concerning the existence of God, it is important to keep in mind that the scope of our knowledge is limited by the reliability of our senses. Schizophrenics experience hallucinations that they genuinely believe are real, and oftentimes we cannot even distinguish reality from our dreams. There will therefore never be a point in the history of the collective human experience when we will be able to say for certain "God exists", or conversely, "God does not exist", for we cannot even say that our next-door neighbor exists with 100% certainty.

The weight of this question then must rest solely on reason, for reason makes no claims concerning absolute knowledge. So, is it reasonable to believe that a whole Universe was birthed from an empty void, or that order was somehow spawned from swirling chaos? Or is it more reasonable to hold that an intelligent, aseitic being created the Universe from His own infinite power and skillfully crafted the form and design evident in the cosmos that we ascribe so much beauty to? The natural realm is governed by physical laws and forces that leave no room for the spontaneous creation of matter and energy or the order thereof, therefore implying that the creation event was of a supernatural origin. While it cannot be absolutely proven that matter cannot spontaneously "pop" into existence, it is only reasonable based on our experience.

Now if it is true that our Universe really is just an incredible mistake, then it is also true that we are the result of a mindless process driven by random events, i.e., evolution. As a biology major, I am very familiar with the processes of natural selection and evolution. They are stunningly efficient processes, so efficient in fact that the idea of God would never have come to be if it were true that God did not exist. Atheists have tried to explain the concept of God as a "coping method" that we evolved in order to help us deal with emotionally stressful events. The theory is that since our physical health is directly affected by our emotional state, then those who believed in

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