by Jerry DePyper

Created on: March 24, 2007   Last Updated: July 06, 2011

Voltaire's famous quote, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him", would appear at first glance to be an argument for atheism or agnosticism. It speaks of the religious instinct common to nearly all human beings. But upon closer examination, this ends up pointing out the validity of faith, doesn't it?

Consider:

The vast majority of humankind has always believed in some kind of divine reality beyond our mortal reach. We seem to do so instinctively; no child has to be taught this yearning. We thrill at a stunning mountain vista, and we long for perfect beauty. We experience the joy of human intimacy, and we yearn for perfect love. Deep within our being, we long, without quite knowing why, for that which we have never attained: perfect love, perfect happiness, perfect beauty. We are drawn, without knowing why, to the infinite, the eternal, the transcendent. This innate desire for the transcendent reveals something quite significant about our human nature; to deny it is to deny our own nature, and to entertain an illusion.

But this desire for the infinite, the eternal, the perfect, seems to make no sense. What point is there in longing for that which no mortal being has ever attained? Speaking scientifically, of what biological or survival value is such a drive? What Darwinian explanation can be given for how we may have evolved this nearly universal but biologically useless trait? Try as i might, i cannot produce a practical reason for us to be the religious animals that we are. Our five senses, our physical strength, our intelligence, and our attraction to the opposite sex all have obvious biological benefits. For example, our physical eyesight makes sense because there is such a thing as light, and we benefit greatly from being able to see light and color, and to respond. But what point is there in our longing for an unattainable and nonexistent transcendence? Of what possible survival or propagative value is such an impractical trait?

The most reasonable answer to this perplexing question would seem to lie outside of mortal biological life. Just as our eyesight is there because there is such a thing as light, so, too, this drive must exist for a reason, a reason which cannot be fully realized within our current finite state. That is to say, this innate drive must exist precisely because there is something more to our life than these few decades on Earth. We long for the eternal because eternity exists. We hunger for the infinite because infinity is real. We yearn for perfect love because that is precisely what we were created for, and that perfect Love is God.

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