Godiva chocolates

Since Good Friday and Easter are coming, and my clinical group decided to have an early day at the polyclinic, and I just haven't been able to start typing my case write-up, I might as well use this time to share with you about.. no, not chocolates.. God.. haha..

There are a few ways I can start talking about Christianity. I can begin with the bible, about Jesus Christ, about the meaning and purpose of life, about sin, about religion as a whole blah blah.. But I feel that without a common platform to start off, there is really not much point talking about anything else. And that common point is the existence of God.

I used to be very constrained and narrow-minded in my thinking when I ponder over the existence of God. I think at some points in our lives, whether or not we believe in a god, we start to think about how we came into existence, how this world came about and stuff.. And it is a very unsatisfying process thinking about such things, cos by looking at ourselves and at the things around us, we are no better understanding how these things came about. For myself, as I grew older, I began to reject the idea of God. All the scientific education I got taught me that unless something is evidence-based and scientifically proven, it cannot be true. We are constrained by what we see and hear now. We are constrained to think that science can explain everything in the world.

I have no doubt that science is real and true. But the role of science is constrained in itself. It is not all-encompassing. We can go as deep as the smallest particles including the electrons and the protons to explain how sodium and chlorine can form sodium chloride and as far as Jupiter and Saturn and beyond to explain what goes on in their atmospheres. But thats about all science can explain. It can only explain the things we can see and observe. Whether or not there is something behind and beyond the things science observes - something of a different kind - this is not something science can answer. I am not yet saying if there is "something behind", I am just saying that science is limited in such a way that it cannot make any statement on whether or not there is an existence of such a "something". In other words, what I am getting at is this: just because we have not seen God, we cannot conclude that God does not exist (and at this point we also cannot conclude that he exists).

Once you agree with me on this point and be open to the idea of god, we can start to find out whether God really exists. This will not be easy and it will take some time to grapple with.. that is if you think it is an important issue to think over..

It is not an easy task finding out whether there is a higher being up there (or anywhere) because we cannot rely on science to help us (as explained above). I have to copy an idea wholesale from a book I read, hopefully Vaughan Roberts wouldn't mind.. This is the scenario:

A group of people were born in a locked room and lived their entire lives in it. The people had frequent discussions about the world outside. A says that he has studied the room for years and that it was very well-designed. He also found an electric fan which he had dismantled and found out its mechanisms, how it worked and stuff. Could the room and the fan have come about by chance? But doesn't the marvelous design of the fan point to the existence of a "something" outside the room who made it and put it there? But he acknowledges that, since no one has seen anything except what exists inside the room, it is possible that there is nothing else besides the room.

B1 protests violently. His mother has told him that the world outside is inhabited by many creatures of which the monsters have long long ago locked man's ancestors in the room. But one day the angels will come and open up the room and liberate the people living in the room. B2 disagrees and says the truth is that there are no monsters, only angels who have placed people in the room for a little while to look after it. One day, they will be released.

C brushed aside all of them. The room is all that there is. Why waste time thinking about the outside world? The most important thing is the here and now. Enjoy things while they last. Why get so uptight over things that we have no definite answer to?

D told the people that he had visions and dreams of giants ruling the world outside. And there were many such rooms with people inside. They will be inside the rooms forever. He feels that different people will have different ideas of the outside world. The truth lives inside everyone, according to what he/she thinks/feels. People should not condemn what others feel or think about the outside world because everybody has a right to decide for himself what is true.

I think it is not hard to see the point I am trying to make here. We are like the people living in the room trying to find out if there is a god out there. It will be a good start to be like A. At least, he is open to the idea of a god out there. B1 and B2 believe in God/s. But they have different ideas of who God is and what he does. Can both their gods possibly co-exist? What is the basis for their beliefs? Is there proof? Or is it plain family tradition? C is the materialist who lives for the present. Eat, drink and be merry. Refuses to entertain thoughts about God. D is the goody-two-shoe and is most well-liked. He understands the need for some purpose in life and chooses to believe in some religion. He lives a moral and "godly" life. He is tolerant of other religions. You have the right to believe in your God. I have my right to believe in mine. All are true. All can coexist in harmony. As long as we don't do anything harmful and treat people well, we are good people.

There is a diversity of beliefs and non-beliefs. Is there one truth? Is there one God? Can we ever know the truth about God, if there is one? The Christian answer is there is one. And only one. I know Christians have always been accused of being proud, arrogant, snobbish and full-of-themselves because they (from a non-Christian point of view) insist that their religion is the only true religion. Their god is the only god. Their religion is the only way to get into heaven. Slams door. Throws eggs at them. Spit. Full of rubbish. Don't ever try to talk about Christianity to me again. The eggs and the spit can remain. But perhaps you can open the door slightly and listen to me for a while.. At least listen to the whole story before you slam the door..

If we are forever trapped in this "room" and have no idea of the world outside, we can only at best speculate about whether there is a god outside. We can formulate our own set of beliefs about God. We can listen to passed-down stories about God from our ancestors. There is no definite truth. Then it makes D's argument logical. Everyone is right about God. God is whatever we make him out to be. That makes C's argument logical too. Cos then it doesnt really matter how we live our lives. Eat, drink and be merry and then die. After death? We will think of it when we die. Enjoy the present first. If there is no real truth and no real God, I will be a strong proponent of C. What does it matter? We will all die anyway, lets enjoy it while it lasts!

But the Christian bible has some very strong claims about God. God exists. He created the "room". He created human beings. In the past, he "popped" into the "room" now and then to appear to one or two people. He told them his plans for the world and what humans should do. He also had a son, who was with him from the beginning. More recently (that is 2000++ years ago), he sent his son into the "room" for a little while. This would be the definitive appearance of God. He would not appear again until one specific day in future. While in the "room", God's son told the people about God. A group of people who were closest to God's son wrote down everything he said and did during that short while (with the help of God) and compiled them into the 4 gospels.

And that is what we have today. Everything that we can know about God is in the bible. And it is all that we have. His son has appeared personally to our ancestors and they have dutifully passed the message down to us. If we are in a room, the only true way to be sure that God exists is if he comes into the room and tells us. Or theoretically we can get out of the room, see God and come back to tell the others. No one has done the latter. The former? No one living now has ever seen God.. because God has chosen to appear only once 2000 years ago to some people. (I don't know why) But he had come into the room before.. so there is indeed a god. The bible says that he exists.

I cannot say anything about other religions and their Gods. Maybe they have some basis for their beliefs, maybe not.. But the bible says that there is only one god. So if the bible is not something made up by man, then Christianity is true and the rest are false. If I say that the rest are true also, then Christianity becomes a lie and I am wasting my time here being a goody-two-shoe.

The whole truth (or lie) of Christianity hangs on the reliability of the bible. There is nothing else. If any part of the bible is proven to be false, we Christians are no more than fools believing in a lie and trying to rope in others to believe in the same lie, while getting ridiculed, spat and thrown eggs at.. Ok la, it is not that bad.. I am exaggerating a bit. Then again, people in some countries are being tortured and executed for converting to Christianity. So much trouble for a lie and a god that doesn't exist?

I am thankful to God if you are a non-Christian and patient enough to read till this line.. I will blog again soon =) Do keep your door slightly open.. ha..