WE ALL MISS GOD

WE JUST DON'T REALISE IT

It seems that humanity, to its detriment, is drifting away from a belief in one God - a supranatural being who is omnipotent, all-powerful; omniscient, all-knowing; and omnipresent, present everywhere at all times. 

It’s lovely to believe that humans will do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing but it doesn't seem to be the case on the ground. When you remove the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being who threatens hold humans accountable through the most efficient social credit system ever proposed, you end up in a lawless mad state of survival of the fittest. 

Thus we find ourselves in the desert. Alone. Lost. Distraught. 

We are drowning in a world plagued by a pandemic of evil: corruption, lack of integrity, hubris, tyranny, crimes, disintegration of society, breakdown of the traditional family, breakdown of the individual. We no longer even know if we are man or woman. 

And the God-shaped hole inside every man is yearning to be filled, so we stuff it with instant gratifications, numbing drugs and addictions, pornography, promiscuity, consumerism, work, gaming, videos…. A baggage so heavy, it’s beyond what any human can carry. And yet nothing seems to fill that emptiness satisfactorily. 

Is it useful for humanity to find God again? Can Science show us the way? 

Is religion good for us?

Humanity has drifted away from God ‘to its detriment’ because religiosity is positively correlated with a range of positive outcomes (skim through this paper) such as life satisfaction, mental wellbeing, physical health, protective effect with regards to substance abuse, longevity…

Religiosity is also correlated with self-reported good character like altruism, greater forgiveness, kindness and compassion (note: self-reported data may be biased) and an internal locus of control (a sense of agency and self-determination- the belief that our actions make a difference).

Religion may confer all these benefits because of the following:

1. It provides a sense of community and a social support network (which is highly correlated with positive mental and physical health)

2. It empowers the individual. Most religions promote a sense of responsibility. What you can’t control is left to God but what you can control is your responsibility. This is a perfect balance as people usually experience anxiety and depression when they try to control matters that are outside their control.

3. It provides a moral code of conduct. Religion provides principles and rules that give humans a sense of stability. (Just like children flourish with parents who provide order and clear rules, adults also do better when they don’t have to figure out what is moral or immoral by themselves. For example, when is it ok to kill a fetus? By day 40 of gestation or right up to the last trimester before its birth? Tough question for a human, wouldn’t you say?

4. Rituals (prayer, gratitude, recitations…) make great buffers for stress and anxiety

5. Religion provides a sense of higher purpose and meaning in life. 

So it looks like religion is a useful little thing for individuals and for human societies.

But, but, but … “religion caused great evil in the world throughout history… wars… genocides… suicide bombers”… bla… bla …bla… these are not due to religion. These are the wrong doings of evil people who are using religion to justify the atrocities they want to commit. Religious wars are the result of propaganda that divides people into us vs them and sets them against each other. No religion teaches you to kill innocent people. Thou shall not kill. Period. (read my substack on suicide bombing)

And yes there may be some bad ideas in religion… some silly ideas … some nonsensical ideas… question them. By all means, question them. Don’t let religion become an ideology. You are free to have a critical mind. After all a big part of religion is man-made by interpretation, addition or deletion.

What about the God-shaped hole?

We can deny our need for believing in God as much as we want. We are too smart for this archaic idea …  too logical… too scientific… too proud. 

But look at what we are doing… Did you notice the spirituality movement? … the yoga, the mindfulness, the gratitude practice, the breathing exercises… 

Look… Do you see the similarities?

What are we doing? Substituting one set of rituals with another and claiming that we came up with the latter and it’s not imposed on us by a higher being so we feel smarter…serious?!

Did you ever wonder what Namaste means? It means “I bow to the god in you”. So some people may ridicule those who bow to one God but turn around and bow to other gods in order to fill their built-in, inherent need for spirituality … strange.

NB: Yoga is great for mobility. Breathing exercises are very calming. Gratefulness practice can enhance mood. Meditation increases gamma waves (being alert and having enhanced cognition & memory) and reduces cortisol (the stress hormone). So if you are practicing any of the above, Keep up the good work!

What is the God hypothesis? 

The God hypothesis is proposed by scientists who are proponents of Intelligent Design.

“Intelligent design is the idea that there are certain features of life and the universe that are best explained by an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection” Stephen Meyer (follow him on X)

The early scientists based their entire scientific endeavour on the assumption that the universe is intelligible and can be studied and understood. As a result they set out to discover the laws of nature. Here’s an account by Isaac Newton from 1713.

“Though these bodies may indeed continue in their orbits by the mere laws of gravity, yet they could by no means have at first derived the regular position of the orbits themselves from those laws. Thus, this most beautiful system of the sun, the planets, and the comets could only proceed from the council and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being”

Here are - in brief- the arguments of the Intelligent Design proponents:

1. The universe has a beginning. 

“It’s almost as if science said, “Give me one free miracle, and from there the entire thing will proceed with a seamless, causal explanation.”’  The one free miracle was the sudden appearance of all the matter and energy in the universe, with all the laws that govern it.” Rupert Sheldrake

Early on, scientists believed that the universe was static and eternal. However, the discovery of the expansion of the universe indicates that the universe had a starting point (reverse the expansion to go back in time until a single starting point, just like deflating a balloon). What is the entity outside space, time and matter that caused this beginning? Matter, after all, cannot possibly arise from nothingness.

2. The fine-tuning of the universe.

The earth lies in the Goldilocks zone which is the habitable zone around the sun where the conditions are just right for life. What is the probability that multiple physical parameters are set at just the right value by chance? How were these dials then set just right? 

3. DNA: the digital code of life.

DNA (genetic material) contains information that is used to produce proteins. Proteins are the basic building blocks of living things. They make up organs, organelles (tiny machines inside the cells), muscles, hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes .. all the things that make a living organism function. Just like a software program requires a programmer, so does genetic code. 

What is the probability that the code of life occurred by chance?

Here’s how proteins are made:

A DNA strand (made up of 4 types of bases: ATCG) is transcribed into a mRNA strand (made up of 4 types of bases: AUCG).

Every 3 consecutive bases in a specific order code for one amino acid (there are 20 different amino acids, see table).

A string of amino acids makes a protein that can fold into a specific shape to perform a specific function.

Proteins can range from ten to tens of thousands of amino acids.

Source

Source

What is the probability of getting the 3 bases that code for one amino acid and then getting the next 3 bases for the next amino acid followed by the next one and the next one.. all by chance and end up with a functional protein? (for every amino acid to be selected naturally -according to the theory of natural selection-, it must provide an adaptive advantage but the protein only becomes functional once it is completed) And this is just one protein… Remember in order to move from one species to another, multiple new organs, structures and organelles are needed.

Who then  programmed the code of life?

For a video illustration of protein synthesis, watch this video on the Origin of life (29 min, skip the black intervals) 

If protein synthesis is not miraculous enough for you then consider the organelles inside your cells. These are small machine-like structures that perform certain biological functions (e.g., the mitochondria and ribosomes…)

These little machines have multiple components that must come together at once to give the organelle a function. How will the different components be selected naturally if by themselves they don’t serve any function? (Darwin’s natural selection: traits/structures are naturally selected and passed on to the next generation if they give the organism an adaptive advantage)

Watch this video explanation using the mousetrap analogy (5 min).

Source

4. The falsification of Darwin’s theory of evolution. 

“To the question why we do not find rich fossiliferous deposits belonging to these assumed earliest periods prior to the Cambrian system, I can give no satisfactory answer” Charles Darwin- the Origin of Species (1859)

The Cambrian explosion, which is the sudden emergence of many species around 500 million years ago without a record of their ancestors in the fossils, falsifies Darwin’s theory of evolution using real-life data. (The theory of evolution postulates that more complicated life forms evolved from less complicated life forms through a process of natural selection of traits that make the organism more adapted to its environment and thus more likely to survive and pass on its genetic material to the next generation) 

Source

What about the beaks of Darwin’s finches?

The change in size and shape of the beaks of Darwin’s finches can be explained by epigenetics. Epigenetics postulates that all the information is present in the genetic code, however it may get expressed or not expressed based on environmental conditions, explaining the variability within species.

Source

For further exploration, watch these videos:

Mathematical challenges to Darwin’s Theory of evolution (1 hr)

Darwin’s doubt (1 hr 20 min) - the last section covers the probability of useful genetic variation

This leaves us with the best explanation for the origin of life and the universe that has stood the test of time…

“The postulation of a transcendent, intelligent and active creator.. [the kind of creator we find in the Abrahamic faiths] provides the best overall explanation for the biological and cosmological origins”— Stephen Meyers (I believe Meyers said “the kind of creator we find in the Judeo-Christian faiths” but I have corrected him)

If religiosity is beneficial to humans and the God hypothesis is the best explanation for life then maybe it is worth exploring or at least not turning a blind eye to it. 

Finally, one must wonder why all of the above is not being taught in schools? Why are our children being filled with darwinian dogma? Watch this video to learn about the Censorship of scientists advocating Intelligent Design (12 min) 

For further exploration, follow the Discovery Institute and watch these videos by Stephen Meyers:

Intelligent design (1 hr 3 min)

Has Humanity Forgotten God? (29 min)  

Bonus fun information:

If you are still  wondering when it is ok to abort a human fetus, here’s a simple divine answer for you (1min 25sec).

About the author

Abir Ballan has a Masters in Public Health, a graduate degree in special needs education and a BA in psychology. She is a children’s author with 27 published books. 

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