Does the fact that we have consciousness and can question our existence prove there is a creator?

Question

Kind of like built-in instinct?
Even people in the middle of nowhere, with no education system, and no access to churches or religious people to provide influence, ponder their origins, look to the stars and question if a God exists.

Of course, you could argue that our imaginations can think of many things that are not real; but with death...

Why do we question life after death, heaven etc?

We just die, that's it... right?
100% sure?
There is always that nagging bit in your head that says: "But what if... what if there's something after?"
Even the die-hard atheist couldn't tell you with absolute certainty that death is 100% the end.

How can it be that so many people question life and question the possibility of a creator, if it is not built within us to begin with?

Does having the capacity to question our very selves mean anything, or is it simply that we stick a label on the unknown for our own comfort?

Answer 1

I would say........Yes, Yes and YES!!

I believe that we are in gods sandbox and as you said have been given the ability to question our own existence and our surroundings. We try to explain our existence and our surroundings through philosophy and science. But with all that we are able to explain and prove to ourselves through science, there is always something that remains, something at a lower level that we can't explain or explore. There is always something just beyond our reach and understanding.

I believe that when we stare at the places in our consciousness and universe that we can't explain, god is the only explanation. While we try to explain everything around us in this existence and question how it is we exist, we shouldn't forget the bigger question. Why are we here, what have we accomplished in our lives and what can we do to make our short time here or some value?

Answer 2

You cannot prove 100% for sure that there is no afterlife either. However, I do believe, 100%, that death is completely the end.

And no, consciousness proves nothing. It is nothing more than the emergent behavior of a chaotic system (the brain). And you're actually wrong in your assumption that 'people in the middle of nowhere'. In the absence of religious instruction, humans default to an atheistic stance, and the closest they come to faith is what has been called 'an awareness of grandeur'. That is to say, they become aware of the great complexity that is the universe. People raised in such a situation do not question a divine, they haven't the terminology to do so, or to even think about it.

Answer 3

Yes, it is clear from the fact that the most primitive peoples feel the need to worship and done so from time immemorial, and the fact that the people who are most complete within themselves are people of faith, that there is something innate in man which pushes him towards the discovery of a Creator. The Book of Romans expresses it in this way: "What may be known about God is plain..because God has made it plain.. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities -- His eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made." (Romans 1: 19-20). There is, moreover, an ability within man to reason, to marvel, to admire, to strive for what is better, which is lacking in the rest of the animal world. How can anyone arguing from the atheistic point of view explain why man should be a species so set apart from the rest of creation (whoops, this planet which just chanced to come into being through a series of staggering, mind-boggling coincidences!)? Scientists have identified a part of the brain which seems to be intended for worship. There are, of course, two arguments in response to this: that it is because this part of the brain exists that credulous believers react as they do or, more consistent with the fact that each part of our physiology seems to have a specific function, that our Creator equipped us with this ability to respond to Him in worship.

It seems extraordinary that people faced with the unquestionable fact of their mortality should place more confidence in the reasoning of their own small minds than in the testimony of those whose lives have been transformed by the reality of their religious faith. I can only thank God that all my hope and trust is placed in Him through Jesus Christ and that I don't have to rely on my own very fallible self!

Answer 4

Nobody will ever answer this question because no one has ever had the pleasure of meeting God. Not whilst living amongst 'society' anyway.
Imagination doesn't prove anything.
And we probably have labelled the universe for our own comfort. But that should make you think: isn't it weird that ALL humans NEED answers to certain question of our existence? Isn't it weird how spirituality fits that need perfectly? Isn't it weird that those who believe in only science and the 'seen/material' world are in reality very scared of the unknown? This 'fantasy' of ours truly exists and it is arrogant to deny it. It is arrogant to pretend that it does not exist. It is arrogant towards our ancestors to think that they where but mare primitives. Surely they deserve some credit for their remarkable achievements over thousands of years. Surely if they left a mark they must have done something right. Our roots hold our secrets. I think us 'modern' people are too arrogant. We think we are so much better yet we are the only 'civilisation' that, for the first time is putting the planet in jeopardy. We think we are so advanced yet we are more insecure than ever.

Answer 5

"I think, therefore I am".

and that's as far as it goes. It can't be assumed that "I think, therefore god exists"

It might even only really go so far as "I think, therefore thinking exists"

Or, if you want the old school version:

"I think, therefore I am, ....... I think"!

The "nagging bit in your head is just paranoia. Everybody has that .

The fact that we seem to be concious of our surroundings may in itself lead us to wonder whether there's more that we just don't know. However, the fact that we wonder it, doesn't make it true I'm afraid. The higher levels of conciousness and intellect kick in and point out that we are being irrational - maybe the fact that our conciousness allows us to realise that we ARE being irrational is the essential point. It brings us back from the world of fantasy and makes us look for evidence. Perhaps that's what being human is all about, an everlasting search! Remember, it's possibly the journey that is useful to our minds, the "arrival" is unimportant.

Answer 6

Elementary question....the source of great theological and philosophical debate, discussion, assumptions

basically, NO...it is a specious leap of logic to posit a creator, much less an interpersonal godhead....NO...it is not reasonable...it is an assumption based on our limited human understanding of our own existence, much less the "reality" of the universe...

self awareness...sentient beings...have questioned existence from proto-homo sapiens on...and while there does seem to be a need for some sort of spiritual expression inherent in humans...it might only be a form of self protection from the unknown....

the classic "first cause" "prime mover" argument started with the Greek philosophers....and has continued -albeit, under different guises-into today's "logic".....read the Greeks for the beginnings of this line of thinking

Answer 7

Your consciousness only shows that you have evolved a consciousness. You have the imagination to imagine a creator god who gave you imagination, but that is no proof of god. This is a variation of the Anthropic Argument. (wikpedia that one, I can't be bothered to explain if you don't know it)

As the only truly sentient beings (as far as we know) we have a sense of the passage of time, and the awareness of our own mortality. Of course it is natural to question how and why we got here, and if there is anything beyond death. Science is currently the best tool we have to explore the universe.

Primitive man had no other means of explaining the unexplainable without inventing gods. We are no longer primitive man, and gods are no longer needed.

Answer 8

Mmmmm, after much thought, my answer is.....

Dead is dead, all else is the wishful delusions of a scared mind. Scared to even admit to itself that death is final. The very act of constructing and maintaining complex religions, backs my point that at a fundamental level, the human mind know that death is the final page and therefore strives to remain in bliss-full ignorance until the end.

Answer 9

Asking those questions proves you've got a mind. Descartes: I think, therefore I am. It doesn't prove anything else.

Spirituality centers on the question: Who am I? Religions center on: Who is God?

It is all part of the Game. There are many different incarnated people here and it is impossible to know them all.

Answer 10

Your very intelligent question deserves a comprehensive response. Unfortunately, I cannot do your question due justice by replying to it in this space. Would you, please, click on "Rational Spirituality" on the Dhaxem website? That would be my answer.

But I would still point out here, that there is a difference betwen people, and whilst I agree with your scenario, there are also people who do not ponder about the subject. They just exist, and anything beyond of what they consume, is beyond them.