Out of the gate, one must take
one of three positions with respect to the existence of God. 1) Non-belief – God does not exist. 2) Ignorance – God may or may not exist. 3) Apathy – God’s existence or lack thereof
is irrelevant. 4) Belief – God exists. The most reasonable/logical default position
is number 4.
Terms:
God – the supernatural being or
entity (all powerful; all knowing; eternal; everywhere always present) who
created, sustains, and cares for the universe.
God Dichotomy – it is either the
case that the one God exists or no such God exists.
Preface:
We will examine each of the four possible
defaults and their implications under each case in the God Dichotomy. One may say: “Ignorance is the obvious
default as a baby could never have been told of God and therefore must start at
(2).” We would answer: “Who told the
baby to breath or be afraid of a load noise?”
Suppose that God does not
exist. In this case, (1) would be the
correct position. They would have spent
their lives on earth free from all the oppressive demands of an imaginary deity. If some pool of lesser gods exists, they may
or may not have had a better chance of communing with them, but, I think not,
as their default seems more inclined to ignore such a pool. As for group (2), again, individuals may have
found a ‘better’ path, but, the group as a whole is clueless to any supernatural
goings on and therefore no better or worse off than (1). Group (3) also turns out to have been just as
well off as (1). God was irrelevant and
the group was free to do as they saw fit all along, as expected. As for group (4), what a bunch of saps,
right? They wasted so much of their time
praying to, talking to, and living for their imaginary friend. They could have been having much more fun
having it their way and, in this case, are to be most pitied. However, you can’t really make a claim that
they are any worse prepared for whatever may or may not follow death. After all, in the end, their karma or mojo or
whatever you call it will be based on what they decided was right here on earth
just like the members of the other groups.
So it was based on what was written in some book; that can’t be said of
the other groups? No, in this case,
whatever happens after death will be unaffected by which of the four defaults
you took.
Suppose that God does exist. In this case, (1) is problematic. If God wants you to find Him, then you will
not because you won’t even look. If God
wants to reveal Himself, the standard of proof will be set by you, the one who
does not believe. This is not the best set
up for success. If you are in this situation,
then you better hope God forces His standard of proof on your hard heart. Otherwise, if he has consequences for your
disbelief, then you will be sorry. Group
(2) is slightly better off. If God
exists as defined, then it is most likely you will be informed of it at some
point. At this point, having no
predisposition against, you will be more inclined to accept the truth of God. Group (3) is likely the worst off in this
case. These hardy souls are entrenched
in their own self-sufficiency. The cost
that God’s existence exacts on their paradigm is enormous; catastrophic to
their ego. It is surly easier to pass a
camel through the eye of a needle than to move a soul from (3). Group (4) is in the zone. They are to God as kids are to their parents
when the parent arrives home. They are
not a shoe-in however. Believing God
exists and knowing the one true living God are two different things. The demons also believe and tremble. But, of the four defaults, in this case, (4)
is far superior because there must be advantage to knowing this God. And, you can’t know Him without believing
that He exists. And if you believe by
default he exists, then you have already cleared the three difficult hurdles of
stubbornness, stupidity, and self-righteousness. The only one left is submission to the one
true living God – Jesus Christ – as your LORD and savior.
Therefore, number (4)
is the most reasonable/logical default position. If you are wrong the penalty is small. If you are right the reward is close at
hand. None of the other three can make
this claim.
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