The Search for God Page 2.1.2.3
From the first moment a child realizes that two jelly beans are better than one, math becomes a constant in their life. From kindergarten through the rest of our lives, the concrete certainty of math and money underlies our existence.
All of science, physics, and the speed of light have numerical constructs, just as the laws of logic are building blocks for all reason, math is the building block of the physical universe.
Also, like the laws of logic, math is an unseen reality.
We might put numbers to paper and write formulas and proofs, but math is another representation of a rational universe.
Relation to the search for God
While the laws of mathematics don’t seem to play a massive role in our search for God, the laws point to the idea of absolute truth.
The very numbers and formulas in the mathematical process provide insight into how our universe functions and show that the functioning of the earth’s biosphere is rational and orderly from a mathematical model.
Math is a universal truth.
If you start to twitch, get dizzy, or you get hot and flushed, don’t worry, this isn’t high school math. We are not going to have a test, but I review this information for two primary reasons.
Agreement
If we cannot agree upon the basics of logic, reason, and math, then how will we discuss philosophy, history, science, and religion in a reasonable manner?
Absolute Truth and Ultimate Reality
As much as we may desire the Reality Stone and to wield it like Thanos, we are unable to change reality. The absolute truth about ultimate reality resides as an unmovable stone stuck in time.
Any confidence in relative truth based upon some future change is confronted by the rational view that 1+1 will always equal 2. And that whatever is, is. Something cannot both be and not be at the same moment and in the same relationship.
Proof of God
The idea of logical thought and following a progression of proof is what this website and work are all about.
- Just like complex math problems require multiple steps for a single proof, a single piece of evidence about God is, generally, not sufficient to convince someone that God exists.
- Just as we don’t expect a 6th grader to jump from long division to calculus, we shouldn’t expect to take one step and be convinced that God exists.
While we might want to disregard these issues about the ultimate reality of the universe, the laws of math demonstrate that a rational universe exists.
If we observe a rational and orderly universe, is that accomplished by random chemical and physical forces or a rational mind which organized everything?
The following 5-minute video observes how mathematics might be related to God. You may find it very interesting.
What are our options
Just like every other law and effect we witness, discover, and experience in this universe we have two options:
- A living being with a mind designed everything
- Non-living matter accidentally built everything
Even the word “built” suggests intelligence. Try to describe how everything exists without using a word depicting intelligence. We have two words here: ‘accidentally’ describes how something happened and ‘built’ describes the effect of what happened.
So if the universe developed accidentally, the accident is the cause and the existence of the universe is the effect. Remember, no intelligence.
Instead of using the word “accident”, we could say non-living matter randomly or arbitrarily (or use any other synonym for a non-intelligent cause) resulted (caused, built) an organized universe.
- When has an accident or random collision resulted in more order?
Math is not random or arbitrary, yet we expect the cause of the universe to be random, producing rational, consistent results and effects.
We will explore this idea more in the section on science and entropy.
Final thoughts
The laws of math are so ingrained in our rational minds, we can’t comprehend how a universe could function in any other manner.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Math is a fundamental building block of logic and reason.
- Why is that significant?
- Either non-living matter randomly built the universe, including logic, reason, and math, or a living being with intelligence did.
- If you agree, the next steps.
- If you disagree, please consider reading.
References and Links
- Danilo R. Diedrichs – Orderly from a mathematical model
- James Bishop Blog – Laws of logic
- Philosophy Stack Exchange – Absolute Truth in Mathematics