Thursday, March 5, 2009

Origin of God

Why do we have a god? How do we[maybe you] end up having a god? Where do god/s came from? If we, according to theists, were created by God, then who created God? Or in a polytheistic religion, who created their gods? Why do people believe in a god/s?

The way I see it, man was not made by a god or gods. Instead, man made the [idea of] god and gods. Primitive man created the idea of god. When I say primitive man, I am talking about the early humans just before or during the one of the first civilizations. Now I can see two reasons why man created the idea of god/s. One is because of intellectual necessity and the other is because of emotional necessity.

Now imagine the situation of the early humans. They lack knowledge on their surroundings, their nature, their environment. Although they already have some technology by that time, but they really do not have the scientific mind the modern humans have. They may already have some knowledge on their surroundings or perhaps the universe or knowledge about their nature but the intellectual gap that time was still very wide and big. This intellectual gap is the reason why they created the idea of god. They created this idea because they cannot explain many things that time. Things related to nature, environment, the universe, their existence. Remember, they do not have the scientific mind the modern humans have. So they point to an entity or being that could explain all these things [gaps]. Example, when early humans first encountered a thunder, they do not know what it is, what caused the thunder. They also do not have the scientific mind and gadgets to know what it is. So they created the idea of an entity or being [god] that could explain thunder. This is also the same with the other phenomenas [rain, eclipse, earth quake].

Some modern humans still also believe in a god or gods because of this very same reason. Some people in this time still point to God or their god/s when they encounter things that they can't explain not knowing that science can already explain it. I know that there are some things that science cannot explain today. But I don't just find it reasonable to point a god/s to explain the unknown. Making god as the explanation to these things is a non-explanation kind of explanation. Science may not know some things today but it will be known in the future. Finding answers is a [long] process. I mean look at the phenomenas that were thought to have caused by god. Today, we can already explain the reasons behind it. And as the time pass by, the intellectual gap is getting smaller and smaller because of the findings of science.

The next reason is the emotional necessity. At some point or time in life, we encounter a crucial event or a turning point. This time in our life is the time wherein we are subject to some change [physical and emotional] because of the event. This crucial event changes the way we act, feel, and see things. It also changes our attitudes and behaviors toward things and life. This event could be a postive [marriage or graduation] or a negative [death of a close relative or your own coming death] one.

In a positive turning point, people tend to seek and thank a greater power or being that helped them achieve their dreams or helped them become a better person. Most people believe that the reason they succeed or the reason they changed to a better person is that some greater power helped them. As to the negative turning point [like death], people who encounter this also seek for a greater power or a divine power. They seek and need a greater power to hold on to. They need some power or maybe divine intervention or a miracle to help them accept and cope that negative turning point in their life. Who can give the people a greater power than a god/s. But the way I see it, the only being responsible for the positive turning point [like marriage] in one's life is the person who achieved/experienced it. And that is the same with the negative turning point. The only being that could help the person who suffered from a negative turning point [loss of a close relative or an accident] is just himself/herself. Who else could it be? Can the greater power that one seek can raise a dead person or heal an amputee? You know the answer.

These are the two main reasons why people believe in a god/s. There are also other possible reasons like some people were just forced because of authority or tradition or dogma. Other group/religion also have their own answers to the questions above. Now let me end this article/essay or what ever you call it with a question. Given that two reasons [emotional and intellectual necessity] I presented with my explanation, does man still need a god/s?

0 comments:

Post a Comment