So you want to prove God exists huh?

I won’t lie, this isn’t what I wanted to write about. I wanted to write a story today about a man on his deathbed, and while he lay there hopeless with tubes coming out of every part of him he wanted to be remembered. So he would begin telling people about his life and the nurses and doctors and visitors to the hospital would be fascinated by his stories. It would be the new Forrest Gump, where a man sat narrating his own life and watching as it captivated his audience. In my mind it was surely going to be the one piece of writing I had that would make me famous.

And then I began it. The story started and I got three sentences in, and I scratched it. I took my mouse, highlighted it, and pressed delete, and it was gone into thin air. And I began to think again, and started another story. This one began as a micro fiction. It was going to be sinister and leave the audience wanting more as it saw a man prepare to murder another. It would be quick, concise, and aesthetically pleasing to the thrill seekers, but insightful enough for the thinkers.

But it was going nowhere, and it soon followed the first story’s lead. In a moment the screen was once again blank. And then I decided I would try to be controversial yet again, because it seems to be my calling card. People read my writing because it makes you think, makes you question your own beliefs and character. So I chose the topic of sex, but it didn’t have substance so much as controversy. It was simply a line followed by fluff. Sex is desire to be in control, not so much for the pleasure of the body but for the pleasure of getting what you want. And that is where that ended.

And I began to get frustrated, and wanting to know I had something special. I could write, I knew it was my gift, except I wondered if it was simply a gift I couldn’t quite realize. It’s always been my dream to write something that inspires people, something that changes what people think and make them want to be more complete. But I didn’t want it to always be some short whim that followed no rhyme or reason. I wanted a novel that was like The Catcher in the Rye, timeless and superior to the rest. But it never came. It always began and ended with a simple press of one button…delete.

But then it hit me. What is inspiration? Is it something you find or something that finds you? Except something was missing, something universal, and I knew then as I know now that it was something I tried to avoid.

It’s often said that when you’re talking to people there are two subjects you never bring up…politics and God. And it’s with good reason because those are the two subjects that nobody in this world agrees on. Except I’ve broken that policy already. I write about politics. I talk about what I don’t like about our government, and I write about ideas that are in reality are impossible but still are fascinating. And I like to do it because it provides the controversy I crave. Everybody has their own opinion and the more it conflicts with what other people believe, the more I crave to know more. It’s human nature to want to know why you exist, and even more so to investigate the things you don’t want to agree with.

But I’ve never written about God. In fact I purposely try to avoid it, because to be honest I don’t know what I would ever write, or more importantly how people would take it. And that is going to change now, because it is time I approached the subject.

Who is God? Is there one God or many gods or even a God at all? Is religion simply as Marx wrote “the crutch of the oppressed” or is it something real or living? The subject has always been something I’ve questioned, and I’ll admit it fascinates me how much people vary on the subject yet at the same time believe with a passion that is unequaled by any other topic. It doesn’t matter if you’re atheist or not, you believe you are right on the subject and it takes something monumental to shake that faith.

Many of you know I grew up in a Christian home. I went to church and followed like a sheep because that is what I was taught was right. And then I grew up and I rebelled like everyone does to some degree and my faith went to the wayside as I decided it was time for me to prove to myself that what I believed was right. I began to study the subject, and I became fascinated with the eastern religion and atheism. I was fascinated because it was foreign to me. It was like a new toy that piqued my attention. But with time my fascination turned into hardened beliefs.

I once took a philosophy class, and it was the most amazing class I ever took. It was a class where intelligence wasn’t measured by what you did know, but how you questioned what you didn’t. And one day the teacher came to the subject of God. He provided a simple argument for God, not a religion, but rather simply an existence. It was so simple that I didn’t want to believe it at the time, but now much like how a lobbyist spins the facts in Washington, you can explain the existence of God in four words. Prove he doesn’t exist.

Think about it, the reality of that one sentence and how fail proof it really is. You don’t need to prove God exists, I can look at a tree moving in the wind and say, “That is God.” And you can’t prove that isn’t true. It’s like in the film Thank You for Smoking when the main character is a lobbyist in Washington and he has to spin the truth on cigarettes. There is one scene that explains the entire scope of what the movie is trying to accomplish. It isn’t a movie that tells you to smoke or not to smoke. It’s about an idea so much bigger than that. It’s a scene that indirectly explains why God has to exist.

The scene opens up with the lobbyist, Nick Naylor talking to his son about his job, and he decides to use ice cream as an example. Here is the dialogue that follows.

Joey: So, what happens when you're wrong?.
Nick: Well,Joey, I'm never wrong.
Joey: But you can't always be right.
Nick: Well, if it's your job to be right, then you're never wrong.
Joey: But what if you are wrong?.
Nick: Okay, let's say that you're defending chocolate and I'm defending vanilla. Now, if l were to say to you "Vanilla's the best flavor ice cream," you'd say...?.
Joey: "No, chocolate is."
Nick: Exactly. But you can't win that argument. So, I'll ask you. So you think chocolate is the end-all and be-all of ice cream, do you?.
Joey: It's the best ice cream; I wouldn't order any other.
Nick: Oh. So it's all chocolate for you, is it?.
Joey: Yes, chocolate is all I need.
Nick: Well, I need more than chocolate. And for that matter, I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom and choice when it comes to our ice cream, and that,Joey Naylor,that is the definition of liberty.
Joey: But that's not what we're talking about.
Nick: Ah, but that's what I'm talking about.
Joey: But... you didn't prove that vanilla's the best.
Nick: I didn't have to. I proved that you're wrong and if you're wrong, I'm right.
Joey: But you still didn't convince me.
Nick: Because I'm not after you. I'm after them.


It was so simple yet so captivating and it hit me hard, even as the movie progressed. It’s not simply enough to say God doesn’t exist while defending the theory with science or history or the hypocrisy of religion. You have to prove that I’m wrong because if you can’t prove that God isn’t that tree moving in the wind, then I’m right. It seems too simple to be truth but Ockham’s Razor supports it. William of Ockham, a logician in the fourteenth century, introduced the philosophy. It states “Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate” which translates to “entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.”

It means that you have two ideas that are similar except one explains it more complexly, such as Christianity and Islam. They both explain the essence of a supernatural being, and both even originate from the same ideas but differ farther down the line. Ockham’s Razor reasons that the simplest is probably closest to the truth. Take the idea of death. One person states that death is most commonly associated by old age, and another states that death is associated with old age and alien invasions. You can’t accept the second theory without accepting the existence of aliens, meaning there is much more you have to accept. You have to not only believe that alien abductions occur but that aliens exist and have reason to abduct humans. Ockham’s Razor says that the first one is where you’d begin, but it doesn’t say that the second is wrong. It simply puts theories into priority. First you must prove old age causes death, which would prove the first theory but not the second. Then after you decided old age caused death you begin to research aliens.

But what does any of this have to do with God? I know most of you are probably thinking that it doesn’t prove God’s existence but let me show you how the two coincide. I say God exists, and you say God doesn’t exist. You begin to defend your theory stating how God can’t exist because science has proved his inexistence. You then begin to state examples that science has proved. And then I say God is that tree, and that is all I need to say because it alone can stand by itself. But you argue that there is no God in that tree, that God can’t be in that tree because it’s biological and made of wood. It’s not proof God exists but rather that the tree is real. And I say back God left that tree, he’s in the one next to it. And through Ockham’s Razor I have proved existence. I did prove that you couldn’t disprove it, and because you can’t disprove me I am right and you are not.

But how does that prove that you are wrong, that God doesn’t exist? How is disproving atheism proving God’s existence? It’s very simple. It’s like saying the wind exists. Is it possible to prove that there is such a thing as wind that the wind is what we feel brushing against our skin? Simply put, by itself no. You can see the effects of wind much like you can see the effects of a God, but you can’t see the source. But wind does exist, any sane person knows that wind exists, but in essence it is the same as God. You can’t prove wind exists, but you also can’t prove wind doesn’t exist, and because of that wind must exist.

And now I’ve met the tricky part because now that it is impossible for God to not exist, how do I know why God exists. In and of itself, belief in a God does not make it powerful. I can say God is in that tree, but that doesn’t mean God matters or even has any control over my actions. It simply says I have found God. The existence of God doesn’t prove any religion to be true whether it be Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other religion.

This is where logic ends because it comes down to belief. All religion exists for one universal purpose, to prove why our own existence is of any significance. And that is determined in many different ways. Christianity says we are created to worship our God and to convert others to follow that worship. In essence it creates a God who is selfish and egocentric, yet also makes God appear to be kind and loving because God favors those who love him.

In Hinduism God is known as Brahman. Brahman is nirvana, it is the ultimate goal of every Hindu to reach nirvana, and it says that Brahman is in everyone and everything from the smallest beetle to a book to people. Brahman is said to want to be reunited with itself, that once you reach nirvana you don’t necessarily reach a place but rather a oneness. It is a religion based on how people treat each other and how people treat things that they see in the world like insects. Castes determine how close you are to nirvana, and there is no way to move up in the caste in this life, but the good karma you accumulate determines which caste you will be in a future life. In essence Hinduism says we exist because we crave to be reunited with Brahman.

Islam is often perceived as something it is not. Islam is peaceful but just like all other religions extremists pervert the belief. It is a religion based on five universal pillars, and is much like Christianity in its attempt to convert followers. And just like Christianity this order by its God often leads to violence. Christians call it the Great Commission, that God said to go and make followers of men. Christianity states that God loves the person and hates the sin, and Islam by itself says the exact same thing in simpler terms. Christians in the US look at Islam and wonder how people can so willingly kill others [which represents a small majority]. Except its because we don’t understand Islam. Islam believes the body is temporary and causes the sin, and that the soul is what matters. It says that this body traps the soul, and if you kill the body it doesn’t matter because the soul lives on. Remarkably that sounds extremely close to the mantra the church promoted during The Crusades.

These all answer many questions. First it says why God matters. God matters because he is more powerful than us. Second it says why God is more powerful. It is because we give him that power by believing in a God. Third it says no religion is a true representation of God. That’s because they all have very obvious flaws, and because we all give an entity known as God power to be a perfect being that we strive to be like, then it also says that the flaws can’t represent God.

So you ask me what was the point of this, if all I did was prove that there was a God but it’s not religion, that no religion is God. Simply put it is what the novel Life of Pi said. God isn’t defined by no one religion, that it isn’t possible if what we believe of God to be true. God can’t be contained because that would prove a flaw, and thus you must choose what is your God and what he possesses. God is simply inspiration; it is what we believe to be right in the world. And because we must believe there is a God, we must believe that he can be anything, whether it is writing or sports or religion. But just like the wind, that is simply a manifestation of God, it isn’t God.

What is the point? I honestly don’t know, but I do know that there is a God, and because there is a God I will strive to find what it is that pleases him. Even if it doesn’t fit in a religion, because it is about a relationship, it’s about things that you must believe to be true. If it isn’t, then it isn’t God. Simple as that.