The Big Questions (1)

التساؤلات
المهمة (1)

{English-إنجليزي}





By:


Laurence B. Brown. MD





Source:


http://www.thedeenshow.com











Islamic Propagation Office in Rabwah,
Riyad
المكتب التعاوني للدعوة وتوعية الجاليات بالربوة
بمدينة الرياض









{التساؤلات
المهمة}(1)


(إنجليزي)





لورانس بي براون ام دي





Source:


http://www.thedeenshow.com














[b]المكتب
التعاوني للدعوة وتوعية الجاليات بالربوة بمدينة الرياض


2009-1430






At some point in our lives, everybody
asks the big questions: "Who made us," and "Why are we here?"


So who did make us?
Atheists speak of the Big Bang and evolution, whereas all others speak of God.
Those who answer "I don't know" are atheist for all intents and purposes, not because
they deny God's existence, but because they fail to affirm it.


Now, the Big Bang may explain the
origin of the universe, but it doesn't explain the origin of the primordial
dust cloud. This dust cloud (which, according to the theory, drew together,
compacted and then exploded) had to come from somewhere. After all, it
contained enough matter to form not just our galaxy, but the billion other
galaxies in the known universe. So where did that come form? Who, or
what, created the primordial dust cloud?


Similarly, evolution may explain
the fossil record, but it falls far short of explaining the quintessential
essence of human life—the soul. We all have one. We feel its presence, we speak
of its existence and at times pray for its salvation. But only the religious
can explain where it came from. The theory of natural selection can explain
many of the material aspects of living things, but it fails to explain the
human soul.


Furthermore, anyone who studies
the complexities of life and the universe cannot help but witness the signature
of the Creator[b][b][1]Whether or not people recognize
these signs is another matter—as the old saying goes, denial isn't just a river
in Egypt.
(Get it? Denial, spelled "de Nile" … the river Ni … oh, never mind.) The point is that if we
see a painting, we know there is a painter. If we see a sculpture, we know
there's a sculptor; a pot, a potter. So when we view creation, shouldn't we
know there's a Creator?







To
this end, and leaving all of the author’s religious inclinations aside, I
heartily recommend reading “A Short History of
Nearly Everything”, by Bill Bryson.














The concept that the universe
exploded and then developed in balanced perfection through random events and
natural selection is little different from the proposal that, by dropping bombs
into a junkyard, sooner or later one of them will blow everything together into
a perfect Mercedes. In the color and trim of our hearts' desire, no less.


If there is one thing we know for
certain, it is that without a controlling influence, all systems degenerate
into chaos. The theories of the Big Bang and evolution propose the exact
opposite, however—that chaos fostered perfection. Would it not be more
reasonable to conclude that the Big Bang and evolution were controlled events?
Controlled, that is, by the Creator?


The Arabs tell the tale of a nomad
finding an exquisite palace at an oasis in the middle of an otherwise barren
desert. When he asks how it was built, the owner tells him it was formed by the
forces of nature. The wind shaped the rocks and blew them to the edge of this
oasis, and then tumbled them together into the shape of the palace. Then it
blew strands of sheep's wool together into rugs and tapestries, stray wood
together into furniture, doors, windowsills and trim, and positioned them in
the palace at just the right locations. Lightning strikes melted sand into
sheets of glass and blasted them into the window-frames, and smelted black sand
into steel and shaped it into the fence and gate with perfect alignment and
symmetry. The process took billions of years and only happened at this one
place on earth—purely through coincidence.


When we finish rolling our eyes,
we get the point. Obviously, the palace was built by design, not by
happenstance. To what (or more to the point, to Whom), then, should we
attribute the origin of items of infinitely greater complexity, such as our
universe and our lives?

Another classic argument for atheism focuses
upon what people perceive to be the imperfections of creation. These are the "How can there be a God if such-and-such
happened?" arguments. The issue under discussion could be anything
from a natural disaster to birth defects, from






genocide to grandmother's cancer.
That's not the point. The point is that denying God based upon what we perceive
to be injustices of life presumes that a divine being would not have designed
our lives to be anything other than perfect, and would have established justice
on Earth.


Hmm … is there no other option?


We can just as easily propose that
God did not design life on Earth to be paradise, but rather a test, the
punishment or rewards of which are to be had in the next life, which is where
God establishes his ultimate justice. In support of this concept we can well
ask who suffered more injustices in their worldly lives than God's favorites,
which is to say the prophets? And who do we expect to occupy the highest
stations in paradise, if not those who maintain true faith in the face of
worldly adversity?


I would hope that, by this line of
reasoning, we can agree upon the answer to the first "big
question." Who
made us? Can we agree that if we are creation, God is the Creator?


If we can't agree on this point,
there probably isn't much point in continuing. However, for those who do agree,
let's move on to "big question" number two—why are we here? What, in other words, is the
purpose of life?


(To be
continued)


Copyright 2007 Laurence B. Brown.


The author can be contacted at BrownL38@yahoo.com. He is the author of “The First and
Final Commandment”
(Amana
Publications) and “Bearing True Witness”(Dar-us-Salam). Forthcoming books are a historical
thriller, “The
Eighth Scroll”,
and a second edition of “The First and Final Commandment”, rewritten and divided into “MisGod'ed” and its sequel, “God'ed”.

The Big Questions (1)

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The Big Questions (1)

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