Mind Games -- "Time Travel"

I know what you're thinking -- What does time travel have to do with the question of God's existence?

Remember that one of my assumptions in exploring the concept of God is that the only place to find this answer is in understanding the reality that makes up our Universe. Therefore any subject which tries to dissect how our Reality works, and how we interact with it is fair game for discussion.

In the course of this exploration we'll be looking at a lot of different concepts about our Reality, including Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and the nature of matter and energy.

Time travel is about as far out as you can get, but I came across an interesting thought recently during my research which I thought would be fun to share with you. We don't have to be serious all the time, do we?

In his Theory of Special Relativity, Einstein postulates that it is possible to travel forward in time, but it is not possible to travel back in time.

If you stop to think about this, it reveals a very interesting characteristic of our Universe. According to Einstein, time is relative, but only in the forward direction.

I was watching a documentary yesterday about time travel and one idea in particular caught my fancy.

Basically, it goes like this: as computers become faster and more powerful, eventually we will have computers capable of creating an exact replica of our world. This virtual world would contain every single element that our actual world contains.

From examining this replica of our world, the computer would be able to project backwards to any point in the past. How would it do this? By utilizing the law of cause and effect, the computer would simply be identifying the cause (the past) by understand the effect (the present).

Make sense so far? But that isn't the tricky part.

This computerized replica of the world, or virtual world, would be so perfect in every respect that the elements that made up this virtual world would not even be aware that they inhabited a virtual world rather than the real one.

In other words, the people who populated this virtual past would be unaware that it is not real. They would be conscious entities inhabiting what is to them a completely real and valid universe.

Assuming this does these virtual worlds become possible in the future, it is reasonable to assume that there will be more individuals inhabiting those worlds than the real one -- since one can assume there would be multiple computers creating multiple worlds, each with populations equal to the real one.

Therefore, based on this fact, there is a greater likelihood that you exist in one of those virtual worlds than that you exist in the real one.

How would you know?

(Of course my parents have been telling me I'm living in a fantasy world for most of my life anyway...)

--Eric

Question: The Cost of Being Christian

There is one argument for belief in God that I have heard more than any other.

Basically, it goes like this: If God does exist and you choose not to believe in Him, you are screwed after you die and will be spending eternity in the torment of Hell.

If you choose not to believe in God and are wrong, you pay for your mistake by spending eternity being tormented in Hell. But if you choose to believe and are wrong, you haven't really lost anything. So why take the chance? You might as well hedge your bets by believing -- just in case.

Well, on the surface this seems like a valid argument. After all, it's kind of like buying insurance -- "just in case."

But is it really true that being a Christian is a "win/win" situation? Does believing in God really cost you nothing if you end up being wrong?

Let's take a closer look at this proposition. If you buy insurance and never use it, you have only lost whatever investment acquiring the insurance required. We can apply the same idea to the choice to believe in God. If you come to the end of your life and discover your belief was misplaced, what has it actually cost you?

Growing up as a Christian for the first twenty years of my life, I think I can fairly accurately estimate the cost of being a believer.

First let's look at your investment of time:

• Attending Weekly Worship = approx. 5 hrs/week
• Additional Bible Study = approx. 3 hrs/week
• Personal Devotion (reading bible, studying religious material, etc..) = 1 hr/day or 7hrs/week
• Time Spent in Prayer ("Speaking to God") = 15 mins/day or 1.75 hrs/week
• Additional Time Spent Discussing or Thinking about God = 1 hr/week

This results in a total of 17.75 hrs/week devoted to your religious belief.

At the end of the year, you will have spent 923 hours of your time, or approximately 38.5 days involved in thinking about, talking to, or learning about God.

Assuming that you have a lifespan of 80 years, and allowing that you don't begin to devote yourself seriously to your faith until you are 20 years old, by the time you die you will have given over 6 years of your life devoted to your religious belief.

So in response to the argument that you might as well believe because at least there's nothing to lose if you're wrong, is, in my opinion, definitely faulty.

Based on these figures, if at the very end you find that there is no God after all, you will have wasted over six years of your life on that mistaken assumption. You would be better of if you took up smoking, as it costs you fewer years and less money -- and at least you'd look cool.

But time is not the only thing you give up in pursuit of religious beliefs. The Bible explicitly instructs Christians to give 10% of their income back to the church.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average yearly income for a family in America is around $42,000/year. Ten percent of that is $4,200 per year.

Again assuming you begin your devotion at age twenty, and live until the ripe old age of 80, that adds up to $252,000 over the course of your lifetime.

So, have you lost anything if you choose to believe, only to find out you are wrong in the end? I would consider 6 years of my life and $252,000 a pretty steep price.

And of course this doesn't include the doubt, fear, and emotional strain that many believers experience over the course of their lives. Nor does it include the lives that are lost because of wars and other violence inflicted for religious reasons.

So in response to the initial question I posed at the beginning of this post, my answer would be that mistaken belief in God is a very, very expensive choice. You'd better investigate thorough before buying that insurance.

--Eric

Question: The Natural vs. The Supernatural

I find it ironic that although God is supposed to be responsible for the creation of everything around us -- this entire natural world, any evidence of His intervention in our lives is referred to as "supernatural."

According to the Bible, we were created in His image, and the world and universe surrounding us was birthed from within His mind. It seems to me that if this was indeed the case, His interaction with that world should be the most "natural" thing imaginable.

The fact that we refer to His presence in our world as "unnatural" -- or "supernatural" -- is an interesting indication that we know, on a deep and instinctual level, that God does not belong in our reality -- otherwise why would we perceive His intervention as something contrary to the way the natural world is supposed to act?

If there is a God, we should expect to see miracles, divine intervention and holy signs. It should be an inherent characteristic of our reality. But it isn't. Even believers respond to miraculous intervention as something "out of the ordinary," contrary to normal reality, and not part of the expected definition of our Universe.

--Eric

Assumptions -- or Making an Ass out of ... Me?

This blog is a product of my own mind, and therefore is indelibly linked to a set of assumptions based on my own knowledge, background and experience.

In order for you to understand the thoughts I express, you must also be aware of the foundation from which my ideas originate.

A note on assumptions: 1) We all have assumptions -- whether we are aware of them or not; 2) Assumptions can be wrong; and, 3) Assumptions create unintended limitations on our ability to formulate ideas.

This truth about assumptions cannot be denied. We are all limited by the assumptions we make before we even attempt to draw conclusions about the world around us.

It is partly this issue which I am trying to combat by starting this blog and inviting others to participate in its discussion.

Although we cannot completely overcome the limitations our assumptions create, we can at least try to be aware of them and be open to adjusting them as we gather additional information.

So, here is a short list of my own assumptions:

1. My background is the Judea-Christian view of the world. Although I have tried to spend time learning and understanding other belief systems, I cannot escape the fact that I was brought up within the Christian faith and my first reaction is to use that background as a basis for my current thinking. This doesn't mean that I am adverse to considering opinions based on another belief system, but it does, to some extent, limit my ability to consider ideas that might come from someone with a different background.
   
   
2. Logical Positivism. There was a movement in the early 1930's called Logical Positivism, or "logical empiricism". The basic position of this philosophy was that there was no point in discussing something unless you could measure, weigh or define that something.
   
   This should be the standard for discussion on this blog. Whatever is discussed, it should be something which is provable, repeatable -- and most importantly, can be shared by others.
   
   This does not mean that assertions must be physically verifiable. Logical arguments do not necessarily pertain to anything which can be physically measured, weighed or defined, but the elements of a logical argument are by definition the expression of universal truths. Most importantly, logical arguments can be related to others and be understood despite the fact that we each come from different backgrounds and unique experience. An example of this would be Decartes' statement of "I think, therefore I am." Although the basis for his logical argument is intangible ("thought"), it is based on a shared experience and undisputed truth -- that we all think.
   
   
3. God is Reality. I believe that the answer to the question of God's existence can be found by examining our own Reality. The basis for this belief is the self-evident truth that any creator must leave an impression of himself within his creation.
   
   Regardless of what the creation is -- whether that is a painting, a sculpture, building or the Universe itself -- there is always something uniquely individual about that creation which is a reflection of its creator.
   
   Therefore, if God is responsible for the creation of our Universe, it is undeniable that the revelation of his existence should be found there.
   
   Inversely, it is also true that if God cannot be found reflected in the world around us, that is proof of His non-existence.
   
   
4. I am not a trained physicist. Although I have done a great deal of research into many concepts regarding our physical world, I have not been formally educated in any of them. These are very complex concepts, so I may at times get something wrong.
   
   So, if I do, please correct me.... but be nice about it.
   

The Purpose of this Blog

The purpose of this blog is simple. I hope it will serve as a "scratch pad" for ideas I've had regarding the nature of the universe and how understanding that reality can illuminate the question of existence of God. Eventually, I plan to compile these ideas into logical form and eventually publish them as a book.

My hope is that I will receive feedback and thoughts from visitors to this blog, and this will help me to refine my ideas and see holes in my thought process that I might otherwise miss should I just let my thoughts ferment only in my own mind.

I encourage readers to post comments, suggestions or ideas of their own in order to facilitate discussion on these concepts.

But No Rants Please!

Although I am looking for differing points of view, and am open to having holes poked in my ideas and theories, I am not interested in rants. If you are only interested in telling me how I am going to hell for questioning the existence of God, please don't bother. However, if you have something intelligent to add -- regardless of whether it supports or refutes something I've said -- please feel free to voice your opinion.

Later on I hope to attach a discussion forum to this blog so that it will be easier for readers to share their ideas and be involved in discussions.

If you would like to know a little bit about me, where I come from and why I am creating this blog, please read my profile where I give a little history of my background.

For myself, I see this blog shaping into two separate types of posts. First, I will be posting questions that I am asking myself in exploring these topics, and see what kind of thoughts others have on these subjects. These questions may simply be a straightforward statement of a thought or query, or it may include a short discussion representing my own thoughts regarding the question.

Secondly, I will be including short essays exploring different concepts in a more complete format. These essays will likely represent the first drafts of chapters that I plan to include in the future book I'm working on.

I have written a paper on this subject and initially I will likely draw from that earlier work, but my hope is that, through help from you my constant readers (to take a page from Stephen King), I'll be able to expand on those ideas and moving in totally new directions as well.

So thanks for stopping by and I look forward to hearing from each of you!

--Eric

My Story: Who Am I & What is my purpose in life?

Hi, my name is Eric and I am 32 years old. I grew up in a small town in New England but moved to California when I was 19. I currently live in the mountains of Southern California with two adorable puppies.

I was brought up in a fairly religious and conservative home. My father was a pastor in the Quaker Church for much of my childhood, and faith in God has always been a foundational element in my family life.

I have always questioned my faith. At age 12 I was punished by my Sunday school teacher for questioning the truth of the Bible (I had to sit in the car while everyone else enjoyed the church picnic). According to my teacher, my outspokenness was detrimental to the faith of my fellow students, and so, after speaking with my parents, I was moved to the adult class where my questions would be less damaging.

Throughout my twenties I continued to struggle with these same doubts and questions. It was for this reason that I chose Philosophy as my major in college.

Then, in my mid-twenties, three important changes took place that have been influential in the development of my thinking on the existence of God.

The first shift in my thinking, and what I believe was the start of my true journey into the exploration of this subject, was that I finally managed to stop feeling guilty for my doubts. For a long time I had been plagued by the feeling that I was a disappointment to my family, while at the same time being angry that I could not as easily accept the truths that everyone else seemed to consider self-evident.

I was also torn between an almost desperate need to have my thoughts validated by those around me -- the most important people in my life: my family; but I also feared being responsible for causing others to doubt their own faith. I love my family and, although I desired their validatation, I also did not want them to experience the same internal struggle that I was going through. I felt guilty every time I let my passion get too hot which inevitably resulted in conflict.

I resolved to stop discussing the subject with my family, and I believe that helped me to release the guilt I had always felt in regard to my contrary thoughts and feelings.

As I continued to consider the question of God's existence or absence, I became convinced that the answer could be found by understanding the nature of reality itself. If God had truly created both Heaven and Earth, I felt it would be impossible for Him not to leave an impression of Himself in His creation. Therefore if He did exist, evidence of that existence would be woven into the very definition of the universe.

At first this only led to further confusion and frustration, and this caused a dramatic shift in my approach to the problem. For the first time I began looking for evidence of God's absence, rather than evidence of His existence.

Let me explain. During most of my life, as I struggled with these questions, my goal had always been to prove that God did exist. The idea that there was no God was such a scary concept that unconsciously the goal of my thinking had always been to find proof of God. Now however I was able to switch my thinking and instead start with the premise that He did not exist and evaluate the evidence in that light.

Up until this point I had still considered myself a Christian struggling with his faith, but now I had to admit that I could no longer claim that affiliation. I was now an agnostic.

I reevaluated all of my previous thinking under this new view of the issue. And to my surprise, I discovered that the world around me suddenly made a great deal more sense than it had before. It was as if I had been trying to place a square peg into a round hole, and now I had picked up a round peg and was startled to find how much easier it fit.

But this feeling was still very intangible, and so, being a writer, I decided to attempt to articulate my thoughts on paper. I've been working on this thesis (off and on) for most of the last two years.

And it is from that paper that the idea for this blog was born.

As I attempted to articulate my thoughts in written form, I found the biggest obstacle to the project was my own isolation. I needed feedback from others to help me see the faults in my arguments and refine my ideas that were still too ethereal and undefined as yet.

But I could not turn to my family for this feedback, which left me without another source. Thus the creation of this blog.

I have many thoughts and ideas, but they need to be refined and expanded. To help me with that I need outside input -- other brains to help me look at things from different perspectives and views.

So that is the hope I have for this blog: To find other inquiring "souls" (no pun intended) who are willing to explore these concepts with me without defensiveness or anger.

I know the question that believers who visit this blog will be asking themselves is: Am I open to the idea that during the process of this exploration I will change my mind about God's existence and become a believer myself?

Certainly. In fact, I am hoping that contrary arguments will be brought up by others which force me to think deeper and explore ideas I hadn't considered.

So there it is. I hope that if you are reading this, you will explore this blog and participate in discussions of one of the most important questions mankind has ever considered.

Good luck and (dare I say it?) God Bless!

--Eric