The Existence of a Higher Power
I would like to prove through argument this universal truth: A Higher Power exists.
Notice at this point I am not discussing the existence of the God of the Bible who I believe in and am in a covenant relationship with through Jesus Christ but am merely starting with an argument to move someone toward belief in a Higher Power.
First, let me give you an example of a universal truth. An example would be that a particular woman is pregnant. A woman can't be partly pregnant or mildly pregnant. Either she is or isn't pregnant. Being pregnant or not is a universal truth that extends across continents and all generations of people since the creation of mankind. Our methods of determining pregnancy status and timing of conception have certainly grown more exact over the past few years but the universal truth of being pregnant or not has never changed. There doesn't seem to be a great debate about this truth but this is due to the fact that it is measurable.
The universal truth of God's existence hasn't changed either and this is evidenced first by the fact that all people of all times have sought out to worship a higher power (Erickson). Some would claim that man has sought out a higher power because of some genetic predisposition to do so or perhaps because of sociological or psychological factors.
Let's use the popularly accepted philosophical rule of Occam's Razor: "a scientific and philosophic rule that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily which is interpreted as requiring that the simplest of competing theories be preferred to the more complex or that explanations of unknown phenomena be sought first in terms of known quantities." (Merriam-Webster). So let's apply this rule to our question: "Why does man worship God?" Does man worship God because he is predisposed to seek out some higher power irrespective of His existence or because there is a higher power? According to this rule, man worships a higher power because a higher power exists. I would propose that any argument to the contrary would be in violation of Occam's Razor unless such an argument is able to present a simpler explanation for the worship of a higher power by man. Any such argument would most likely include within its body hypotheses about genetic, social, and psychological factors which all work in unison to encourage man to invent a nonexistent higher power whom he could worship but do not contribute any measurable evidence and unnecessarily multiply the factors considered.
Therefore, based on the historical, universally supported evidence of man's worship of a higher power one must conclude that a higher power exists. It must be an accepted universal truth then, that a higher power exists.
What do you think about this argument?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (Jn. 1:1-5)
First, let me give you an example of a universal truth. An example would be that a particular woman is pregnant. A woman can't be partly pregnant or mildly pregnant. Either she is or isn't pregnant. Being pregnant or not is a universal truth that extends across continents and all generations of people since the creation of mankind. Our methods of determining pregnancy status and timing of conception have certainly grown more exact over the past few years but the universal truth of being pregnant or not has never changed. There doesn't seem to be a great debate about this truth but this is due to the fact that it is measurable.
The universal truth of God's existence hasn't changed either and this is evidenced first by the fact that all people of all times have sought out to worship a higher power (Erickson). Some would claim that man has sought out a higher power because of some genetic predisposition to do so or perhaps because of sociological or psychological factors.
Let's use the popularly accepted philosophical rule of Occam's Razor: "a scientific and philosophic rule that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily which is interpreted as requiring that the simplest of competing theories be preferred to the more complex or that explanations of unknown phenomena be sought first in terms of known quantities." (Merriam-Webster). So let's apply this rule to our question: "Why does man worship God?" Does man worship God because he is predisposed to seek out some higher power irrespective of His existence or because there is a higher power? According to this rule, man worships a higher power because a higher power exists. I would propose that any argument to the contrary would be in violation of Occam's Razor unless such an argument is able to present a simpler explanation for the worship of a higher power by man. Any such argument would most likely include within its body hypotheses about genetic, social, and psychological factors which all work in unison to encourage man to invent a nonexistent higher power whom he could worship but do not contribute any measurable evidence and unnecessarily multiply the factors considered.
Therefore, based on the historical, universally supported evidence of man's worship of a higher power one must conclude that a higher power exists. It must be an accepted universal truth then, that a higher power exists.
What do you think about this argument?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (Jn. 1:1-5)
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