In this blog post, we will explore how the existence of God and human belief have changed with the development of science and society, and examine the major discussions that have arisen in the process.
Do you believe in religion? If so, do you believe in the existence of God? Throughout history, humans have believed in religion, which is deeply connected to human nature. The existence of God has changed over time and according to different doctrines, but humans have always believed in something unknown. In ancient times, people worshipped nature and believed in the sky as God, and even after the invention of writing and the development of human intelligence, God continued to exist.
From the various myths of ancient times to the modern three major religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, which are believed by countless people, there have been many different religions, and people have lived believing in even more gods. So, if you believe in religion, do you also believe in the existence of an invisible god? The search for the existence of God is as deep and complex as the history of faith itself. And the search for the existence of God has always been connected to science.
In the beginning, gods were natural phenomena such as lightning and fire. As time passed, religion evolved into a form that attributed personality to natural objects, and the gods that were born in this way were embodied in the form of mythology. However, with the development of science, it became possible to interpret natural phenomena, and no longer could any natural phenomenon be called a god.
With the advancement of science, the role of gods began to diminish. As humans gradually came to understand natural phenomena, they were able to replace the role of God with scientific explanations. This raised new questions about the existence of God. For example, why does a good God exist if humanity must suffer pain and misfortune? Such questions led to doubts about the attributes of God, particularly omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence.
The logic behind denying omnipotence is very simple. If God is omnipotent, then He must be able to create a rock that He cannot lift. However, if He can create such a rock, then He is no longer omnipotent. On the other hand, if He cannot create such a rock, then He is not omnipotent. This logic has become one of the most important ways of denying the existence of God.
Next, questions about goodness have been raised consistently since the Middle Ages. The question, “Why does a good God cause humanity to suffer from various infectious diseases?” has been discussed in the world of faith for a long time. However, these issues were dismissed as trials given by God to humans or as the result of the existence of evil.
Although these arguments were used as grounds for denying the existence of God, they still had limitations in completely disproving God’s existence. This led to the emergence of scientific logic. Darwin’s theory of evolution provided a foundation for science to replace God’s role, moving away from creationism. The most famous explanation in creationism is the watchmaker argument. Could a clock have been created “by chance” in nature? Most people would answer no. This is because a clock is a highly sophisticated product, and people tend to think that it could not have been created by chance. Therefore, the logic emerged that it is impossible for humans, who are even more sophisticated than clocks, to have been created by chance. However, the theory of evolution directly challenges this idea and presents a way to explain the existence of humans without the existence of God.
Furthermore, the birth of the universe has been explained by the Big Bang theory. The geocentric theory, which claimed that God created humans and the Earth at the center of the universe, was replaced by the heliocentric theory. The facts that were once used to prove the existence of God have lost their role as evidence with the advancement of science and have instead become grounds for denying the existence of God. Fish fossils found on mountains were once believed to be evidence of Noah’s Ark, but in modern times, they have become the basis for plate tectonics.
Amidst such developments, the means of proving the existence of God have gradually disappeared in modern times. Of course, there are still phenomena that cannot be explained by science. The countless phenomena and existences that are still unknown may be revealed by science in the future, or they may become evidence of the existence of God. However, humans still cannot see or feel God, nor can they predict existence itself. The certainty of God’s existence remains unclear, and therefore, until the moment we uncover the truth about God’s existence, we must continue to interpret and verify it through reason and science.
