7th March 2023
I hope this article may serve as a concise argument for believing in God.
I do not seek to discuss whether or not God factually exists as I consider it irrelevant. There are many things which don't really exist that humans act as-if they do (money, the concept of ownership, the 7-day week). However you may still choose to act as if these things exist, which does, equal belief.
Unless you are luckier than most, you will at-times experience dissatisfaction with your life or disillusionment with the world around you.
God in this context can act as a beacon of hope, by representing something better and bigger than us fallible humans. Something pure and incorruptible. And indestructible.
If you can believe in a perfect God, perhaps it will allow you to hold yourself to a higher standard than the corrupt and nihilistic world around you.
In life you will inevitably experience conflict with others at some point.
If we refine the concept down to it's essence, we can model conflict as a disagreement between two individuals.
In this conflict, how can one know who is right and wrong? If you do not believe in any concept of objective judgement, then right and wrong is merely a matter of perspective. From your perspective you are right and the other is wrong. From their perspective, they are right and you are wrong.
One cannot rely on rules or laws to decide right and wrong. Firstly because there cannot be a law for every conceivable situation, and more importantly because judge and jury are making human decisions based on incomplete information.
But if one can imagine that there exists an impartial, incorruptible judge who looks over all things, then one can believe in a truly objective judgement. And this allows one to have a true moral compass based on objective truth.
Of-course one cannot claim to know what judgement God would make in a given situation. But one can strive to find the truth by seeking God.
Without a God, conflict is just mutually-destructive squabbling for selfish gain. This sort of conflict only ends when one defeats the other.
But if we believe in a God, who fairly judges all, then we can model conflict as a disagreement over right and wrong. And because right and wrong is objective, that means that we and our enemy can mutually resolve our issues by becoming wiser and gaining a better understanding of God.
As humans we spend most of our lifes toiling away to build things and effect order on our environments. From the basic like tidying one's home and stocking one's fridge, to the mighty, like constructing a bridge or programming a computer.
To what end is this toil? What is the result? Who are we doing it for?
Are we doing it for ourself? I don't think so. I think one would have to be very narcissistic to believe oneself worthy of a life-time of toil.
Do we do it for our family? Perhaps, but then it would seem all rather pointless and cyclic as our children will then be doomed to toil away for their entire lifes also just to support their children.
Do your toil instead for God. If you believe in a God who is perfect and infinite then he is worthy of any amount of toil you can do for him.
Then you may know that your life is worth-while and every-day is spend serving a higher purpose.