15 Mar Free Miracle #5: Transcendence Comes From Consciousness
Blog Series
Why Believe in God? ~ If You Reject God, You’ve Only Done Half the Job.
In this blog post, we come to our fifth and final free miracle that modern science asks for: transcendence came from consciousness.
If this is the first blog post in this series that you are reading, I encourage you to go back and read the previous posts, which set the context for this final post.
Very briefly, there are five realities of existence that modern science has no explanation for:
- How something came from nothing.
- How order came from chaos.
- How life came from non-life.
- How consciousness came from non-consciousness.
- How transcendence came from consciousness.
So, they ask for 5 free miracles, and they will explain everything else. They have asked us to give them Free Miracle #1, that something came from nothing, Free Miracle #2, that order came from chaos, Free Miracle #3, that life came from non-life, Free Miracle #4, that consciousness came from life, and finally, they ask us for the Free Miracle #5, that transcendence came from consciousness.
Animals do not think about things that transcend their physical life
The issue of the 5th free miracle modern scientists want is that, while animals have life and consciousness, they do not have transcendence, as humans do. That is, animals do not think about things that transcend their physical life. So modern science wants the freedom to not have to explain why animals do not have transcendence, but humans do.
As I said concerning this issue in the post referenced above, the 2nd post in this series:
“Animals are conscious. Animals have intellect, emotions, and will. They think, they feel, and they choose. But it is all in a box of stimulus and response. Animals do not ponder life and death. They do not wonder who they are, why they are here and where they are going. They have no concept of God or the possibly of an afterlife. They function within the world of food, reproduction, and direct responses to other stimuli in their environment.
Humans, on the other hand, transcend the life of animals. We do wonder about the purpose of life. We do wonder if there is a God and an afterlife. We do wonder who we are, why we are here, where we are going. We also have a concept of beauty and we have a moral code… things are inherently right and wrong to us.
Humans are above the animals. Modern science has no explanation for why or how. That’s the fifth free miracle they ask us to give them.”
Dogs or monkeys or elephants are not self-aware, self-conscious or self-observing. They do not ponder the meaning of life. They do not hunger for purpose. They do not wonder who they are, where they came from, why they are here or where they are going.
Humans do, however. We ponder all those things and more: we have a concept of beauty, a concept of right and wrong, a concept of the supernatural and an insatiable bent to worship.
Humans think about things that transcend their physical life
- We have a concept of beauty
Concerning beauty, when we look at things that are beautiful, such as the starry skies at night in the desert, or the majesty of towering mountains, or the beauty of the seacoast with the ocean stretching to the horizon, (1) we take great joy in beauty, and (2) something wells up within us that there must be a God.
Or, when someone does something that saves us from death or calamity, or showers us with public accolades, or continues to love us in spite of our offenses… gratitude and appreciation well up within us.
Is there no God in such a world? Is our appreciation for beauty and affirmation and love simply biological hardwiring passed down to us because somehow those traits helped our ancestors survive, as evolutionists suggest, without explaining how those ancestors first began thinking transcendent thoughts? Or are those capacities indications of our having been created by God with those capacities?
- We have a concept of right and wrong
Concerning morality, why do humans have an inherent concept of right and wrong? Animals don’t. Why do we feel guilty when we do wrong? Why do all civilizations of all times and all places believe that certain things are wrong and other things right?
The remotest tribes on earth, cut off from the rest of civilization, observe a moral code similar to everyone else’s. Evolution has no compelling explanation. The Bible, on the other hand, tells us that the moral law is written on our hearts and comes from a law-giver – that is, God (Romans 2:14-15).
Dostoyevsky, in his book, Brothers Karamazov, wrote, “If God does not exist, then everything is permitted.” One person may think it is wrong to steal and murder. Another thinks it is alright. Who determines? If one human says something is wrong and another says it is right, they are both humans. They cancel each other out.
But if you bring in God as a higher authority, you can appeal to Him for right and wrong.
There is no convincing evidence that a moral code helped us evolve from lower life forms. There is no compelling explanation for a universal moral code among humans other than it was “written on our hearts” by our creator God.
- We are hardwired to worship a being higher than ourselves
There has never been a civilization that did not worship a higher being. Why is that?
Psychologists assert that there is a place in the brain that produces worship, hinting that worship is prompted by neurological predisposition rather than the existence of the supernatural. The worship location in the brain is larger among worshipers than non-worshipers.
However, this position has two serious problems. First, it does not explain how that neurological capacity got there in the first place. Evolution does not explain it. Second that observation does not indicate if the neurological capacity is the cause or the effect of worship.
If worshipers have larger parts of their brain where “worship” is located, it could also be that that part of the brain is more fully developed because people worship, rather than it’s being the cause of worship.
Conclusion
If someone does not believe in God, it is not because scientific evidence demands it. Nor is it because reason and logic demand it. Science, reason, and logic suggest that there is a God, as we have been seeing in this series.
Certainly, there are reasonable struggles people might have with God, such as how could a good God allow such pain and suffering in the world, or other issues. Yet, when one comes at the subject of God from the other end of things…from the perspective of accounting for the existence of the universe, its apparent design, the existence of life and consciousness, and the uniqueness of humanity, it is impossible to escape the evidence that God exists.
Take comfort if you believe in God. You are not standing on thin ice. You are standing on a spiritual Rock of Gibraltar. You do not have to give modern science any free miracles. Be at peace.
Next week, we will look at additional subjects that help us get comfortable with God’s existence and the reasonableness of the world He has created. See you then.
In case you’re new here
This blog post is part of a series titled “Why Believe in God? If You Reject God, You’ve Only Done Half the Job.”, introduced on January 5, 2022. As the series continues, each succeeding post will be added to and available in the blog archives at www.maxanders.com.
If you know anyone who you think might enjoy joining us in this study, please forward this blog to them and encourage them to go to my web site (www.maxanders.com) and sign up for the free video, “Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You”, available there on the home page. This will put them on my regular mailing list and they’ll receive my weekly blogs on this subject.
I look forward to going through this faith-affirming journey with you.
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