Start Date: August 18, 2023

I was reading a politician’s modern statements of his Ten Commandments. The first one was

“God is real”

Of course you have to decide for yourself.

One way of addressing that question is known as Christian Apologetics. No, it isn’t an apology for Christianity. It refers to using statements of logic to support or defend belief in Christianity. Among them are the fact that the first witnesses to the empty tomb of Jesus were women. Women were not respected figures in either Jewish or Roman culture of the day.  If you wanted to make up a religion you would base the testimony on more credible figures.

To my way of thinking, I tend to feel the entire notion of proving God misses the point. It is supposed to be a faith. You make a choice, a decision, a gamble.  According to Pascal believing costs you nothing if you are wrong. Not believing costs you everything if you are wrong. But, still, it is an instinct. Some feel it more in the gut. Some of us think it more than we feel it and very much wish we could trade.  “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

But consider just one simple construct: 

“IN THE BEGINNING”

The Judeo-Christian book of Genesis begins with nothing but God.

VOID, then

The Heavens

The Earth, formless and empty

The Waters

Light

The Sky

Dry Land

Plants

The Sun and the Moon

Birds

Livestock, Fish

And then Man

It is important to note that as Christ is believed to be both fully human and fully divine, many Christians believe the Genesis Creation is both allegory and divine.

Now consider modern cosmology and paleontology and work back.

One to two millions years ago hominids appear, Man

150 million years, Birds

200 million years, the continents appear, Dry Land

530 million years, Fish

3.8 billion years ago gives us the oceans, The Waters

4.5 billion years take us to the birth of the solar system, The Sun and the Moon,  The Earth

Another 10 billion years or so to the beginning of the universe The Heavens

Before, No matter, no light, no energy.  No time?

VOID

Genesis is not a precisely accurate description and you will say it is man’s attempt to explain what he sees. All cultures have creation mythology.  This one seems to have some semblance of order.

So what happened?

The 20th century cosmological theory of “The Big Bang” says that a massive explosion created all of matter and the laws of physics. But that still leaves us with the same question

WHY?

Before something, be it Creation or The Big Bang, or that they could be the same, the universe does not exist.

So who rang the bell? Who started the clock running?

You may be able to explain all of the “What?”s. But then, “Why?”

Why quarks? Why are there four basic forces of nature, not three, or five? Why do like charges repel? Why does gravity attract?

The facts of physical laws of nature are choices. So who chose?

Most fundamentally, why and how does void, the absence of all matter and energy, will itself into existence?

The only way to articulate an answer is to give the “Why?” a name.

In the book of Exodus God tells the Hebrews in Egypt his name. It translates to “I AM”

I AM.

My first acquaintance with conjugating verbs would be from my cursory exposure to Spanish language classes in high school. Our first verb was “Hablar” meaning “to speak”, a logical beginning for a language class

We learned the 6 conjugates of the present tense form: 3 singular and 3 plural, in first, second, and third person.

Hablo Hablamos

Hablas Hablais

Habla Hablan

I speak We speak

You speak You (plural) speak

He/She speaks They speak

But even more basic is the verb “to be”

I AMWe are

You are You are

He/She is They are

The elements of language: nouns and verb, agent and action. Who? and What?

That is the essence of existence. However far back we go. Before anything else can happen or take action, something has “To Be”. Yahweh, the Hebrew word for God, comes from the verb “to be”

God’s introduction to the Hebrews, “I AM”, tells them that there was a beginning. The internet tells me that NASA says the universe is 13.7 billion years old. OK. That is the “When?”.

The prevailing Big Bang theory addresses “How?” the universe came to be.  It was first proposed in 1927 by a Belgian astronomer and Catholic priest teaching at the University of Leuven.

If you wish to probe the “Where?” question, that would seem to have two answers: “Before” there is nothing, ergo “Nowhere”. “After” there is all, and thus “Everywhere”.

No this is not simple

But however we work our way back to the beginning there has to be an entity, which must exist, an ”I AM” to motivate creation, in whatever form.  Whatever name you provide. Whether you can speak it or not. You are left with the necessity for an initial existence from which to bring forth all other existence.

So for me I will believe that we are because of the will of “I AM”