McCloskey on the Existence of God - Essay Example

Response paper McCloskey on the Existence of God McCloskey chooses to avoid the numerous factors that prove the existence of God and selects those that he believes prove that He does not exist in order to foster his own interests. Religion is a compound factor in the contemporary society. Theism and atheism are therefore large topical issues that different authors and researchers have studied. Just as the logic demands, everyone requires proof for his or her ideas. This corroborates McCloskey’s actions and decision to eliminate the existence of God despite the myriad proofs. He selects a topic and believes in the same thereby uses his own imaginary factors that helped convince him to try to convince others oblivious of the fact that he seeks to demean other people’s ethos. Among the fundamental truths and proofs that McCloskey avoids is the fact that billions of people throughout the world believe in the existence of a supernatural being. The sheer number of the multitude makes them right regardless of the foolhardy that McCloskey sees in such faiths. As his argument portrays, McCloskey seeks to convince more people to stop believing in God. Beliefs are innate features of humanity. To convince an individual to abolish such an intricate feature requires fundamental proofs. This compels McCloskey to collect a number of factors and present them as such thereby proving that he seeks to foster his own self-interest. The Cause of the Universe The cause of the universe is among the fundamental facets that corroborate the existence of God as a supernatural being for most theists. While science provides most theories that explain different phenomenal features of the earth and the source of life, it does not explain some intricate features thereby compelling people to believe in the existence of a source of life. Science provides an arbitrary earth in which everything simply occurred, in fact most of the theories that scientists foster are unrealistic. However, the reality of the development of the earth and life in it is a portrayal of an effective plan, as everything exists perfectly with the interrelation among the features contributing to the sustenance of life on earth. among such remarkable features as the food chain for example portrays a perfect example of an effective plan in which the population of organisms at the bottom of the chain must have higher population in order to sustain the successive organisms. Science offers a descriptive explanation into such vital factors but fails to provide the source and the reason for the effective planning which religion and the belief in God does. Cosmological Argument The cosmological argument is yet another vital feature that should often corroborate the existence of God. Beliefs are intricate features of humanity. Theism provides relation to every feature of the universe to the existence of God. While science continues to explain for the existence of different planets throughout the world, scientists often fail to explain the existence of such features. The placement of the earth is strategic in order to sustain life thus faith. The other planetary features thus contribute to the suitability of the earth to sustain life while humans use such to foster their curiosity through studies and researches, as has been the case. The plants therefore portray perfect planning, development and placement. Teleological Argument While McCloskey’s argument is not objective and seeks to invoke emotion especially from his theist readers, an objective reader would readily determine the non-reasonable theory he postulates in his standards of indisputability. As explains earlier, every feature of the earth and the universe including the life on earth portrays an effective planning that theists have often used to portray the existence of a transcendental order. The relationship between every feature of the universe is perfect. While scientists develop such theories as evolution and the concept of adaptation, religion offers a probable explanation that does not only attribute to the existence of the supernatural being but also seeks to create peaceful and cohesive society. The existence of the earth requires the peace in order for everyone to enjoy life. Among the fundamental and basic designs that portrays the existence of a designer is the development of the universe. The placement of the earth is strategic and contributes to its suitability to sustain life. The earth is neither hot nor cold thus it exists strategically between the sun and the extreme further parts of the universe. Such strategic placement is a perfect design that enables the planet to have liquid water thus sustaining life. Additionally, as scientists have proven the earth unlike other planets has appropriate magnetic force to hold everything in place. While science can establish the existence and the role of such forces, it fails to provide a designer who purposely makes earth unique thus sustain life. The failure by scientists to explain the source of the fundamental difference they observe between the other planets and the earth attributes to the existence of a supernatural designer who observes the features of the universe thus sustaining life on earth. Various features of the theory of evolution are not factual. The fact that man evolved from primates while different types of primates have also existed alongside humans on earth for billions of years without evolving into other unique beings is preposterous. However, believing that the theory is factual among the vital response to the proponents of the theory is to determine both the age of the earth and the source of the cell that began evolving. The diversity of life on earth portrays varied source of life. Different animals portray unique features a factor that disregards the explanation by evolutionists that life began from a single cell. Evolution cannot help determine the age of life on earth neither can it help predict the future of life on earth since the proponents of the theory cannot explain the source of life. The presence of imperfection and evil are strategic in developing a perfect as God the designer sought to portray earth. Man enjoys immense freedom on earth, which has helped him discover great knowledge thereby fostering God’s creation. However, man’s creation is not perfect. This has contributed to the manifestation of the imperfection that McCloskey observes. In fact, the works of McCloskey and his likes is a portrayal of the freedom that man enjoys on earth with myriad negative implications. Man has fostered industrial growth on earth thereby contributing to the degradation of earth a factor that has facilitated the manifestation of the features that McCloskey claims are cosmological imperfections. God’s design of the earth was perfect, such features as tsunamis and tectonic movements that currently kill people are parts of his perfect designs but infiltrated by human activities thereby resulting in the imbalance in nature. The freedom on the other hand is vital in order for man to make the world a comfortable home. The Problem of Evil Just as the previous paragraph portrays, God is a liberal being whose initial idea of the earth was a perfect place for human. However, as liberal as He is, he permitted the existence of evil in order to provide man with the freedom of choice, one of the most basic freedoms humans enjoy to date. God could have easily eliminated evil; however, that could imply without several features that humans enjoy currently. God therefore permits humans to enjoy their freedoms and foster his creation in making their environment better, in doing this humans encounter evil thereby permitting them to decide freely just as the likes of McCloskey decides not to believe. McCloskey’s action portrays God’s liberal nature and his desire to make the earth a free place where humans make their own decisions and experiences the ramifications of such decisions. God in deed had the freedom to limit man’s freedom as McCloskey asserts. However, he does not do this from the moment of creation thus permit for differences among his angels as the story of creation states. This portrays a being that exhibits and value liberty thereby permitting humans to enjoy the liberty thereby fostering the development manifest in the world today. Man has fostered the growth of knowledge owing to the free will, which permits them to investigate different features of the earth. Without the fundamental free will, it would become difficult to live on earth a feature that God considered before permitting evil. The concept of evidential problem therefore seeks to provide humans with the immediate proof that some of their decisions are wrong and act as deterrent for others who would possibly make similar mistakes. This way, God provides humans with instantaneous means of considering their actions. Atheism as a Comfort Atheism is not only pretentious but also equally torments. Humans today exist in a world of knowledge it thus become pretentious to feign denial of all the facts and create an illusionary world without faith. The fight currently is between good and evil, such a fight does not give place for middle ground a feature that makes McCloskey’s argument that atheism is comforting unrealistic, especially when such individuals had prior exposure to religion. The illogicality of an atheist’s life begins compounds when such individuals are professionals with exposure to the concepts of freewill among many others. By publishing his book, McCloskey corroborates the concept of freewill and behaves like an adherent of any other religion as he strives to spread his beliefs through his book. The fact that he writes the book and criticizes theism is a portrayal of his dissatisfaction with his solitary state as an atheist as he thus begins spreading his belief with the view of convincing other thereby gaining a following. Belief in God is a fundamental feature of the society and among the most vital aspects of humanity, McCloskey lives a pretentious life in which he knows the truth but decides to acknowledge the truth by criticizing it. Such absurd attitudes further corroborate the existence of God. Reference McCloskey, J. H. (1968). On being an atheist. Englewood: MGMA Press. Read More