Prophecy of Revelation - Essay Example

Prophecy of Revelation Introduction There are different theories of creation that explain the origins of the universe, life and humanity. These theories are derived from myths, legends, folklore, religion and science. Various religious doctrines in particular claim that the universe, and all that exists came into being because of intelligent design. Religions’ theories are based on the premise that there is an intelligent being/s that existed before the universe who made a conscious decision to create it. The theories of religion are based on revelation, which is; the interaction of the creator being or Supreme Being who is known as God. This theory of creation is commonplace around the world. African Traditional Religions all have creation accounts that depict the existence of an intelligent Supreme Being who is responsible for the existence of all things. Contrastingly, Hinduism is pantheistic in nature whereby believers worship many gods, as such, they attribute the existence of the universe, life and humanity to the intelligent design of a god or a group of gods depending on the object of creation. Just like other religions, Christianity also believes in the theory of Intelligent Design. Christian Theory All Christian theories are centered on the fact that everything in existence were as a direct result of the actions of God (R. J. Berry 45). There are variations on the specific actions in terms of the duration it took for God to create. Some creationist views hold that creation took place as single event while others do not limit it to a single event. As such, their underlying presumption is that all species were created unique and distinct form all others, which rules out the possibility of evolution. The creationists believe that what evolutionists cite as characteristics unique to various living creatures are actually traits that are pre-designed by God, and inbuilt for the purposes of adaptation. The proponents of intelligent design are also regarded as creationists because they attribute the existence of life and the universe to an intelligent being who preexisted creation, called the Designer. The proponents of intelligent design do not all believe in the concept of God as understood by religious doctrines. Most scientists find fault with christianinity and intelligent design because both cannot be proven empirically and are based on theories of speculation or revelation (Blocher 123). Christianity also uses the argument of design as one of the arguments for the existence of God. There are five major theories of creation with minor variations in each major theory. The first type of creationism argues that God created the whole earth in six literal twenty-four hour days. The earth is estimated to be about ten thousand years old based on calculations that use the genealogical accounts in the Bible. This is in complete contrast to the scientific theories of the earth, which roughly estimates the earth to be about four million years old (R. Berry 98). This is commonly known as Young Earth Creationism. The second theory holds that God initiated creation by making the basics needed for life including living things, which were then left to evolve with God intervening every once in a while to help things along as needed. This is a cross between pure theistic creation and pure evolution theories. According to this theory, the earth is estimated to be about four million years old. This theory serves as an attempt at reconciling scientific research with biblical beliefs, and is known as the Old Earth Theory. The third theory known as Gap Creation attempts to account for the earth’s four millions years by concluding that there was a gap between the creation of all things and that of humans. According to Gap theory, one creation day was not 24 hours in length, however, it was about a million years. The fifth and final account is the Progressive Creationism theory, which is a mix between evolution and creation. This theory fully recognized that there was some form of intelligent creation by a being that was capable of designing the universe, and then paved the way for nature to take its course and in turn create variations (Hooyklaas 321). Atheism In order to understand the origin of things, atheists examine all existing theories in an empirical quest for knowledge and understanding. It is natural for them to examine religion from this empirical perspective. Atheists use logic to understand all things including religion and claims of divine revelations of God/Gods and their actions such as creation. This has led to them denying the existence of God as a logical concept because it fails to explain his origin. Simple statements to the effect that a deity or deities always preexisted are taken as assumptions in all theological thoughts in different religions. Atheists find this as an abnormally or fallacy, which is meant to make up for lack of evidence. The definition of what constitutes atheism is derived from a lack of believe in the existence of a deity. Atheism was the term used to describe the position of those that did not believe in the existence of the gods in ancient Greece (Baggini 43). Atheists make their case using logic to prove that no deity or deities exist. They argue that all proofs of the existence of a god or gods originates with accounts given by humans, which have no empirical proof. The accounts that prove the existence of a deity are also the same accounts relied on to account for creation and therefore fail in that they also have no empirical proof. Scientific theories of evolution and the big bang theories make more sense to atheists though they are open to changing their positions if newer and more advanced theories come into being. The belief in the existence of a deity and their creative action influences how one perceives and understands life, the universe and existence. Contrastingly, the belief that there is no deity has the opposite effect. All human beings are born into unique societies and cultural contexts, which influence their views and beliefs in religion. Religion, language and culture are mediums through, which the concept of a deity are introduced to every human being (Hooyklaas 221). Atheists hold that religion is retrogressive in that it has delayed and negatively impacted the human understanding of science through unrealistic explanations of natural phenomenon. Religious doctrines’ influence had and continues to impede research in areas the former considers unreligious and immoral. According to them, sanctioning such researches would incur the wrath of the relevant deity/deities. Atheists view this as fallacious, and an impediment to progress. Atheists presume that influences by religion, culture and language are taken for granted and regarded as the truth until a person begins to reason and conceptualize for themselves (Richardson and Thomas Uebel 76). The scrutiny of the tenets of religion maybe rejected on the basis of a person’s perception. The scientific revolution that took place during the renaissance occurred in the context of the Christian faith (Hooykaas 129). Religions define the lack of belief in their particular god/gods as heretic. The lack of belief in any deity is defined as atheism (Hecht 254). There are different types of atheism. The first is based on the context in which a lack of belief in the existence of a deity and on a particular religion. On the other hand, there is pure atheism where there is no belief in any religion and no belief in any deity. Reconstructionist Judaism is a sect in Judaism that does not require a belief in the existence of a deity (Hecht 135). It embraces progress and modernism in the Jewish culture, which they say needs to evolve with the changing global and cultural contexts within, which Judaism exists. This position makes them open to scientific theories of the existence of life, the universe and humanity while maintaining the culture and history of the Jews. Orthodox Judaism considers this position as heretic and atheistic. Reconstructionist Judaism follow the religious structure of Orthodox Judaism and even have their own rabbis and rabbinical school. Christians of both the catholic and protestant persuasions agree that the lack of belief in the existence of God is atheism. They also hold that the common belief, which is disbelieving in the Bible as the revealed and inspired word of God constitutes atheism. The two Christian branches also holds that believing in science over revelation is atheism. Christianity does not condemn science as long as it credits God as the creator and originator of all things. Any departure from Biblical doctrines constitutes atheism, as the latter would undermine the belief that God created everything from nothing. Evolution is therefore to be understood as adaptation to the environment, and a God-given ability to living things to change so as to get optimal life. The Bible is understood as the revealed and inspired word of God and any misunderstanding of the nature of the beliefs in it is considered as atheistic in that it casts doubt on Gods being. In fact in Catholic Christianity it is considered atheistic to harbor negative beliefs about the Church, which is the organizational part of the Christian religion. Conclusion The quest for understanding the origins of life and the human existence is an age old quest that is as old as humanity itself (Heidegger 345). The Christians and the atheists’ understandings of the existence of life and the universe are guided by their basic understanding of the existence or non-existence of God. Christianity understands creation as an act of a deity/God based on his free and independent will. Atheists understand that all life and the universe pre-existed in lower forms and evolved to higher forms, which are in a constant process of evolution. Atheists deny the existence of any deity or intelligent being who is divorced from nature and responsible for creation. Creation is an unacceptable occurrence for atheists because the existence of deity/deities is seen as myth and illogical. Christianity finds it very logical that an intelligent and supernatural being created the universe and life. It is also a very logical thing for such an intelligent supreme creator being to communicate to his creation in a process known as revelation. Understanding the state of its own self as creatures for Christianity should be based on revelations form the creator. Religion looks to the complexity of organisms as evidence for intelligent design that proves the existence of a superior being that is God who is creator (Blocher 243). Atheism explains this complexity as diversity caused by factors such as environmental influences, which force organisms to change and adapt. They attribute this to the evolution phenomenon. The atheist finds religion as very unempirical in that it relies on highly metaphorical data, which cannot be scientifically verified. As long as no evidence can back up religious claims, atheists will not accept such claims as factual information. The creation accounts of Genesis is a case in point. Christianity advocates for creation as acts of God while atheists advocate for evolutionary processes that took place over millions and millions of years. Works Cited Baggini, Julian. Atheism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Berry, R. J. The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge Univerity Press, 2009. Berry, R.J. The Care Of Creation. New York: Inter- varsity Press, 2000. Blocher, H. In The Beginning. New York: Inter Varsity Press, 1994. Hecht, Jennifer Michael. Doubt: A History. New York: Harper Collins, 2004. Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time.(1927) . Revised Ed. Tras. Joan Stambaugh. New York: State University of New York Press, 2010. Hooykaas, R. Religion and the Rise of Modern Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Hooyklaas, R. Natural Law and Divine Miracle. Leiden: Brill, 1959. Richardson, Alan and Thomas Uebel. The Cambridge Companion to Logical Empiricism eds. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Read More