Christians claim that there is an all-knowing, all-loving God who
created and who controls the universe. Several arguments are used
to prove this idea. We will examine each of these arguments and
give the Buddhist objections to them.
When asked to prove God's existence, the Christian will often
open the Bible and say "The Bible says God exists, so he must." The
problem is that if we ask a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh or a Jew the
same question they too will point to their respective holy books as
proof of the existence of their Gods. Why should we believe the
Bible but not the holy books of all the other religions? Using the
Bible to prove God's existence is only valid if we already accept
that it alone contains God's words. However, we have no evidence
that this is so. In fact, as we will demonstrate later, there is
strong evidence that the Bible is a highly unreliable document.
In their attempts to prove God's existence, Christians will
sometimes say "The universe didn't just happen, someone must have
made it and therefore there must be a creator God." There is a
major flaw in this argument. When it starts to rain ~e do not ask
"Who is making it rain?" because we know that rain is caused not by
someone but by something - natural phenomena like heat,
evaporation, precipitation, etc. When we see smooth stones in a
river, we do not ask "Who polished those stones?" because we know
that the smooth surface of the stones was caused not by someone but
by something - natural causes like the abrasive action of water and
sand.
All of these things have a cause (or causes) but this need not
be a being. It is the same with the universe - it was not brought
into being by a God but by natural phenomena like nuclear fission,
gravity, inertia, etc. However, even if we believe that a divine
being is needed to explain how the universe came into existence,
what proof is there that it was the Christian God? Perhaps it was
created by the Hindu God, the God of Islam or one of the gods
worshipped by tribal religions. After all most religions, not only
Christianity, claim that their God or gods created the
universe.
In response to the above refutation, the Christian will maintain
that the universe does not merely exist but its existence shows
perfect design. There is, a Christian might say, an order and
balance which point to its having been designed by a higher
intelligence, and that this higher intelligence is God. But as
before, there are some problems with this argument.
Firstly, how does the Christian know that it was his God who is
behind creation? Perhaps it was the gods of non-Christian religions
who designed and created the universe.
Secondly, how does the Christian know that only one God designed
everything? In fact, as the universe is so intricate and complex we
could expect it to need the intelligence of several, perhaps
dozens, of gods to design it. So if anything the argument from
design proves that there are many gods, not one as Christians
claim.
Next, we would have to ask, is the universe perfectly designed?
We must ask this because if a perfect God designed and created the
universe, then that universe should be perfect. Let us first look
at inanimate phenomena to see whether they show perfect design.
Rain gives us pure water to drink but sometimes it rains too much
and people lose their lives, their homes and their means of
livelihood in floods. At other times it doesn't rain at all and
millions die in drought and famine. Is this perfect design? The
mountains give us joy as we see them reaching up into the sky. But
landslides ~nd volcanic eruptions have for centuries caused havoc
and death. Is this perfect design? The gentle breezes cool us but
storms and tornadoes repeatedly cause death and destruction. Is
this perfect design? These and other natural calamities prove that
inanimate phenomena do not exhibit perfect design and therefore
that they were not created by a perfect God.
Now let us look at animate phenomena to see whether they reveal
perfect design. At a superficial glance, nature seems to be
beautiful and harmonious; all creatures are provided for and each
has its task to perform. However, as any biologist will confirm,
nature is utterly ruthless. To live, each creature has to feed on
other creatures and struggle to avoid being eaten by other
creatures. In nature, there is no time for pity, love or mercy. If
a loving God designed everything, why did such a cruel design
result? The animal kingdom is not only imperfect in the ethical
sense, it is also imperfect in that it often goes wrong. Every year
~lions of babies are born with physical or mental disabilities, or
are stillborn or die soon after birth. Why would a perfect creator
God design such terrible things?
So if there is design in the universe, much of it is faulty and
cruel. This would seem to indicate that the universe was not
created by a perfect all-loving God.
Christians will sometimes say that everything has a cause, that
there must be a first cause, and that God is the first cause. This
old argument contains its own refutation, for if everything has a
first cause then the first cause must also have a cause.
There is another problem with the first cause argument.
Logically there is no good reason to assume that everything had a
single first cause. Perhaps six, ten or three hundred causes
occurring simultaneously caused everything.
Christians claim that miracles are sometimes performed in God's
name and that the fact that this happens proves that God exists.
This is an appealing argument until it is looked at a little more
closely.
While Christians are quick to claim that because of their
prayers the blind could see, the deaf could hear and crooked limbs
were straightened, they are very slow in producing evidence to back
up their claims. In fact, some Christians are so anxious to prove
that miracles have occurred at their prayer meetings that the truth
often gets lost in a flood of wild claims, extravagant boasts, and
sometimes even conscious lies.
It is true that things which are unusual and difficult to
explain do sometimes happen during religious events - but not just
for Christians. Hindus, Muslims, Taoists, etc. all claim that their
God or gods sometimes perform miracles. Christianity certainly does
not have a monopoly on miracles. So, if miracles performed in God's
name prove the existence of the Christian God, then miracles
performed in the name of numerous other gods must likewise prove
that they too exist.
Christians may try to overcome this fact by claiming that, when
miracles occur in other religions, they are done through the power
of the Devil. Perhaps the best way to counter this claim is to
quote the Bible. When Jesus healed the sick, his enemies accused
him of doing this through the power of the Devil. He answered that
healing the sick results in good and if the Devil went around doing
good he would destroy himself (Mk 3:22-26). Therefore the same
could be said for the miracles performed by Hindus, Jews or Sikhs.
If these miracles result in good, how can they be the work of the
Devil?
Christians will often claim that only by believing in God will
people have the strength to deal with life's problems, and
therefore that belief in God is necessary. This claim is apparently
supported by numerous books written by Christians who have endured
and overcome various crises through the power of God. Some of these
books make highly inspiring reading, so the claim that one can cope
with problems only with God's help sounds rather convincing - until
we look a little more deeply.
If this claim is true, we would expect most of the non-Christian
people of the world to lead lives of emotional distress, confusion
and hopelessness while most Christians through their faith in God
would be able to unfailingly deal with their problems and to never
need to seek help from counsellors or psychiatrists. It is clear,
however, that people from non-Christian religions and even those
with no religion are just as capable of dealing with life's crises
as Christians are sometimes even better. It is also sometimes the
case that people who are devout Christians lose their faith in God
after being confronted with serious personal problems.
Consequently, the claim that belief in God is necessary to cope
with and overcome problems is baseless.
When Christians find they cannot prove God's existence with
doubtful facts or logic, they may switch tactics and say "Perhaps
it can't be proved that God exists, but neither can you disprove
it". This of course is quite true. You cannot prove that God
doesn't exist - but neither can you prove that the gods of Taoism,
Hinduism and a dozen other religions do not exist. In other words,
despite all the hyperbole, the extravagant claims and the confident
proclamations, there is no more evidence for the existence of the
Christian God than there is for the gods worshipped in other
religions.
After everything else has failed, the Christian may finally try
to convince us that God exists by appealing to the emotions. Such a
person will say, perhaps quite truthfully, "I used to be unhappy
and discontented but after giving myself to God I am happy and at
peace with myself." Such testimonies can be deeply moving, but what
do they prove? There are millions of people whose lives became
equally happy and meaningful after they embraced Buddhism, Hinduism
or Islam. Likewise, there are no doubt many people whose lives have
not changed for the better after they became Christians - the same
weaknesses and problems sometimes remain. So this argument, like
all the others, does not prove the existence of the Christian
God.
