Meditation 779
Why A Creator God?
by: Paul W. Sharkey
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For reasons not worth relating here, I have recently begun to wonder why anyone would believe in the existence of a creator god.
Throughout the ages many people have believed in any number of kinds of gods with various powers, attributes and personalities. Some (but not all) such traditions have also proposed some sort of creation myth but very few have tried to explain it all as a result of a single act by a single creator god. Is such a belief an "advance" in religious thinking or might it reflect some other more personal concern not really related to the beginning and continuing existence of the universe at all?
Why do people believe what they do?
Some of my friends say that nothing could be more obvious than that there had (has?) to be a creator god. How else could everything exist if not by an act of such a god?
How indeed!
Does the existence of existence really need an explanation? The vast majority of traditions simply see Being -- the universe/existence -- itself to be eternal. Isn't what is is? Why can't we just leave it at that, accept it, be and let it be? And if we can't, what does that say about us, if not existence? Is it really the existence of the universe that such people are so concerned about? One thing I have noticed about such "believers" is that they often don't seem to be able to let anything -- or anyone -- just be but instead seem to have to keep meddling in their own and other people's beliefs and affairs. Not exactly an indication of souls at peace with themselves.
What does belief in a creator god imply? Among other things, it entails belief in the existence of disembodied spirits. If such a god is not part of the universe itself, then it is necessarily a disembodied one. Perhaps if god can be disembodied, then so can those who believe in such a god? That, and not the existence of the universe, is, I suspect, the real reason for such a belief. Why else would they be so concerned that not believing in such a god could imperil their (or your) soul? Again, not exactly an indication of souls at peace with themselves -- or anything else!
The only way I know that "souls" become disembodied is through death. Is god dead? Personally, I have my doubts that any disembodied souls can or do exist at all -- mine or anyone else's, including god's. But, if there is there is and if there ain't there ain't and my beliefs about it don't and won't make any difference one way or the other. Being agnostically apathetic about it is the only way I know to be at peace about it too.