Chapter 2
Can We Prove the Existence of God?
Most things can be logically proved and explained. Science and technology have advanced and the modern world now boasts of technologies that have made the world a global village; technology that is breaking through all the barriers of distance and bringing the whole world closer. Today you can easily talk to a person, located in some part of the world, using wireless technology. Sitting at home, you can now know of global events via satellites. Various diseases can now be cured with medication and new surgical methods have been discovered that make the world proud of its intellectual growth. A few centuries ago, nobody could have imagined that we would fly in airplanes from one continent to another or we could get information about anything in this world at the touch of a key on a computer. We may have proved, discovered and invented many such things which our ancestors could never have dreamt of; but can we prove the existence of God?
Can we see God? What does God look like? Is God male, female or beyond gender? Does God have a form or is God formless? Where does God live? Does God live somewhere in the mountains or deep in the oceans or on some other planet in the Universe? Or does God live on the sun, moon or the stars? Does God live in temples, churches or mosques? Does the Power of God exist in a statue?
Yes, God exists. We know that God exists because we know a Power has created this Universe and all the beauty in it—the snowcapped mountains, the turquoise oceans, the gushing rivers, the clouds and the breeze.
Who is the Power that we call God? Can we prove God’s existence? Has anybody in this world, over the centuries, been able to prove God’s existence? The answer to these questions is – No!
Many have experienced the Power, but very few claim to have seen it. Many may have visualized the Power or felt the vibrations of God; they may have seen the reflection of God in a guru or a respected family member, but nobody has been able to concretely prove the existence of God. God is beyond comprehension!
To share a small story with you- A young child was seen carrying an empty bucket on a beautiful beach at the edge of an ocean. She was filling the bucket with water from the ocean and emptying it into a hole dug on the shore. After she had emptied several buckets, an elderly gentleman who was passing by, asked the girl what she was doing. The girl replied that she was trying to empty the ocean. The man had a hearty laugh and questioned her as to how could she use a little bucket to empty the big ocean and that too into the small hole that she had dug there.
Many of us are like this innocent child, trying to discover God through our child-like innocence. The fact remains that even as the oceans may be a sign of God and the clouds, mountains and flowers may represent God's glory, we cannot yet prove God’s existence. Can we take a picture of God? We may be able to take the picture of a statue or even the sunrise, the sunset, the moon and the stars, but we cannot take a picture of God.
The camera of our life has a lens that is insignificantly small to capture the greatness and complexity of God. God is beyond invention, beyond discovery and beyond proof! We can “experience” God in our inner worlds and do so only if we have Faith, Hope, Enthusiasm and Trust.
Essence of the chapter:
• No one has seen God; we cannot prove God’s existence.
• There are many questions regarding God that we have no answers for.
• While nobody can prove God’s existence; all religions believe that God exists.
• The nature around us is an example of our Creator’s work.
We cannot touch or see God.
God can only be
“experienced”-
An experience
we put our belief in.