Do you believe in God?

Brandon: Do you believe in God?

Ander: Well… No, I don’t.

Brandon: Why?

Ander: There is no such thing as a God, I can’t see him or feel him. I rather put my trust on what I know to be truth or have seen to be truth.

How about you? Do you believe in God?

Brandon: Yes, I do.

Ander: Why so? Haven’t all the books you've read or knowledge you've gained from high school or university taught you to rely on logic rather than trusting in things which are false and baseless?

Brandon: I do agree with you that school has taught us to think and be logical in our thinking. But just because we have acquired the ability to reason, doesn't mean that we are right.

Ander: Oh really? So what have you learnt from all the science textbooks which you've read in school? Don’t they provide a better source of evidence and knowledge to rely upon rather than on mere faith, believes or feelings to help you tell right from wrong or the truth from the false, and vise versa?

Brandon:  Despite what we have learnt in school, don’t you agree that mankind have not and will never obtain a full understanding of everything that occurs in the universe?

Ander: I disagree with you. We might not understand everything yet, but someday we will.

Brandon: What makes you think we will? Have we till date, know what’s out there beyond our universe? Have we even clearly understood how our human brain works? As our society change and as we gain in knowledge, haven’t we only realized how much we don’t know rather than how much we know?

Ander: I agree with you, that we might never discover all the answers. However, does it mean that we give up and stop pursuing knowledge, understanding of the world and what is truth from what’s not?

Brandon: Nope. I agree with you, we should not give up. Instead, the pursuit of truth is of utmost important for the progress of humanity. However, that does not erase the fact or overrule the argument that we might never truly understand ‘everything’.

And hence here is where God apply, the notion of the supreme-being who created the world, who knows every bird and every tree, every river and every creek that exist in this planet.

The notion that amid the chaos and uncertainty, there is a form of order that regulates and controls the destiny of the world and each of us.

Ander: Right…. And what hard evidence does this ‘believe’ stamps on? Haven’t you heard that the ‘fool’ is someone who simply believes in an answer provided for questions that they can’t answer rather than relying on their own pursuit of the truth?

Brandon: I do agree with you to some extent. However, if you hypothetically treat God as a factual being and that he has provided you answers to questions which you will never truly be able to answer, and so happen that these answers are true. Nonetheless, no matter what… you just do not believe in these answers, doesn't that make you the ‘fool’ instead?

Ander: Hmm…. Interesting thought…. Than it depends on what our faith is based on then? I base my faith on logic/reasoning/science, while yours on God/religion?

Brandon: Yes. I guess you can put it that way. However, please do not get me wrong, I do not refute science. In fact I embrace it and see it as a source of truth and knowledge, similar to how you do. However, the key difference is that I rely on God to explain what can’t be explain and teach me values/wisdom/knowledge which I might never discover/understand by myself.

In addition, you are actually no different from me. Don’t you realize that you also have a ‘God’ in your life? 

Haven’t you realize that the determination and confidence in your argument must be based on your faith in your personal believes of what is truth and what is false?

Since neither of us can provide conclusive evidence whether or not God exist or not, haven’t we placed our faith in our personal believes to either support or refute the notion of God? In that sense, your own logic is your ‘God’, it being the object of your faith that provides you the confidence to refute God.

2 Corinthian 4:18 - while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

For those who have grown up with the privilege of becoming educated from the well refined education system of the modern/post-modern world.

How often have we become so confident and prideful that we think we know everything?

That we think we can reason everything?

That we think we can always tell the truth from the false, all the time?

Well, in some things we may. But in many things I have come to terms that we truly truly truly… can’t.

We have to acknowledge the foolishness of our pride and humbly recognize our lack of ability in understanding/knowing everything. We have to not just be confident in what we know, but also always be mindful that there are many things we will never know or fully understand. Such as the limitation of man…

Google and read ‘What is Man?’ by Mark Twain. It has always been such an endlessly thought-provoking piece. At least, for the humble me…