My friend Nathan W. Bingham has a link to an article presenting a mathematical arguement for the existance of God. I commend the entire article to you, but the crux of the arguement is as follows:
1-Numbers are concepts. We can symbolize them but the symbol is not the same thing as the actual number.
2-Numbers are absolute. 2+2=4 whether you are in America, Australia, or the Left Coast.
3-Numbers are eternal. The number 1 did not come into existance just because someone thought of it but rather it always existed.
4-Numbers are unchanging. 1 has been and always will be 1.
5-Numbers must exist independantly of the human mind since the human mind is not absolute, eternal, and unchanging.
6-Only God's mind is absolute, eternal, and unchanging.
7-Therefore, God exists.
Discuss.
4 comments:
Hi Joe, knowing you work with numbers for a living, this is going to be about the same as if you were to question my conclusion as to the best theoretical balance factor for a 1947 Harley flywheel, but here goes anyway.
While I agree with #1 & 2, numbers are concepts and are absolute, I'm not so sure about #3 Can a concept be eternal? isn't that similar to the old question "if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any noise?"
BTW, I absolutely agree with #6 &7
Well, Lee, I think of it like this. When the first man or woman child thought of the number one for the first time, was that when the number was created? I don't think so. It had always been there and they "discovered it" which is to say they recognized it's existance. Now, if you or I or the whole world stopped thinking of the number one, would that mean it no longer existed? I don't think so. So I guess that's why I agree with the point that the concept of the number is enternal.
Of course, I've been wrong before. :-)
Lee, good question. I would say they are eternal, because God's mind and therefore thoughts are eternal. Joe is right, someone didn't invent the #1 just like someone didn't invent the law of non-contradiction, or the law of gravity. All laws are discovered.
Vern Poythress in his book (which I link to a free PDF version on my site), speaks in chapter 1 of scientific laws having divine attributes such as eternality, omnipresence, and immutability. Not that they are divinized, but that they proceed from the nature of God.
For a good exposition on the similarities and differences between God's thoughts and our thoughts, check out John Frame's The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, pp. 18-40.
Thanks for visiting!
Exto,
Thanks for the comment. I would agree that science does in fact point to the existance of God. People, as Paul said in Romans 1, want to supress the truth. They love the darkness.
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