As written in my very first post at the end of February 2022, the goal of this blog is to tell everyone “...why I believed in Jesus since I was a teenager, why I still believe in Him today, and why I believe I will be committed to him until the end of my days”. I have been posting a new article every Sunday night since my first post. Last week I finished the first part on “why I believed in Jesus since I was a teenager”. Friends, this is my first post to share my current thoughts on some of the central beliefs in Christianity. It starts the “why I still believe in Him today” section.
I think the very first question to address before addressing any key issues related to the Creator is on the nature of reality.
What is reality? Does it even exist? It is meaningless to discuss the objective existence of God if we are not sure about the existence of reality. Well, perhaps God only creates illusionary perception? Maybe consciousness is the only thing in the world? There are countless possibilities. I think it would be easier if we just focus on one issue at a time. Does reality exist? Of course! Something is here, reading, typing, thinking, and is doing something. Perhaps we should be more specific and refine our question to:
Does objective reality exist? Does a reality that does not depend on observers and perspectives exist?
To some people, this question sounds unnecessary. To some others, it is a real question. Many brilliant people suggested ingenious ways to answer this question. I copied some of these answers briefly in my reply to a comment in a previous post.
To me, the best answer to the existence of objective reality comes from our study of science. In particular, I am thinking about Physics.
How do we study Physics? We observe, hypothesize, experiment, then we theorize. Our theories often do not do perfect jobs in some cases. Then we observe more, hypothesize again, devise new experiments, and try to theorize better. We diligently go over everything, honestly challenging ourselves and each other’s finding, in the hope that we can really understand the facts.
What facts do scientists study? The objective facts that do not depend on the experimenters’ perspectives and personal preferences. What do we observe and experiment with? Do we experiment with our own imagination? No. We experiment on things that every other collaborator or competitor work on.
I think we would all agree that science produces good results for the world. Back 50 years ago, no one would ever imagine we can talk and see our friends on the other side of the globe at any time we want, as long as we have something called the internet. We have GPS, laser, we can detect gravitational waves, and even take “picture” of a Black Hole! Science and Technology are strong witnesses to the existence of objective reality.
Yes, objective reality exists.
